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Kievan Rus

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Kievan Rus (c.1000) Kievan Rus kēˈĕfən [key], medieval state of the Eastern Slavs. It was the earliest predecessor of modern Ukraine and Russia. Flourishing from the 10th to the 13th cent....

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Milyukov or Miliukov, Pavel Nikolayevich both: päˈvĭl nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch mēlyo͞okôfˈ [key], 1859–1943, Russian political leader and historian. An advocate of parliamentary democracy, he was ...

Leopold I, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Leopold I, 1790–1865, king of the Belgians (1831–65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a general of the Ru...

Davout, Louis Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Davout, Louis Nicolas lwē nēkôläˈ dävo͞oˈ [key], 1770–1823, marshal of France. One of Napoleon's ablest generals, Davout defeated a Prussian army at Auerstedt (1806) and played a brilliant p...

Ivan VI

(Encyclopedia)Ivan VI, 1740–64, czar of Russia (1740–41), great-grandson of Ivan V. He was the son of Prince Anthony Ulric of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and of Anna Leopoldovna. An infant, he succeeded his great-a...

Walachia

(Encyclopedia)Walachia or Wallachia both: wälāˈkēə, wə– [key], historic region (29,568 sq mi/76,581 sq km), S Romania. The Transylvanian Alps separate it in the NW from Transylvania and the Banat; the Danub...

Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich əlyĭksänˈ dər vəsēˈlyəvĭch so͞ovôˈrəf [key], 1729–1800, Russian field marshal. Suvorov entered the army as a youth and rose rapidly through the ranks. He...

Czartoryski

(Encyclopedia)Czartoryski chärtôrĭsˈkē [key], Polish princely family. Although of ancient lineage, it rose to prominence only in the 17th cent., and in the 18th cent. during the reign of the Saxon kings of Pol...

Mazepa, Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Mazepa, Ivan ēvänˈ məzyāˈpə [key], c.1640–1709, Cossack hetman [leader] in the Russian Ukraine. He was made hetman (1687) on the insistence of Prince Gallitzin, adviser to the Russian regent,...

Gallitzin

(Encyclopedia)Gallitzin gəlyēˈtsĭn [key], Russian princely family. Among many alternate spellings are Galitzin, Galytzin, and Galitsin. Vasily Vasilyevich Gallitzin, d. 1619, helped to enthrone the first false ...