HIEU 2162

I LOVED this class. I only took because a friend any myself needed to fulfill our "Europe post 1700" requirement for hour History majors and also wanted to take a class together. However, this turned into one of the best classes I've taken in history department, since I've been at the University. Do yourself a favor and take this class!

Grading in discussion section requires exceptional amount of talking. Make sure to speak even if you don't have much to add.

The amount you have to talk in discussion is a little ridiculous. Aside from that, great TA and interesting material presented in an enthusiastic manner. Talk like a know it all and in discussion and prepare thoroughly for the midterm and final.

While the subject matter is pretty interesting and Rossman is a good professor who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the material. There is a ton of reading (100-150 pg. per week) and the participation requirements in discussion are kind of ridiculous. If you don't speak a lot in every section you can at best expect an 80-85 for 20% of your grade. The workload isn't bad, 3 mini essays, a super easy map quiz, and midterm and final that he gives you an extensive review sheet for. The mini-essays are deceiving though, only 2 pages but the TA's expect you to be concise and cover a ton of material in 600 words. They are also graded pretty harshly. Overall, a decent class though.

Reading: Textbook is very interesting but contains much more information than is necessary to do well in the course. Supplementary readings are interesting, but not essential to do well on the midterm. You do use them on the final exam and for the short papers, but Rossman guides you to which documents are important.

Lecture: Lecture is powerpoint, all key terms are on the slides but you need to take notes in order to do well. Rossman is very enthusiastic about the founding of the Soviet Union, as well as its fall, but seemed a little unenthusiastic about Khrushchev & Brezhnev. We spent a lot of time on the early period of Bolshevism and rushed through the final years. All in all, lecture was interesting. I never found myself wanting to skip.

Papers: 3 two-page papers, on primary sources in the course packet. They are graded fairly, but the TA's expect you to pack a lot of analytical writing into two pages. If you don't analyze, you won't do well on the assignment.

Discussion: going over lecture & documents. Not super enlightening, but it is required. Leia was a fantastic TA; great at lecturing.

Midterm: Study guide is given, not very difficult.

Final: study guide given, very very long. Your hand will cramp. But it is fair

I would recommend this course.

I took this class just for fun and I really enjoyed it! There are readings in the course packet that can sometimes take a while, but those are really necessary to do for the discussion section of the course, where you really need to participate in order to get a good grade. There are 3 2-page papers (the topic of which you can choose) that total to 15% of the grade, discussion is 25%, there's a map quiz that's an easy 5%, the midterm is 15%, and then the final is 40%. He gave us really helpful study guides for the midterm and final. Professor Rossman is really passionate about Russian history and it shows in his lectures, none of which ever felt like a chore to go to. Side note: he doesn't allow electronics in class, so be sure to take really good notes! Also, reading the textbook is not necessary, as Rossman's lectures tell you all that you need to know.

This was an absolutely phenomenal course! Rossman is obviously a terrific expert in his field, and the amount of relevant information he shares in lecture is actually incredibly interesting. He has a great lecture style, is pretty funny and easy to listen to and follow, and seemed pretty good at explaining the topic and intricacies of the time period in a digestible manner,

As a History minor, this up there with Confino's Palestine 1948 and Thomas's American Econ, I loved them all. Admittedly the reading is a bit tedious, the textbook is really only relevant come the midterm and finals. Use the textbook for definitions, refer to the notes for themes, and the class packet is just fine. In fact, I found the reading in the class packet pretty darn neat; really interesting primary sources that I felt were always worth my time.

Again, terrific class all around, don't let the grading distribution deter you from this if the topic interests you!

I really enjoyed this class. The material was interesting and the lectures were outlined in a really clear and understandable way. My TA, Zachary Hoffman, was great and made discussions interesting and even fun to go to. There are 3 two page papers throughout the semester and the most important thing to read is the primary source documents in the class packets, as those are talked about in discussion. Would definitely recommend this class!

LOVED this class! While it might not be for everyone (you better really like history), it was one of the best classes I've taken at UVA. Rossman was an obvious expert on the subject and I always felt like his lectures were engaging and worth my time. He does assign a good bit of reading, but I found it all pretty interesting. You could probably get away with just reading the primary source documents and not bothering with the textbook, but I found doing both really helped make things more clear. With that being said, lecture attendance is a must...but I can't think of a single lecture that I didn't enjoy. Clayton was also one of the better TA's I've had in the history department. He did a great job leading discussion, was a fair grader, and was always available for extra help. In short, take this class if you love history and are willing to put in the time. If you do, you won't regret it.

Great course! The study guides for the midterm (15%) and final (40%) are thorough. Three two page papers due throughout the semester, each worth 5%. Nick Lindberg was a great TA and a fair grader but don't know if he'll be TAing again. Rossman's lectures are engaging and Russia has an interesting history.