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MacDonald, Ramsay

(Encyclopedia)MacDonald, Ramsay (James Ramsay McDonald), 1866–1937, British statesman, b. Scotland. The illegitimate son of a servant, he went as a young man to London, where he joined the Social Democratic Feder...

Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462 (table)

(Encyclopedia)Russian and Soviet Rulers since 1462(including dates of rule) House of Rurik House of Godunov Usurpers House of Romanov Provisional Government(premiers) Soviet Russia (1917–22) and the U...

Barrymore

(Encyclopedia)Barrymore, Anglo-American family of actors. Lionel and Ethel's younger brother, John Barrymore,John Barrymore, 1882–1942, b. Philadelphia, tried his hand at painting and cartooning before turning ...

Catherine II

(Encyclopedia)Catherine II or Catherine the Great, 1729–96, czarina of Russia (1762–96). Catherine increased the power and prestige of Russia by skillful diplomacy and by extending Russia's western boundary i...

Trotsky, Leon

(Encyclopedia)Trotsky, Leon trŏtˈskē, Rus. lāˈən trôtˈskē [key], 1879–1940, Russian Communist revolutionary, one of the principal leaders in the establishment of the USSR; his original name was Lev David...

Russian Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Russian Revolution, violent upheaval in Russia in 1917 that overthrew the czarist government. The civil war between the Bolsheviks (Reds) and the anti-Bolsheviks (Whites) ravaged Russia until 1920. ...

Labour party

(Encyclopedia)Labour party, British political party, one of the two dominant parties in Great Britain since World War I. Harold Wilson, who became leader on Gaitskell's death in 1963, was able to lead the party t...

Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich

(Encyclopedia)Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich stäˈlĭn, Rus. vĭsəryôˈnəvĭch stäˈlyĭn [key], 1879–1953, Soviet Communist leader and head of the USSR from the death of V. I. Lenin (1924) until his own deat...

Alaska

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Alaska əlăˈskə [key], largest in area of the United States but one of the smallest in population, occupying the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from the coter...

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

(Encyclopedia)Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Rus. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, former republic. It was established in 1922 and dissolved in 1991. The Soviet Union was the first state...

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