Nation Building in Central Europe

[Ali.Cat]

Hello all, I'm currently in a course at the University of Ottawa called Nation Building in Central Europe. We have to write a 10 - 15 page paper for the course and I'm just not sure where to go with it. These are the profs suggested topics:

1. Pick an individual country or people in Central Europe
-Survey its history in the 19th and 20th century while focussing on one of the following:
a) the rise of nationalism among its people
b) the codification of its language
c) it liberation movement
d) its inter-war history (1918 - 1939)
e) how it fared during world war II
f) how it became Communist
g) How it fared under Communism
h) how it overthrew Communism
i) how it has fared since

2. Pick a them to exploe (eg. nationalism, fascism, communism, religion, inter-ethnic relations, federalism etc)

3. compare what happened in 2-3 countried over time, or through some theme

I definately want my focus to be on Communism and Russia, but that's about as far as my brainstorming has gone thus far... pretty bad I know. There is just so much to discuss and I'm having a really hard time a) understanding what I'm reading... the path to Russian Revolution is confusing me and b) determining what from that information I would like to focus on.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

[bcbm]

Russia is central Europe? :unsure:

In any case, I get the feeling you want to do number 1f, right? So explore the history... how communism came to Russia, 1905, the Bolshevik-Menshevik split, etc.

[JKP]

Neither Russia nor any part of central or eastern Europe was communist by the way.

[Ali.Cat]

I agree, I wouldn't really call Russia central Europe, but in the context of the class the prof is all for it. And I'm not saying Russia was ever Communist but it was a goal at the time and something that many people do think was achieved. But if you didn't have anything to suggest JKP than why post?

[ComradeOm]

Have you any specific questions on the Russian Revolution or beyond?