HIST 2222 - Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union and the Resurgence of Russia

FDR: Humanities Distribution (HU)
Credits: 3

This course analyzes the reasons for the decline of the Soviet Union commencing in the latter part of the Brezhnev era and its collapse under the weight of the failed reforms of Gorbachev. It further traces the fragmentation of the USSR into 15 republics and the simultaneous devolution of authority within the Russian Republic under Yeltsin. The course concludes with the remarkable reassertion of state power under Putin up to the present. Substantial attention will be devoted to Russia’s war against Ukraine over the past year.