Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich mēkhəyēlˈ ēväˈnəvĭch kəlyēˈnyĭn [key], 1875–1946, Russian revolutionary. Of peasant origin, he was active in revolutionary affairs from his youth. He became t...

(Encyclopedia) Pogodin, Mikhail Petrovich mēkhəyēlˈ pētrôˈvĭch pəgôˈdyĭn [key], 1800–1875, Russian historian and publisher. His conservative journal The Muscovite (1841–56) defended the policies of N...

(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...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich mēkhəyēlˈ ēväˈnəvĭch glēnˈkä [key], 1804–57, first of the nationalist school of Russian composers. His two operas, A Life for the Czar (1836) and Russlan and Lu...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Artzybashev, Mikhail Petrovich mēkhəyēlˈ pētrôˈvĭch ärtsĭbäˈshĕf [key], 1878–1927, Russian novelist, playwright, and essayist. Artzybashev's early works were short stories in the manner...

(Encyclopedia) Bulgakov, Mikhail Afanasyevich mēkhəyēlˈ əfənäˈsyəvĭch bo͝olgäˈkəf [key], 1891–1940, Russian novelist and playwright. He wrote satirical stories (The Deviliad, 1925, tr. 1972) and come...

(Encyclopedia) Skobelev, Mikhail Dmitreyevich mēkhəyĕlˈ dəmēˈtrēəvĭch skôˈbĭlyĭf [key], 1843–82, Russian general, one of the military commanders responsible for the Russian conquests in Turkistan. He...

(Encyclopedia) Frunze, Mikhail Vasilyevich mēkhəyēlˈ vəsēˈlyəvĭch fro͞onˈzĕ [key], 1885–1925, Russian general. A revolutionary, he was exiled (1914) to Siberia but returned to take part in the October ...