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Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich

(Encyclopedia)Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich lāyōnēdˈ ĭlyēchˈ brĕzhˈnĕf [key], 1906–82, Soviet leader. He joined (1931) the Communist party and rose steadily in its hierarchy. In 1952 he became a secretary of ...

Gulag

(Encyclopedia)Gulag, system of forced-labor prison camps in the USSR, from the Russian acronym [GULag] for the Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps, a department of the Soviet secret police (originally the Ch...

Brown, Trisha

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Trisha, 1936–2017, American dancer and choreographer acclaimed for having revolutionized modern dance in the late 20th cent., b. Aberdeen, Wash. After studying dance at Mills College (B.A., 1...

Russian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Russian art and architecture, the artistic and architectural production of the geographical area of Russia. Around the turn of the century Mir Iskusstva (World of Art Group) was initiated, a movemen...

Kaliningrad

(Encyclopedia)Kaliningrad kəlyēˌnyĭn-grätˈ [key], formerly Königsberg, city (1989 pop. 401,000), capital of Kaliningrad region, an exclave of W European Russia; on the Pregolya River near its mouth on the Vi...

Afghanistan War

(Encyclopedia)Afghanistan War, 1978–92, conflict between anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin) and Afghan government and Soviet forces. The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew A...

Gallitzin

(Encyclopedia)Gallitzin gəlyēˈtsĭn [key], Russian princely family. Among many alternate spellings are Galitzin, Galytzin, and Galitsin. Vasily Vasilyevich Gallitzin, d. 1619, helped to enthrone the first false ...

Morris, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Mark 1956–, American dancer and choreographer, b. Seattle, Wash. After training in Balkan folk dance, flamenco, and ballet, he went on to dance for Eliot Feld, Laura Dean, and Lar Lubovitch....

Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462 (table)

(Encyclopedia)Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462(including dates of rule) House of Rurik House of Godunov Usurpers House of Romanov Provisional Government(premiers) Soviet Russia (1917–22) and the U...

Russo-Turkish Wars

(Encyclopedia)Russo-Turkish Wars. The great eastward expansion of Russia in the 16th and 17th cent., during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, nevertheless left the shores of the Black Sea in the hands of the Ottom...