Kosovo Yko-so-.voX Albanian Kosova Region (pop., 2001 est.: 2,325,000) within the republic of Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro. It occu¬ pies an area of 4,203 sq mi (10,887 sq km); its administrative capital is Pristina. Before 1999, ethnic Albanians, most of whom are Muslims, made up about four-fifths of its population, with Serbs (mostly Christian) accounting for the bulk of the remainder. Kosovo was an autonomous region until 1989, when Serbia took control of Kosovo’s administration,
prompting protests from the region’s Albanian population, which in 1990 voted to secede from Yugoslavia. Serbia responded by tightening its con¬ trol of Kosovo, which led to the Kosovo conflict. From 1999 the region was administered by the UN.
Kosovo Vko-so-.voV Battle of Either of two battles fought in the Ser¬ bian province of Kosovo. The first (June 13, 1389), between the Serbs under Prince Lazar and the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Murad I, ended—despite Murad’s death—in the defeat of Serbia and the encircle¬ ment of the crumbling Byzantine Empire by Ottoman armies. The battle, which led to three centuries of Serbian vassalage, has remained a central event in Serbian history. In the second battle (Oct. 17-20, 1448), between the Ottomans led by Murad II and a Hungarian-Walachian coalition under Hunyadi Janos, halted the last major effort by Christian Crusaders to free the Balkans from Ottoman rule.
Kosovo conflict (1998-99) Ethnic war in Kosovo, Yugoslavia. In 1989 the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, abrogated the constitutional autonomy of Kosovo. He and the minority of Serbs in Kosovo had long bristled at the fact that Muslim Albanians were in demographic control of an area considered sacred to Serbs (Kosovo was the seat of the Ser¬ bian Orthodox church, the inspiration for Serbian epic poetry, and the site of the Turkish defeat of the Serbs in 1389 and Serbian victory over the Turks in 1912). In response, the Albanian Kosovars began a campaign of nonviolent resistance. Growing tensions led in 1998 to armed clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which had begun killing Serbian police and politicians. The Contact Group (U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia) demanded a cease-fire, the uncondi¬ tional withdrawal of Serbian forces, the return of refugees, and unlimited access for international monitors. Although Milosevic agreed to meet most of the demands, he failed to implement them. The KLA regrouped and rearmed during the cease-fire and renewed its offensive. The Serbs responded with a ruthless counteroffensive, inducing the UN Security Council to condemn the Serbs’ excessive use of force, including ethnic cleansing (killing and expulsion), and to impose an arms embargo, but the violence continued. After diplomatic negotiations at Rambouillet, France, broke down, Serbia renewed its assault, and NATO responded with an 11-week bombing campaign that extended to Belgrade, accidentally destroyed the Chinese embassy, and significantly damaged Serbia’s infra¬ structure. The bombing was halted after NATO and Yugoslavia signed an accord in June 1999 outlining Serbian troop withdrawal and the return of nearly 1,000,000 ethnic Albanian refugees as well as 500,000 displaced within the province; there were sporadic reprisals again Serbs who remained in Kosovo.
Kossuth Vk6-,shut,\ English Yka-.siithV Lajos (b. Sept. 19, 1802, Monok, Hung.—-d. March 20, 1894,
Turin, Italy) Hungarian patriot. A lawyer from a noble family, he was sent to the national Diet (1832), where he developed his radical political and social philosophy.
Imprisoned on political charges (1837^10), he later wrote for a reform journal and gained a devoted following. Reelected to the Diet (1847-49), he led the “national opposition,” and after the February Revolution (1848) he persuaded the delegates to vote for independence from Austria. Appointed provisional governor, he became virtual dictator of Hungary. In 1849 Russian armies intervened on behalf of Austria, forc¬ ing Kossuth to resign. He fled to Tur¬ key, where he was interned for two years. After his release he lectured in the U.S. and England, and later, from his home in Turin, he watched Hun¬ gary reconcile itself with the Austrian monarchy. After the Compromise of 1 867, he retired from political life.
Kosygin \k3-'se-g3n\, Aleksey (Nikolayevich) (b. Feb. 20, 1904, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Dec. 18, 1980, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet statesman, premier of the Soviet Union (1964-80). He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1927, and by 1939 he was a mem¬ ber of the Central Committee. After 1957 he worked closely with Nikita
Lajos Kossuth, lithograph, 1856.
COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM; PHOTOGRAPH, J.R. FREEMAN & CO. LTD.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1052 I koto ► kraft process
Khrushchev on economic matters, and in 1964, after Khrushchev’s forced resignation, he replaced him as chair of the Council of Ministers, becom¬ ing head of the Soviet government. A competent and pragmatic economic administrator, he introduced reforms designed to modernize the Soviet economy. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he shared power with Leonid Brezhnev and Nikolay Podgorny, but his role decreased as Brezhnev’s authority increased, and he retired in 1980.
koto Japanese musical instrument, a long zither with movable bridges and usually 13 strings. It is placed on the ground or a low table, and the strings are plucked by plectra on the fingers of the right hand while the left hand alters the pitch or ornaments the sound of individual strings by pressing or manipulating them on the other side of each bridge. The koto is played solo, in chamber ensembles—especially with the shakuhachi (a bamboo flute) and the samisen (a fretless lute)—and in gagaku music. The koto is Japan’s national instrument.
Kotzebue Vkot-so-.biA, August (Friedrich Ferdinand) von (b.
May 3, 1761, Weimar, Saxony—d. March 23, 1819, Mannheim, Baden) German playwright. He helped popularize poetic drama, which he infused with melodramatic sensationalism and sentimental philosophizing. Pro¬ lific (he wrote more than 200 plays) and facile, he is known for works such as the dramas The Stranger (1789) and The Indian Exiles (1790) and the comedies Der Wildfang (1798; “The Trapping of Game”) and Die deutschen Kleinstadter (1803; “Small-Town Germans”). He was denounced by political radicals as a spy and stabbed to death.
Kou Qianzhi or K'ou Ch'ien-chih Vko-'chyen-'joV (d. ad 448, Northern Wei empire, China) Chinese Daoist reformer. He probably began his career as a Daoist physician. In 415 he had a vision telling him that Daoism had been perverted by false teachings. He began to curb the orgi¬ astic practices and mercenary spirit that had become associated with Dao¬ ism and to emphasize hygienic ritual and good works. His efforts won notice from the emperor and led to the establishment of Daoism as the state religion of China’s Northern Wei dynasty. He also succeeded in having Buddhism proscribed and its adherents subjected to persecution. His reforms proved transitory, however, and Buddhism soon experienced a resurgence.
Koufax Vko-.faksV Sandy in full Sanford Koufax orig. Sanford Braun (b. Dec. 30, 1935, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Koufax’s mother divorced when he was young, and he took the name of his stepfather. In his youth he played sports at the Jewish com¬ munity centres in his native Brook¬ lyn, and in high school he was known more as a basketball player than as a baseball player. He attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship before joining the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers in 1955 as a left- handed thrower with a blazing fast¬ ball and a sharp breaking curveball.