encyclopædia britannica subscribe log in · join in the news spotlight demystified quizzes galleries lists on this day search britannica what are you looking for? search browse popular topics: sir isaac newton mexican-american war russian revolution of 1917 harlem renaissance haiti earthquake of 2010 home / countries of the world / countries of asia / russia russia country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern europe and northern asia. displaying 201 - 300 of 800 results glazov city and administrative centre of glazov rayon (sector) in udmurtiya republic, russia. founded in 1780 as a point of udmurt settlement, it is on the cheptsa river. industrial activities include timber milling, woodworking, metal working, and food processing.... glazunov, aleksandr the major russian symphonic composer of the generation that followed tchaikovsky. glazunov's mother, a piano pupil of mily balakirev, took her obviously talented son to her teacher, and on his advice the boy in 1880 began study with nikolay rimsky-korsakov.... glière, reinhold soviet composer, of german and polish descent, who was noted for his works incorporating elements of the folk music of several eastern soviet republics. glière was the son of a musician and maker of wind instruments. he attended the moscow conservatory?where... glinka, mikhail the first russian composer to win international recognition, and the acknowledged founder of the russian nationalist school. glinka first became interested in music at age 10 or 11, when he heard his uncle's private orchestra. he studied at the chief... godunov, boris russian statesman who was chief adviser to tsar fyodor i (reigned 1584?98) and was himself elected tsar of muscovy (reigning 1598?1605) after the extinction of the rurik dynasty. his reign inaugurated the devastating time of troubles (1598?1613) in the... golitsyn, boris alekseyevich russian statesman who played a major role during the early years of the reign of peter i the great (ruled 1682?1725). a nobleman whose clan descended from the 14th-century lithuanian grand duke gediminas, golitsyn became a court chamberlain (1676) and... golitsyn, dmitry mikhaylovich, knyaz (prince) russian statesman who unsuccessfully tried to transform the russian autocracy into a constitutional monarchy. having been sent to italy in 1697 by tsar peter i the great to study ?military affairs,? golitsyn was appointed commander of an auxiliary... golitsyn family russian noble family descended from the 14th-century lithuanian grand duke gediminas. three members played prominent roles as statesmen around the time of peter i the great (r. 1682?1725). vasily golitsyn was chief adviser to peter's regent, sophia alekseyevna.... golitsyn, vasily vasilyevich, knyaz (prince) russian statesman who was the chief adviser to sophia alekseyevna and dominated russian foreign policy during her regency (1682?89). extremely well educated and greatly influenced by western european culture, golitsyn was awarded the rank of... golovin, fyodor alekseyevich, graf (graf) russian statesman and diplomat who served prominently during the reign (1682?1725) of peter i the great of russia. despite golovin's loyalty to peter, the regent sophia alekseyevna (reigned 1682?89)?peter's half sister and political rival?promoted... golovkin, gavriil ivanovich, graf (graf) russian statesman and diplomat who was a close associate of peter i the great (reigned 1682?1725) and became russia's first state chancellor. a relative of peter's mother, natalya naryshkina, golovkin became a member of the royal court in 1677,... gorbachev, raisa russian academic and de facto first lady of the soviet union who rejected the virtual invisibility of her predecessors and came to embody many of the social and political changes wrought by her husband, pres. mikhail gorbachev; her elegant style, outspoken... gorchakov, aleksandr mikhaylovich, prince (knyaz) statesman who served as russia's foreign minister during the quarter century following the crimean war (1853?56), when russia was trying to regain its stature as a powerful european nation. a cousin of the crimean war general mikhail dmitriyevich... gorchakov, mikhail dmitriyevich, prince (knyaz) russian military officer and statesman who played a major role in the crimean war (1853?56) and served as the russian viceroy in poland (1856?61). gorchakov gained his early military experience during the russian campaign in persia (1810), the... gordon, patrick scottish soldier of fortune who became a general in the russian army and a close friend of peter i the great of russia (reigned 1682?1725). having left scotland, which was