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Castro, Fidel

(Encyclopedia)Castro, Fidel (Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz) käsˈtrō [key], 1926–2016, Cuban revolutionary, premier of Cuba (1959–76), president of the Council of State and of the Council of Ministers (1976–2...

Charikar

(Encyclopedia)Charikar chäˈrĭkär [key], city, NE Afghanistan. It is noted for its pottery and high-quality grapes. During the 1960s Afghanistan's largest textile factory was built nearby. During the 1979–89 o...

Tychyna, Pavlo

(Encyclopedia)Tychyna, Pavlo, 1891–1967, Ukrainian poet. Tychyna's first volume of verse (Solar Clarinets, 1919) revealed a strong symbolist influence. His later poetry, including The Party is our Guide (1934) an...

Porkkala

(Encyclopedia)Porkkala pôrkˈkälä [key], small, strategic peninsula, Southern Finland prov., in the Gulf of Finland, near Helsinki. Under the Soviet-Finnish armistice of 1944, Finland leased this area to the USS...

Chaliapin, Feodor Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Chaliapin, Feodor Ivanovich fyôˈdər ēväˈnəvĭch shəlyäˈpyĭn [key], 1873–1938, Russian operatic bass. His powerful and supple voice, together with his tremendous physique, his gusto, and h...

Antonescu, Ion

(Encyclopedia)Antonescu, Ion yôn äntônĕsˈko͞o [key], 1882–1946, Romanian marshal and dictator. He served in World War I and later became chief of staff, but he fell into disfavor with King Carol II because ...

glasnost

(Encyclopedia)glasnost gläsˈnōst [key], Soviet cultural and social policy of the late 1980s. Following his ascension to the leadership of the USSR in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev began to promote a policy of openness...

Vyborg

(Encyclopedia)Vyborg vĭˈbərk [key], Finnish Viipuri, Swed. Viborg, city (1989 pop. 81,000), NW European Russia, NW of St. Petersburg and near the Finnish border, on Vyborg Bay and the Gulf of Finland. A Baltic p...

Reed, John

(Encyclopedia)Reed, John, 1887–1920, American journalist and radical leader, b. Portland, Oreg. After graduating from Harvard in 1910, he wrote articles for various publications and from 1913 was attached to the ...

Vertov, Dziga

(Encyclopedia)Vertov, Dziga, 1896–1954, Soviet filmmaker, pseudonym of Denis Kaufman. Vertov introduced the idea of “Kino-Pravda” (or cinéma vérité), which was extremely influential worldwide, affecting ci...