Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ryti, Risto rēˈstō rüˈtē [key], 1889–1956, Finnish political leader. In 1919 he was elected to the Finnish diet. He later served as minister of finance (1921–24) and as governor of the Bank ...

(Encyclopedia) Spaak, Paul Henri pôl äNrēˈ späk [key], 1899–1972, Belgian statesman and Socialist leader. He held various cabinet posts after 1935 and served almost continually as foreign minister from 1938 t...

(Encyclopedia) Lissitzky, El (Eliezer Markovich Lissitzky) lyĭsyētsˈkē [key], 1890–1941, Russian painter, designer, teacher, and architect. Lissitzky studied at Darmstadt and later taught at the Moscow Academy...

(Encyclopedia) Nitze, Paul Henry nĭtˈsə [key], 1907–2004, American public official, b. Amherst, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1927. After working in investment banking, he entered government service in 1940 and served ...

(Encyclopedia) telepathy, supposed communication between two persons without recourse to the senses. The word was formulated in 1882 by Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet, essayist, and a leading founder of ...

(Encyclopedia) balance of power, system of international relations in which nations seek to maintain an approximate equilibrium of power among many rivals, thus preventing the preponderance of any one state. Crucial...

(Encyclopedia) Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The c...

(Encyclopedia) Nagy, Imre ĭmˈrĕ nôj, nŏdˈyə [key], 1896–1958, Hungarian Communist leader. Nagy was a symbol of the 1956 Hungarian revolt against the Soviet Union. As an agricultural expert he held several g...

(Encyclopedia) Kirov Ballet, one of the two major ballet companies of Russia, the other being the Bolshoi Ballet. In 1991 it was officially renamed the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Ballet; however, on its frequent tours...

(Encyclopedia) Ulbricht, Walter välˈtər o͝olˈbrĭkht [key], 1893–1973, Communist leader in the German Democratic Republic. A founder of the German Communist party, he fled Germany in 1933 and went to Moscow, ...