Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

135 results found

Vasily III

(Encyclopedia)Vasily III (Vasily Ivanovich) vəsēˈlyē ēväˈnəvĭch [key], 1479–1533, grand duke of Moscow (1505–33). Carrying on the policies of his father, Ivan III, he rounded out the territorial consol...

Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich po͝oshˈkĭn, Rus. əlyĭksänˈdər syĭrgāˈyəvĭch po͞oshˈkĭn [key], 1799–1837, Russian poet and prose writer, among the foremost figures in Russian literatur...

Borodino

(Encyclopedia)Borodino bərədyĭnôˈ [key], village, central European Russia, c.70 mi (110 km) W of Moscow. It was the site, on Sept. 7, 1812, of a battle between Napoleon's Grande Armée and Gen. Mikhail Kutuzov...

Carr, Edward Hallett

(Encyclopedia)Carr, Edward Hallett, 1892–1982, English political scientist and historian. Educated at Cambridge, he was in the diplomatic service until 1936, professor of international relations (1936–47) at Un...

Goncharova, Natalie Sergeyevna

(Encyclopedia)Goncharova or Gontcharova, Natalie Sergeyevna nətälˈyə sĕrˌgəyāvˈnə gənchərôˈvə [key], 1881–1962, Russian painter and designer. After studying painting in Moscow, she met Mikhail Lari...

Artzybasheff, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Artzybasheff, Boris ärtsĭbäˈshĕf [key], 1899–1965, American draftsman, illustrator, writer, and cartoonist, b. Kharkiv, Russia (now in Ukraine); son of Mikhail Petrovich Artzybashev. In 1919 he...

Chernenko, Konstantin Ustinovich

(Encyclopedia)Chernenko, Konstantin Ustinovich kŏstəntyēēnˈ ōōstyēēnˈəvich chĭrnyĕnˈkô [key], 1911–85, Soviet political leader. A protégé of Leonid Brezhnev, he rose through Communist party ranks...

Smolensk

(Encyclopedia)Smolensk smōlĕnskˈ, smô–, Rus. sməlyĕnskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 341,000), capital of Smolensk region, W European Russia, a port on the Dnieper River. It is an important rail junction, a dist...

perestroika

(Encyclopedia)perestroika pərˈĕstroyˈkə [key], Soviet economic and social policy of the late 1980s. Perestroika [restructuring] was the term attached to the attempts (1985–91) by Mikhail Gorbachev to transfo...

Weidman, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Weidman, Charles, 1901–75, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Lincoln, Neb. Weidman performed with the troupe formed by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn from 1920 to 1927, when he and Doris Hu...