torn by religious and political strife, gordon went to danzig (now gda'sk) in... goremykin, ivan logginovich russian official and government minister whom many view as a symbol of the unresponsiveness of the tsarist regime to the social unrest preceding the russian revolution. goremykin spent most of his life as a government bureaucrat, attaining successively... gorky, maksim russian short-story writer and novelist who first attracted attention with his naturalistic and sympathetic stories of tramps and social outcasts and later wrote other stories, novels, and plays, including his famous the lower depths. early life gorky's... gorno-altaysk city and administrative centre of altay republic, southern russia. it lies in the foothills of the altai mountains, along the mayma river near its confluence with the katun. gorno-altaysk is an agricultural centre and has a woodworking industry and cloth... greek independence, war of (1821?32), rebellion of greeks within the ottoman empire, a struggle which resulted in the establishment of an independent kingdom of greece. the rebellion originated in the activities of the philikí etaireía (?friendly brotherhood?), a patriotic conspiracy... group of 20 g20 international body created in 1999 that provides a forum for strategic economic communication between industrialized and developing countries. the g20 originated as a response to the economic crises of the late 1990s; it expanded on the work of the... grozny city and capital of the republic of chechnya, russia. it lies along the sunzha river at the foot of the sunzha range of the caucasus. grozny was founded in 1818 as a fortress; the writers leo tolstoy and mikhail lermontov served there. the presence of... gubaidulina, sofia russian composer, whose works fuse russian and central asian regional styles with the western classical tradition. during her youth, gubaidulina studied music in the city of kazan, the capital of her home republic. she had lessons at the kazan music... gubkin city, belgorod oblast (region), russia. it was founded in the 1930s in connection with the development of the kursk magnetic anomaly (kma), one of the largest iron-ore mining basins in russia. gubkin is still an important iron-ore mining centre, with... guchkov, aleksandr ivanovich statesman and leader of the moderate liberal political movement in russia between 1905 and 1917. the son of a wealthy moscow merchant, guchkov studied at the universities of moscow and berlin, traveled widely, fought against the british in the south... gukovo city, rostov oblast (province), southwestern russia. it is one of the centres of the coal industry in the donets basin and is located in the eastern part of the coalfield. construction is also important, employing one-quarter of the labour force. a technical... gulag (russian: ?chief administration of corrective labour camps?), the system of soviet labour camps and accompanying detention and transit camps and prisons that from the 1920s to the mid-1950s housed the political prisoners and criminals of the soviet union.... gurko, vasily iosifovich russian cavalry officer and last chief of the general staff of tsarist russia (october 1916?february 1917) and russian commander in chief from march to june 1917. the son of field marshal iosif vladimirovich gurko, gurko graduated from the general staff... gus-khrustalny city and centre of a rayon (sector), vladimir oblast (province), western russia, on the gus river. the city has long been famous as a centre of the glass industry, from which it takes its name. its products, which include cut glass and decorative objects,... hermitage art museum in st. petersburg founded in 1764 by catherine the great as a court museum. it adjoined the winter palace and served as a private gallery for the art amassed by the empress. under nicholas i the hermitage was reconstructed (1840?52), and it... herzen, aleksandr ivanovich political thinker, activist, and writer who originated the theory of a unique russian path to socialism known as peasant populism. herzen chronicled his career in my past and thoughts (1861?67), which is considered to be one of the greatest works of... holy alliance a loose organization of most of the european sovereigns, formed in paris on sept. 26, 1815, by alexander i of russia, francis i of austria, and frederick william iii of prussia when they were negotiating the second peace of paris after the final defeat... hünkâr 'skelesi, treaty of (july 8, 1833), defensive alliance signed between the ottoman empire and russia at the village of hünkâr 'skelesi, near istanbul, by which the ottoman empire became a virtual protectorate