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Katyn

(Encyclopedia)Katyn kətĭnˈ [key], village, W central European Russia, 12 mi (19 km) W of Smolensk. During World War II, when it was part of the USSR, it was occupied by the Germans in Aug., 1941. In 1943 the Ger...

Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich

(Encyclopedia)Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich yo͞oˈrē vlədyēˈmĭravĭch əndrôˈpôf [key], 1914–84, Soviet Communist leader (1982–84). As ambassador to Hungary from 1954 to 1957, he played a major role in ...

August Coup

(Encyclopedia)August Coup, attempted coup (Aug. 18–22, 1991) against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. On the eve of the signing ceremony for a new union treaty for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, memb...

Kravchuk, Leonid Makarovich

(Encyclopedia)Kravchuk, Leonid Makarovich lĭŭnyētˈ məkärˈəvyĭch kräfˈcho͝ok [key], 1934–, Ukrainian leader, president of Ukraine (1991–94), b. Velyky Zhityn, Ukraine. A political economist and long-...

romanticism

(Encyclopedia)romanticism, term loosely applied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and 19th cent. Romanticism in music was characterized by an emphasis on emotion and great freedom of form. It...

Don Cossacks

(Encyclopedia)Don Cossacks, Cossack settlers (see Cossacks) who in the 16th cent. founded the virtually independent republic of the Don Cossacks on the fertile steppes along the lower course of the Don River. Novoc...

Nichols, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Nichols, Mike, 1931–2014, American actor and director, b. Berlin, Germany, as Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky. His family immigrated to the United States in ...

Tharp, Twyla

(Encyclopedia)Tharp, Twyla twīˈlə [key], 1941–, American dancer and choreographer, b. Portland, Ind. An eclectic, innovative choreographer and dancer, she danced (1963–65) with Paul Taylor. For more than 20 ...

Zhirinovsky, Vladimir Volfovich

(Encyclopedia)Zhirinovsky, Vladimir Volfovich vlədyēˈmĭr vôlˈfəvyĭchˌ zhĭrˌĭnôfˈskē [key], 1946–, Russian politician, b. Kazakh SSR (now Kazakhstan) as Vladimir Volfovich Eidelshtein. Born into a p...

Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich

(Encyclopedia)Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich ĕdˈwärd shəvˈärdnädˈzyə [key], 1928–2014, Georgian politician and diplomat. Known for pragmatism rather than polemicism, Shevardnadze served as the head o...