Between the fourteenth and the seventeenth centuries the princes and political elite of Muscovy created a vast multi-national empire in Eastern Europe and Asia. Over the next 150 years their imperial heirs transformed and extended this empire, to the point that on the eve of the Crimean War (1853-1855) many believed it to be the most powerful state in Europe. But defeat in the war exposed the weakness of the imperial regime and helped to provoke a process of state-led reform that failed to avert, and may well have contributed to, the collapse of the regime in the February Revolution of 1917. Using a combination of primary and secondary sources, this course will explore the character of the Muscovite and the Russian empires and the forces, processes, and personalities that shaped their formation, expansion, and, in the latter case, decline. Discussion/lecture course. Evaluation will be based on class participation, a map quiz, several short essays based on class readings, and a final self-scheduled exam. Groups B and D