of russia. facing defeat by the insurgent mu?ammad ?al? pasha... igarka city, krasnoyarsk kray (territory), northwestern siberia, russia. it is 60 miles (100 km) north of the arctic circle. the city lies along the yenisey river, 418 miles (673 km) from the sea, but is accessible to oceangoing vessels. it was founded in 1929.... ignatyev, nikolay pavlovich, graf pan-slavist diplomat and statesman who played a major role in the administration of russia's foreign policy in asia under tsar alexander ii (reigned 1855?81). having become an officer in the russian guards at 17, ignatyev began his diplomatic career... ili crisis (1879?81), dispute between russia and china over the chinese region centred on the ili (yili) river, an area in the northern part of chinese turkistan (east turkistan), near russian turkistan (west turkistan). ili was the scene of increasing russian... ingushetiya republic in southwestern russia. the crest line of the greater caucasus range forms its southern boundary with georgia; the russian republic of chechnya lies to the east, and that of north ossetia?alania (formerly north ossetia) to the west and north.... irkutsk oblast (region), east-central russia, occupying an area of 296,500 square miles (767,900 square km) west and north of lake baikal. it consists mostly of the hills and broad valleys of the central siberian plateau and of its eastern extension, the patom... irkutsk city and administrative centre of irkutsk oblast (region), east-central russia. the city lies along the angara river at its confluence with the irkut river. it was founded as a wintering camp in 1652, during the first russian colonization of the area;... ishimbay city, bashkortostan republic, western russia. ishimbay lies along the belaya (white) river. it was the earliest centre of the oil industry in the volga?urals oil field, which was first exploited in 1932, and of the first oil refinery started in 1936.... ivan iv grand prince of moscow (1533?84) and the first to be proclaimed tsar of russia (from 1547). his reign saw the completion of the construction of a centrally administered russian state and the creation of an empire that included non-slav states. ivan engaged... ivan v nominal tsar of russia from 1682 to 1696. the younger son of tsar alexis (reigned 1645?76) by his first wife, mariya ilinichna miloslavskaya, ivan was a chronic invalid, deficient mentally and physically, who suffered from scurvy and poor eyesight and... ivan vi infant emperor of russia in 1740?41. the son of prince anton ulrich of braunschweig-bevern-lüneburg and anna leopoldovna, the niece of empress anna (reigned in russia 1730?40), ivan antonovich was named heir to the throne by the empress on oct. 16 (oct.... ivanovo city and administrative centre of ivanovo oblast (region), western russia, on both banks of the uvod river. it was created from two villages, ivanovo and voznesensk, in 1871; until 1932 it was known as ivanovo-voznesensk. the first linen mills in russia... ivanovo oblast (region), western russia, northeast of moscow astride the middle volga river and centred on ivanovo city. the surface is a rolling morainic plain, with forests of spruce, pine, and fir and much swamp; most soils are infertile, though the southwest,... izhevsk city and capital of udmurtiya, in west-central russia, lying along the izh river. izhevsk was founded in 1760 as a centre of ironworking and later of armaments, and the city remains a major producer of steel, armaments, machine tools, building machinery,... izvolsky, aleksandr, count diplomat who was responsible for a major russian diplomatic defeat in the balkans (1908?09) that increased tensions between russia and austria-hungary prior to world war i. educated at the imperial lyceum in st. petersburg, izvolsky held numerous diplomatic... january insurrection (1863?64), polish rebellion against russian rule in poland; the insurrection was unsuccessful and resulted in the imposition of tighter russian control over poland. after alexander ii became emperor of russia and king of poland in 1855, the strict and... jassy, treaty of (jan. 9, 1792), pact signed at jassy in moldavia (modern ia?i, romania), at the conclusion of the russo-turkish war of 1787?92; it confirmed russian dominance in the black sea. the russian empress catherine ii the great had entered the war envisioning... jewish autonomous region autonomous oblast (region), far eastern russia, in the basin of the middle amur river. most of the oblast consists of level plain, with extensive swamps, patches of swampy forest, and grassland on fertile soils, now largely plowed up. in the north and... john of