Spring 2027

History of Russia

History of Russia covers Russian political, economic, and social history from 1800 to 1917, including foreign relations affecting domestic policy.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · David McDonald

The course was rated moderately difficult, with no specific details provided about assignment volume or exam frequency.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and debate major turning points in Russian imperial history.

  • Explain why the Tsarist autocracy lasted for so long and why it collapsed in 1917.

  • Explain why Russia's relationship to Europe - or "the West" - has been so fraught.

  • Assess the significance of concepts like empire and nation for interpreting imperial Russian history.

  • Communicate ideas, questions, and conclusions clearly in written and spoken form to make compelling arguments.

  • Delineate and evaluate key historiographical debates in imperial Russian history.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
HISTORY 418

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DAVID MCDONALD is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · David McDonald

A student found Prof. McDonald's History of Imperial Russia engaging, noting his deep expertise and helpful approach.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2021: 3.46 GPA, 61.1% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.50 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.50 GPA, 75.9% A/AB (n=29 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · David McDonald

The course was rated moderately difficult, with no specific details provided about assignment volume or exam frequency.

Past student reviews · David McDonald

The reviewer appreciated the instructor's fairness in grading and his willingness to help, which made the learning process smoother.

Topics

  • Russian political, economic, and social history (1800-1917)
  • Foreign relations and their impact on domestic policy
  • Why the Tsarist autocracy lasted and why it collapsed in 1917
  • Russia's relationship to Europe and the West
  • Concepts of empire and nation in imperial Russian history
  • Historiographical debates in imperial Russian history

Skills

  • Identifying and debating major turning points in Russian imperial history.
  • Explaining the duration and collapse of Tsarist autocracy.
  • Analyzing Russia's fraught relationship with Europe and the West.
  • Assessing the significance of concepts like empire and nation.
  • Communicating ideas and conclusions in written and spoken form to make compelling arguments.
  • Delineating and evaluating key historiographical debates.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2024

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "1658ad17109b6733c8b20e6850b2e034dcf7ccc2efc8a6c577a81a7f6d2907c6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}