History 205 - The Romanovs: Triumph/Tragedy

We will study defining periods in Russian and world history with an emphasis on the powerful Russian monarchs who shaped them: in particular, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander II, and Nicholas II. Russia's tsarist system raises important questions about the nature of the monarchy. The Russian case shows how monarchies can change and develop, and why, ultimately, many of them failed. Why did the Romanovs fail when their relatives, the House of Windsor, did not? Could Russia have survived as a constitutional monarchy? What is the role of a royal dynasty in defining nationhood?