kronshtadt russian orthodox priest-ascetic whose pastoral and educational activities, particularly among the unskilled poor, contributed notably to russia's social and spiritual reform. after graduating from the theological academy in st. petersburg, john entered... jomini, henri, baron de french general, military critic, and historian whose systematic attempt to define the principles of warfare made him one of the founders of modern military thought. jomini began his military career by offering his services as a volunteer staff member... joseph of volokolamsk, saint russian orthodox abbot and theologian whose monastic reform emphasized strict community life and social work. joseph's monastic career came into prominence at the monastery at borovsk, a wealthy religious foundation supported by the grand prince of moscow.... july days (july 16?20 [july 3?7, old style], 1917), a period in the russian revolution during which workers and soldiers of petrograd staged armed demonstrations against the provisional government that resulted in a temporary decline of bolshevik influence and... june offensive (june [july, new style], 1917), unsuccessful military operation of world war i, planned by the russian minister of war aleksandr kerensky. the operation not only demonstrated the degree to which the russian army had disintegrated but also the extent... kabalevsky, dmitry soviet composer of music in a nationalistic russian idiom, whose music also found an international audience. in 1918 kabalevsky moved with his family to moscow, where he studied at the scriabin music school from 1919 to 1925, and in 1925 he entered the... kabardino-balkariya republic in southwestern russia, on the northern flank of the greater caucasus range. it is divided into three main relief regions. in the south is the greater caucasus, the crest of which forms the boundary. four mountain ranges?glavny, peredovoy, skalisty,... kalinin, mikhail ivanovich communist leader and statesman who was the formal head of the soviet state from 1919 until 1946. a peasant by birth, kalinin became an industrial worker in the city of st. petersburg in 1893, joined the russian social-democratic workers? party in 1898,... kaliningrad city, seaport, and administrative centre of kaliningrad oblast (region), russia. detached from the rest of the country, the city is an exclave of the russian federation. kaliningrad lies on the pregolya river just upstream from frisches lagoon. formerly... kaliningrad oblast (region), extreme western russia. most of the oblast is in the basin of the pregolya river and its tributaries. centred on kaliningrad city, it was formed in 1945 from the northern half of german east prussia, which was ceded to the u.s.s.r. by... kalmykiya republic in southwestern russia, lying northwest of the caspian sea and west of the lower volga river. on the east it reaches the caspian shore, and in the northeast it touches the volga. most of the republic lies in the vast lowland of the northern... kaluga city and administrative centre of kaluga oblast (region), western russia, west of moscow on the oka river. founded in the 14th century as a stronghold against the tatars on the southern borders of muscovy, it later became a seat of provincial administration.... kaluga oblast (region), western russia. it occupies an area in the upper oka river basin southwest of moscow oblast. broad, often swampy valleys alternate with rolling hills of the central russian upland. the natural vegetation?mixed forest of oak, spruce,... kamchatka kray (territory), far eastern russia. the territory was created in 2007 when the kamchatka oblast (region) was merged with the koryak autonomous okrug (district). the territory includes the entire kamchatka peninsula and the southern end of the koryak... kamchatka peninsula peninsula in far eastern russia, lying between the sea of okhotsk on the west and the pacific ocean and bering sea on the east. it is about 750 miles (1,200 km) long north-south and about 300 miles (480 km) across at its widest; its area is approximately... kamen-na-obi city and administrative centre of kamensky rayon (sector), altay kray (territory), south-central russia. a port on the ob river, it was founded in 1670 and designated an urban settlement in 1915 and became a city in 1925. its economic base is the food-processing... kamensk-shakhtinsky city, rostov oblast (region), southwestern russia, on the seversky (?northern?) donets river. founded in 1686 as a cossack settlement, it became a city in 1927. once a major coal-mining centre of the eastern donets basin, it primarily manufactures agricultural... kamensk-uralsky