For a country that no longer exists, the Soviet Union continues to have substantial impact on the contemporary global order. In 2005, Russian leader Vladimir Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union \u201cthe greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century\u201d.\u00a0 He added that \u201cfor the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy\u201d, lamenting how millions of them were left outside of an \u201chistorical Russia\u201d. At the time, many observers considered that and similar comments Putin made as nationalist rhetoric or simple nostalgia for a time when Russia represented more of a global power. However, following Russia\u2019s 2014 occupation of Crimea, and its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin\u2019s comments reveal a much more complex and dangerous world view: focused, at least in part, on the restoration of Russian and Soviet empires long since passed. In that respect, understanding the history of the Soviet Union is key to understanding modern Russia and the pivotal role it plays in today\u2019s international order. It is also essential to understanding the fifteen other countries that used to be part of it, and the contemporary conflicts that haunt many of them. \u00a0This course explores the history of the Soviet Union from its origins to its collapse, with respect to both national and international dimensions. Topics include the collapse of imperial rule and the Russian Revolution; the civil war; Soviet efforts to reshape politics, the economy, and history; that nature of \u201ceveryday life\u201d for the millions who lived in the country; the pivotal role of leadership, ideology, and \u2018world views\u2019; state violence and genocide; the Second World War; de-Stalinization and d\u00e9tente; Cold War foreign policy; division and decline in the Soviet empire; and the eventual collapse of the state. We will also examine the legacy of Soviet rule in the region today, particularly with respect to modern Russia, its role in global affairs, and the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For a country that no longer exists, the Soviet Union continues to have substantial impact on the contemporary global order. In 2005, Russian leader Vladimir Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union \u201cthe greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century\u201d.\u00a0 He added that \u201cfor the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy\u201d, lamenting how millions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ryecourse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2653,"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions\/2653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kislenko.com\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}