The main goal of this course is to provide the students with the basic knowledge
of Russian history, art, literature and science. The period discussed in the
course will begin with the establishment of the first Russian state in the 9th
c. AD and will end with the demise of the Russian empire in 1917. The events
discussed in the lectures will include:
- the establishment of the first Russian state; international contacts with
neighbor states (in particular, with Scandinavian kingdoms and Byzantine
Empire); language and writing system;
- “Baptism of Russia” (introduction of Orthodox Christianity) in 988;
development of religious art; interaction with Byzantine Empire;
- Mongolian invasion in 1237—1241; Mongolian yoke (1241-1480);
- development of religious art: painting (Theophanes the Greek, ca. 1340 – ca.
1410, Andrei Rublev, 1360s - 1427/1430), architecture (the Cathedral of Holy
Wisdom in Novgorod; Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, late 15th century);
- development of science and technology in the time period prior to introduction
of Western science (10th-17th centuries);
- the rule of the Tsar (King) Ivan IV Vasilyevich (1530–1584) also known as Ivan
the Terrible and the beginning of the expansion of Russian Kingdom to the East
(the Conquest of Siberia);
- end of the Ryurik dynasty (1645) and the beginning of Romanov dynasty;
- the rule of the first Russian Emperor Peter I (1672–1725) also known as Peter
the Great; reforms in politics, sciences, and arts; large-scale Church reform;
- the first treaty between Russia and China: the Treaty of Nerchinsk (尼布楚條
約) of 1689;
- outstanding Russian scientists L.F.Magnitsky (1669–1739) and M.V. Lomonosov
(1711–1765); establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1724) and of the
Moscow State University (1755);
- development of arts in the 19th century Russia: literature (A.S.Pushkin,
N.V.Gogol’, F.M.Dostoevskii, L.N.Tolstoi, N.S.Leskov), music (P.I.Chaikovskii,
M.P.Mussorgskii), painting (I.K. Aivazovsky, K.P. Bryullov, V.A.Serov, I.E.
Repin);
- development of science and technology in the 19th and early 20th century:
invention of radio transmitter and receiver by A. S. Popov (1859–1906); a
mathematical theory of rocket propulsion (“Tsiolkovsky rocket equation”) by K.
E. Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935);
- political events in the late 19th and early 20th century: Balkans war, Russo-
Japanese war, first and second Russian Revolutions. The end of Russian Empire
(1917).
Each session (class) will consist of three parts:
- A lecture presented by the instructor (a powerpoint show);
- A quiz (multiple choice, one question, open book) combined with a break;
- A group presentation evaluated by the instructor and by students.
There will be a mid-term test (2 hours, in class, open book, multiple choice)
and a final exam (2 hours, in class, multiple choice). The exams questions will
be related only to the instructor’s lectures, and not to the students’
presentations.
Evaluation:
Weekly quizzes (open book): 20%
Team presentation: 15%
Midterm exam (open book): 30%
Final exam (open or close book): 35%
The program of the lectures is as follows
週次/Week 課程主題/Contents
1 Introduction; explanation of the grading system; short overview of the
course.
2 Early history of Russia; the establishment of the first Russian state;
international contacts with neighbor states (in particular, with Scandinavian
kingdoms and Byzantine Empire); language and writing system.
3 Religious beliefs in pre-Christian Russia; “Baptism of Russia”
(introduction of Orthodox Christianity) in 988; development of religious art;
interaction with Byzantine Empire.
4 Mongolian invasion in 1237-1241; Mongolian yoke (1241-1480).
5 Development of religious art: painting (Theophanes the Greek, ca. 1340 –
ca. 1410, Andrei Rublev, 1360s - 1427/1430), architecture (the Cathedral of Holy
Wisdom in Novgorod; Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, late 15th century).
Development of science and technology prior to introduction of Western science
(10th-17th centuries).
6 The rule of the Tsar (King) Ivan IV Vasilyevich (1530–1584) also known
as Ivan the Terrible; international contacts with Western Europe.
7 Midterm exam
8 Expansion of Russian Kingdom to the East (the “Conquest of Siberia”).
End of the Ryurik dynasty (1645) and the beginning of Romanov dynasty.
