2024/25 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

HIST5830M Stalinist Terror

30 creditsClass Size: 10

Module manager: Prof James Harris
Email: j.r.harris@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

Between 1936 and 1938, the Stalin regime murdered the majority of its senior Party and state officials and then hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens. What could have provoked such a violent assault on the state and society? Was it part of a campaign, planned in detail by Stalin, to destroy all real and potential opposition to his leadership (Conquest)? Was terror applied to overcome bureaucratic resistance to central policy (Getty, Origins)? How have Getty's ideas changed since then? Was it a response to growing social disorder (Hagenloh)? Did the regime inadvertently reveal, in the course of the Moscow Trials, what appeared to be a conspiracy against it (Harris)? Can the Terror be explained in terms of a generalised fear of conspiracy (Rittersporn)? What have we learned since the archives opened in 1991, and in what directions should historians be taking their research in order to uncover the sources of the Terror?

Objectives

1. To analyse and evaluate conflicting historical interpretations of the Great Terror.
2. To confront the current limits of knowledge in the field

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Analyse and effectively explain what provoked this acute episode of political violence in the Soviet Union
2. Use primary and secondary sources to critically explore the limits of existing historical research

Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
3. higher level research and analytical skills directed less at the mastery of existing historical research and more at what remains to be explained.
4. Use secondary sources as well as archival materials and digital databases to develop and realise original research ideas.

Syllabus

The module will study modern historical interpretations of some of the following:- The Kirov murder- The international context of Stalin's Terror- The mass operations- The Moscow Trials- The role of denunciation in Soviet governance.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	11	2.00	22.00
Private study hours			278.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

The first of the two essays for this module is directly related to the class discussions. In addition, students will receive written feedback on a detailed essay plan (no more than 500 words, not including bibliography) on the first essay. Students are also encouraged to use my office hours to discuss the progress of their research.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	Essay 3,000 words	50.00
Essay	Essay 3,000 words	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 13/05/2024 11:55:45

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