Università Roma Tre

The aim of the course is to address and discuss some of the fundamental themes of European history in the twentieth and twenty-first century inherent to the birth, rise and fall of the Soviet Union and its subsequent transformation into the Russian Federation. The analysis of the Bolshevik Revolution and the political, economic and social system first built by Lenin and then strengthened during the years of Stalin's power will be studied during the course. There will also be room for discussion and further development of some of the most striking phenomena the came along with the Soviet system: the great terror, the gulag, forced industrialization, the creation of an external empire, the birth of dissent and finally, after the fall of communism the difficult and controversial transition to the market economy and democratization.