How much Russian history did you learn in school?

[Merrique]

I learned a little bit of russian history in school.
I remember touching briefly on the Russian revolution and the murder of the IF in school.But there really wasn't a whole lot about Imperial Russia.I do also remember learning about the cold war and the space race.I think that was about it.

[olga]

The worst thing though was they way he pronouced "RaspuTEEN."

How are you supposed to pronounce it?

[JD]

rasp-YOU-tin

is how i've always pronounced it.

[olga]

Actually, it's pronounced Rahs-POO-teen.

[Jmentanko]

How are you supposed to pronounce it?

Hmm, well you're asking the wrong person (but I think you know that!) and I'm not one to venture a guess with someone who's a tad too particular about how things are pronounced. But, I'm sure you know, so. . . be content!

I just hope it's not pronounced the same way as it was in that rather dated (but catchy) song. And if it is, I'll make up my own pronunciation.

[Forum Admin]

in English: Rasp-you-tin
Russian: Rahs-pooh-teen

[Anya]

I studied the Russian Revolution for almost a month at school, beginning in the murderer of Alexander II. My teacher knew few things about the Romanovs but taught us that Nicholas was not a murderer (just weak)  and made us see the movie "Nicholas and Alexandra". He just said some crazy things as "Prince Alex" and that the girls were not known as Romanov princesses but as Hessians, because of their mother.

[olga]

Ugh. How frustrating. Kakoi durak.

[amy]

I attended high school in various states in the US in the mid-eighties and can't remember whether any of my teachers discussed Imperial Russian history. I think I must have learned something about The Communist Manifesto and the 1917 Russian Revolutin in the ninth grade (age 14) because I have a memory of horrifying my ultra-conservative republican grandparents when I expounded on the the benefits of a socialist state. lol. But then again, at that time, I was attending high school in Berkeley, CA. I don't believe that spin permeated the history classes I had in Michigan or Indiana.  

[Silja]

Did they teach it objectively, or that the Tsar was evil?

In fact we didn't really discuss tsarism. We sort of discussed the "ideology/ideologies" of the Revolution, analysing and comparing texts/essays/ideas by Lenin, Trotzky, Bucharin. We also were taught quite a lot about the terror system (tcheka).

I'm a she by the way  

[londo954]

I went to school in Canada and was lucky that the curriculum at the time spent a lot of time on the Russian revolution and that was when I was introduced to Nicholas and Alexandra and Lincoln's book on the Romanov's. I can't remember the name.
  At University I was more fortunate I studied European and russian history. I drove my European History teachers nuts because I would always find a way to research topics concerning Russia. An essay on Paul Miliukov as a historian was one. My school was fortunate to havea copy of his HISTORY OF RUSSIA. He talks extensively about teh Romanov's but skirts around his involvement with the fate of the imperial family. I was most fortunate to study Imperial History under Professor David MacMillan was was a fremos authority on the Imperial period particularly Catherine the Great. He was one of the few western historians who had limited access to archives in russia. he told me stories of finding books from Catherine's library with hand written notes from her. Unfortunately he passed away before we could continue or discussion.

[RomanovFan]

Nothing....all the things that have been mentioned in the history books I've had to use in school I already know about...Nicholas II's abdication, death and about Rasputin...that's it. That kind of upset me too.

[yusupovs_fan]

I went to school in Estonia in the 90s. We studied quite a lot of Russian history: the most important reforms of all the czars, the Decembrists, the revolution etc. Mostly we focused on the effects of these events on life in Estonia (as Estonia used to be a part of the Russian Empire).
What I find a little sad, is that we learned all kinds of facts and dates, but very little about the people, who made the history. I remember there was was an official fotograph of the Imperial family in our history book and it was mentioned that they were killed by the bolsheviks, but we didn't talk much more about it.  

[helenazar]

I think schools in the US, really don't teach history, other than American history, too much. They just kind of brush upon the rest because they have to. I suspect that most so called "history teachers" in the US don't even know history themselves! Everything I know about European history is self taught. No wonder so many Americans have no interest in the rest of the world - they hardly know anything about it other than how it immediately effects them!

[James_Davidov]

I just finished my year 12...  My school had a really good history department, years 7-8 classical history, year 9 American (even though we'r Australian)  Then in year 10 we studied the causes  of WWI, which touched on Tsarist Russia, the Kaiser etc etc.  Year 11 and 12 were specialised courses, either 'Revoultions' or 'Aussie history'...Revolutions covered the French, Russian and Chinese, all three were studied in great detail.  I wasn't able to do revs, because it clashed with art and i chose it over revs, (everyone was shocked!)