9 The rule of the first Russian Emperor Peter I the Great (1672–1725);
reforms in politics, sciences, and arts; large-scale Church reform.
10 Further territorial expansion and interaction with the Qing Empire; the
first treaty between Russia and China (the Treaty of Nerchinsk 尼布楚條約 of
1689).
11 Development of sciences: outstanding Russian scientists L.F.Magnitsky
(1669–1739) and M.V. Lomonosov (1711–1765); establishment of the Russian Academy
of Sciences (1724) and of the Moscow State University (1755).
12 Development of arts in the 19th century Russia: literature (A.S.Pushkin,
N.V.Gogol’, F.M.Dostoevskii, L.N.Tolstoi, N.S.Leskov), music (P.I.Chaikovskii,
M.P.Mussorgskii), painting (I.K. Aivazovsky, K.P. Bryullov, V.A.Serov, I.E.
Repin).
13 Development of science and technology in the 19th and early 20th century
Russia: invention of radio transmitter and receiver by A. S. Popov (1859–1906);
a mathematical theory of rocket propulsion (“Tsiolkovsky rocket equation”) by
K.E.Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935).
14 Political events in the late 19th and early 20th century: Balkans war,
Russo-Japanese war, first and second Russian Revolutions (1905; 1917), the end
of the Russian Empire.
15 Final exam
16 Last class; explanation of the final exam, discussion of students’
examination papers
No textbook will be available; the students will use the power-point shows of
the lectures posted by the professor on the e-learning website of the
University. The students will also have access to the monographs and scholarly
papers related to the course and listed below.
Andrews, James T. Red Cosmos: K.E. Tsiolkovskii, Grandfather of Soviet Rocketry.
Texas A&M University Press, 2009.
Brunson, Molly. Russian Realisms: Literature and Painting, 1840-1890. Northern
Illinois University Press, 2016.
Cizevskij, Dimitrij. History of Russian Literature: From the Eleventh Century to
the End of the Baroque. Walter de Gruyter, 2013.
Emerson, Caryl. The Cambridge introduction to Russian literature. Cambridge
University Press, 2008.
Fennel, John. A history of the Russian Church to 1448. London and New York:
Routledge, 1995.
Gamsa, Mark. The Reading of Russian Literature in China: A Moral Example and
Manual of Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Gasparov, Boris. Five Operas and a Symphony: Word and Music in Russian Culture.
Yale University Press, 2005.
Gusev, V.A. Ancient Collection of icon painting and church antiquities in the
Russian Museum. 2014.
Halperin, Charles J. Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval
Russian History. Indiana University Press, 1987.
Halperin, Charles J. Russia and the Mongols: Slavs and the steppe in medieval
and early modern Russia. Editura Academiae Române, 2007.
Halperin, Charles J. The Tatar Yoke: The Image of the Mongols in Medieval
Russia. Slavica, 2009.
Halperin, Charles J. Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish.
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019.
Kahn, Andrew, Mark Lipovetsky, Irina Reyfman, and Stephanie Sandler. A History
of Russian Literature. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Karp, Alexander, and Bruce R. Vogeli. Russian Mathematics Education: History
and World Significance. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 2010.
Klyuchevsky, Vasily O. A History of Russia. Vols. 1-5, Russell & Russell, 1960.
Lupinin, Nickolas. Religious Revolt in the 17th Century: The Schism of the
Russian Church. Princeton, N.J. Kingston Press, 1984.
Millar, James R. Encyclopedia of Russian History. Vols. 1-4. Macmillan
Reference, 2004.
Moser, Charles. The Cambridge History of Russian Literature. Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
Nethercott, Frances. Russia’s Plato: Plato and the Platonic Tradition in Russian
Education, Science and Ideology (1840–1930). Ashgate, 2000.
Soloviev, Sergei M. History of Russia from Earliest Times. Vols. 1-50. Academic
International Press, 2014.
Talbot Rice, Tamara. A Concise History of Russian Art. Frederick A. Praeger,
Inc., 1967.
Volkov, Alexei, and V. Freiman (eds.), Computations and Computing Devices in
Mathematics Education before the Advent of Electronic Calculators. Cham:
Springer, 2018 (selected chapters).