Imperial and Revolutionary Russia: Culture and Politics, 1700-1917
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this survey of Russia's social, cultural, and political history from the 18th century through the 1917 Revolution. The course reads historical and literary texts side by side, tracing how serfdom, the rise of the intelligentsia, and arguments over capitalism shaped reform and revolutionary movements. Students compare the reforming impulses of tsarist governments against the revolutionary currents building beneath them, with attention to how novelists and essayists engaged the same political questions as historians and statesmen. Materials include the full syllabus, readings drawn from Russian literary and historical sources, and assignments used in the original MIT class. There is no instructor video lecture series, but the course provides a complete reading list and written assignments suitable for self-study, free to access under MIT's open courseware license with no certificate offered.