city, sverdlovsk oblast (region), western russia, at the confluence of the kamenka and iset rivers. the first state iron foundry in the urals, kamensky zavod, was established there in 1700?01. the modern city specializes in the production of aluminum... kamerny theatre small, intimate theatre founded in moscow in 1914 by the russian director aleksandr tairov to support his experimental synthetic theatre that incorporated all theatrical arts?ballet, opera, music, mime, and drama?as an alternative to the naturalistic... kamyshin city, volgograd oblast (region), western russia. the city lies along the volga river and the volgograd reservoir. in 1697 peter i the great built a fort, petrovsk, to protect workmen attempting to construct a canal between the volga and don rivers. renamed... kankrin, egor frantsevich, graf russian minister of finance (1823?44) under nicholas i. an extreme fiscal conservative, he resisted most efforts to modernize the russian state. he was created a count in 1829. the son of a german mining engineer employed in russia, kankrin left germany... kansk city, krasnoyarsk kray (territory), central russia, on the kan river where it is crossed by the trans-siberian railroad. founded in 1640 as a russian fort, it is a centre of the kansk-achinsk lignite basin, which in the early 1980s was being developed... kantemir, dmitry statesman, scientist, humanist, scholar, and the greatest member of the distinguished romanian-russian family of cantemir. he was prince of moldavia (1710?11) and later adviser of peter the great of russia. the son of prince constantin cantemir of moldavia,... kapodístrias, ioánnis antónios, komis komis ?count? greek statesman who was prominent in the russian foreign service during the reign of alexander i (reigned 1801?25) and in the greek struggle for independence. the son of komis antonio capo d?istria, he was born in corfu (at that time under... karachayevo-cherkesiya republic, southwestern russia. it extends south from the foreland plains across the northern ranges and deep intervening valleys and gorges of the greater caucasus range as far as the crestline, which reaches 13,274 feet (4,046 metres) in mount dombay-ulgen.... karakhan manifesto manifesto issued on july 25, 1919, by lev karakhan, a member of the foreign ministry of the newly formed soviet republic, in which he offered to relinquish all soviet claims to the special rights and privileges won by the russian tsarist government in... karelia respublika (republic), far northwestern russia. it is bordered to the north by nenets, to the east by the white sea, to the south by lake ladoga, and to the west by finland. the capital is petrozavodsk, on the western shore of lake onega. underlain by... karelian isthmus neck of land lying between lake ladoga (east; in saint petersburg oblast [province]) and the gulf of finland (west; part of the baltic sea). the isthmus shows evidence of ancient glaciation; its long, winding morainic hills, which reach an elevation... katsh, abraham isaac polish-born american educator and researcher who was a scholar of judaica and was credited with the addition of modern hebrew to the curricula of american colleges; during the cold war he persuaded soviet officials to allow him to study and microfilm--and... katyn massacre mass execution of polish military officers by the soviet union during world war ii. the discovery of the massacre precipitated the severance of diplomatic relations between the soviet union and the polish government-in-exile in london. after nazi germany... kaufmann, konstantin petrovich general who conquered vast territories in central asia for the russian empire and ruled russian turkistan for two decades. having been trained as an engineer, kaufmann served in the caucasus in the early years of his military career (1840s), commanded... kavkazsky nature reserve natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences, at the western end of the caucasus mountains, in southwestern russia. it includes the upper reaches of the malaya laba, bolshaya laba, mzymta, and shakhe rivers. the kavkazsky nature reserve... kazan capital city, tatarstan republic, western russia. it lies just north of the samara reservoir on the volga river, where it is joined by the kazanka river. the city stretches for about 15 miles (25 km) along hills, which are much dissected by ravines.... kemerovo oblast (region), south-central russia. the oblast lies in the tom river basin. the north-south valley of the basin is flanked by the kuznetsk alatau mountains on the east and by the lower salair ridge on the west. in the south are the low gornaya shoriya... kemerovo city