EURO*4050/EURO*6060
Contemporary Europe: Modern Russia and Ukraine
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**Please note: This is a preliminary web course description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.
Course Format:
The class will take place in person, via weekly seminars.
Course Synopsis:
This cross-listed undergraduate and graduate European Studies course focuses on the
politics, history, and culture of the complex relationship between modern Russia and
modern Ukraine, in the context of the relationships of both nations to communism,
Europe, and the Western world. It first examines the roots of tensions between Russia
and Ukraine, and between the Soviet Union and the outside world, in the twentieth
century, paying particular attention to the Holodomor and the Holocaust. The course
then focuses on the original Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States (c. 1945-91) and the fraught allyship in this period between the Union’s two most powerful socialist republics, Russia and Ukraine. It then turns to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism (1989-91) and their impact on Russia’s
relationships with Ukraine and the rest of Europe. The course concludes by studying the
new Cold War between Russia and the West, which was dramatically escalated in 2022
by the Putin regime’s invasion of Ukraine. Studying various historical figures, from
Mikhail Gorbachev to Vladimir Putin, and various historical events, including the
Russian Civil War, the Holodomor, the Holocaust, and Chernobyl, this course uses a
range of sources and approaches (including government documents, memoirs,
literature, propaganda, film, and sport) to take students to the heart of the crisis that is
reshaping contemporary Europe and the contemporary world.
Methods of Evaluation and Weights:
Class participation 30%
Class presentation 15%
Mid-term exam 20%
Essay plan 5%
Essay 30%
Resources Required:
All readings and viewings will be posted on the EURO*4050/*6060 Courselink site or made available electronically via the University of Guelph Library.
