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By October 1964, resentment over his impul-
sive bureaucratic reorganizations and policies
that appeared erratic reached a head among his
Politburo colleagues. While on vacation near the
Black Sea, he was removed from office and
replaced by Leonid
BREZHNEV
as party general
secretary. Khrushchev retired to a dacha near
Moscow, where he composed his memoirs, first
published posthumously in the West. He died in
September 1971 in Moscow and was buried, not
in the Kremlin Wall with other Communist lead-
ers, but in the city's Novodeviche Cemetery.
Although unsuccessful in his own reforms, he
influenced a whole generation of young party
activists, including Mikhail
GORBACHEV
, who later
enjoyed positions of power in the late 1980s.
awaiting his death, Kibalchich worked out an
original project for the development of a flying
machine based on rocket principles. For the next
three decades, Kibalchich's plan lay buried in the
czarist police archives until discovered by N. A.
Rynin and published in the journal
Byloe
in
1918. Kibalchich's design played an influential
role in spurring interest in space travel in the
1920s and 1930s.
Kiev
The present-day capital of Ukraine, Kiev (Kyiv in
Ukrainian) is considered to be the cradle of east-
ern Slavic culture and civilization. Built mostly
on hills that overlook the Dnieper River, which
flows south into the Black Sea, Kiev was first
founded in the fifth century, but it was only in
the ninth century that it appears more promi-
nently in historical accounts. The city's favorable
location along the routes that linked Scandinavia
and Constantinople brought it relative prosperity
and the attention of Varangian (Viking) adven-
turers who had already taken
NOVGOROD
in 862.
In 882 they took Kiev and made it the capital of
the state known as
KIEVAN RUS
. With the conver-
sion to Orthodox Christianity of
VLADIMIR I
and
his court in 988, Kiev also became one of the
leading religious centers of medieval Europe,
with enduring architectural symbols such as the
Cathedral of St. Sophia and the Perchersky
(Cave) Monastery, both founded in the 11th cen-
tury. War with nomad peoples along the south-
ern frontier was a frequent feature of early
Kievan history. In 1240, the city was captured,
sacked, and destroyed by the Mongol armies of
BATU KHAN
. Mongol rule continued until 1362,
when the city became a part of Lithuania. In the
next three centuries Kiev changed hands fre-
quently: invaded by the Crimean Tatars in 1482;
annexed by the Poles in 1569; and finally given
to Russia in 1686 as part of the “eternal peace”
signed between Poland and Russia. For the next
300 years, with a few brief interruptions, Kiev
would belong to the Russian Empire and its suc-
cessor, the Soviet Union. During the 18th century
Kibalchich, Nikolai Ivanovich
(1853-1881)
revolutionary and inventor
One of the five terrorists from the revolutionary
organization
PEOPLE
'
S WILL
hanged for their role
in the assassination of Czar
ALEXANDER II
on
March 1, 1881. Kibalchich was also one of the
pioneers of Russian rocket science. He was born
on October 10, 1853, in Chernigov province; his
father was a priest. Fascinated with trains, he
entered the St. Petersburg Transportation Insti-
tute in 1871 but transferred two years later to
the Medico-Surgery Academy. Active in revolu-
tionary politics, he was imprisoned in 1875-78
for engaging in revolutionary propaganda. After
his release, he joined the populist organization
Land and Liberty. When Land and Liberty split
in 1879, he sided with the People's Will faction,
which advocated revolutionary terrorism, and
became a member of its Executive Committee.
By this point his interest in trains had given way
to a fascination with explosives. As the People's
Will “main technician,” he directed the prepara-
tion of the bombs that were used to assassinate
the czar. He was arrested on March 17, 1881,
and sentenced to death. Together with Andrei
Zheliabov, Sofia Perovskaya, and two others, he
was hanged on April 3, 1881. While in prison
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