and administrative centre of kemerovo oblast (region), south-central russia. kemerovo lies along the tom river near the foothills of the kuznetsk alatau mountains. the small village of kemerovo was founded in the 1830s and merged with the village... kerensky, aleksandr moderate socialist revolutionary who served as head of the russian provisional government from july to october 1917 (old style). while studying law at the university of st. petersburg, kerensky was attracted to the narodniki (or populist) revolutionary... khabarovsk city and administrative centre of khabarovsk kray (territory), far eastern russia. khabarovsk lies along the amur river just below its confluence with the ussuri. the town was named after the russian explorer e.p. khabarov, who made several expeditions... khabarovsk kray (region), far eastern russia. the kray includes the yevreyskaya (jewish) autonomous oblast (province). its focus is the basin of the lower amur river, flanked by the sikhote-alin mountains (south) and by the complex of mountains (north) dominated... khakasiya republic in central russia. the republic occupies the western half of the broad minusinsk basin on the upper yenisey river. the abakan river, a tributary of the yenisey, forms the axis of the republic. southeast of the abakan's valley rise the western... khanty-mansi autonomous okrug (district), western siberia, russia. the khanty-mansi national okrug was established in 1930 for the khanty (ostyak) and mansi (vogul) peoples, although the majority of the present population are russian settlers; the national okrug... khanty-mansiysk city and administrative centre of khanty-mansi autonomous okrug (district), russia, in the west siberian plain. situated on the irtysh river near its confluence with the ob river, the city was formed in 1950 from the urban settlement of khanty-mansiysk... khasavyurt city and centre of khasavyurt rayon (sector), dagestan republic, southwestern russia. it lies along the yaryksu river in a cotton-growing area, with cotton-ginning and fruit- and vegetable-canning industries. agricultural and teacher-training colleges... khimki city and centre of a rayon (sector), moscow oblast (region), western russia. it lies along the moscow'st. petersburg railway northwest of the capital. incorporated in 1939, khimki grew from a small nucleus of summer cottages (dachi). it is now an important... kholmogory village, port, and administrative centre of kholmogory rayon (sector), arkhangelsk oblast (region), northwestern european russia. it lies along the northern dvina river, 47 miles (75 km) southeast of the city of arkhangelsk. the village has existed since... khrushchev's secret speech (february 25, 1956), in russian history, denunciation of the deceased soviet leader joseph stalin made by nikita s. khrushchev to a closed session of the 20th congress of the communist party of the soviet union. the speech was the nucleus of a far-reaching... kimry city and centre of a rayon (sector), tver oblast (region), western russia. the old part of the city, situated on the high left (west) bank of the volga river, is a centre of traditional handicrafts, especially of leatherworking, shoes, and hosiery. kimry,... kineshma city, ivanovo oblast (region), western russia, on the volga river. founded in the 16th century, the city grew rapidly after the october revolution in 1917 as a river port, handling cotton, petroleum, timber, and grain. the terminus of a railway from... kirov city and administrative centre of kirov oblast (region), western russia, on the vyatka river. the city was founded as khlynov in 1181 by traders from novgorod and became the centre of the ?vyatka lands,? settled by russians in the 14th to the 15th century.... kirov oblast (region), western russia. the oblast occupies almost the entire basin of the vyatka river. it is a rolling morainic plain rising from the broad, central valley of the vyatka to the dissected limestone uplands of the severnye hills in the north... kirovsk city, murmansk oblast (region), northwestern russia, at the edge of the khibiny mountains. until the opening of apatite and nephelinite mines in the region in 1929, kirovsk was merely open tundra peopled by reindeer herders. it soon became a booming... kiselyov, pavel dmitriyevich russian general, statesman, and progressive administrator during the reign of tsar nicholas i (1825?55). kiselyov fought in the war against napoleon in 1812 and in 1814 became an aide-de-camp to alexander i, after which his rise was rapid. he served... back to featured russia articles previous page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 next page

