Leonid Brezhnev | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Леонид Брежнев | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Official portrait, 1972 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 October 1964 – 10 November 1982 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nikita Khrushchev (as First Secretary) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Yuri Andropov | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 16 June 1977 – 10 November 1982 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Vasily Kuznetsov | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nikolai Podgorny | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Yuri Andropov | ||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 7 May 1960 – 15 July 1964 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Kliment Voroshilov | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Anastas Mikoyan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 15 July 1964 – 14 October 1964 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Frol Kozlov | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Nikolai Podgorny | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 December 1906 Kamenskoye, Russian Empire (now Kamianske, Ukraine) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 November 1982 (aged 75) Zarechye, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cause of death | Heart attack | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | CPSU (1929–1982) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Residence(s) | Zarechye, Moscow | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Profession |
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| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance | Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Years of service | 1941–1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Marshal of the Soviet Union (1976–1982) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Commands | Soviet Armed Forces | ||||||||||||||||||||
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First, then General Secretary of the CPSU
Foreign policy
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Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev[b][c] (19 December 1906 – 10 November 1982)[4] was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982, and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) from 1960 to 1964 and again from 1977 to 1982. His 18-year term as General Secretary was second only to Joseph Stalin's in duration.
Brezhnev was born to a working-class family in Kamenskoye (now Kamianske, Ukraine) within the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire. After the results of the October Revolution were finalized with the creation of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev joined the Communist party's youth league in 1923 before becoming an official party member in 1929. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, he joined the Red Army as a commissar and rose rapidly through the ranks to become a major general during World War II. Following the war's end, Brezhnev was promoted to the party's Central Committee in 1952 and became a full member of the Politburo by 1957. In 1964, he consolidated enough power to replace Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the CPSU, the most powerful position in the country.
During his tenure, Brezhnev's governance improved the Soviet Union's international standing while stabilizing the position of its ruling party at home. Whereas Khrushchev regularly enacted policies without consulting the Politburo, Brezhnev was careful to minimize dissent among the party elite by reaching decisions through consensus thereby restoring the semblance of collective leadership. Additionally, while pushing for détente between the two Cold War superpowers, he achieved nuclear parity with the United States and strengthened Moscow's dominion over Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the massive arms buildup and widespread military interventionism under Brezhnev's leadership substantially expanded Soviet influence abroad, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. By the mid-1970s, numerous observers argued the Soviet Union had surpassed the United States to become the world's strongest military power.
Conversely, Brezhnev's disregard for political reform ushered in an era of socioeconomic decline referred to as the Era of Stagnation. In addition to pervasive corruption and falling economic growth, this period was characterized by an increasing technological gap between the Soviet Union and the United States.
After 1975, Brezhnev's health rapidly deteriorated and he increasingly withdrew from international affairs despite maintaining his hold on power. He ultimately died on 10 November 1982 and was succeeded as general secretary by Yuri Andropov. Upon coming to power in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev denounced Brezhnev's government for its inefficiency and inflexibility before launching a campaign to liberalise the Soviet Union. Notwithstanding the backlash to his regime's policies in the mid-1980s, Brezhnev's rule has received consistently high approval ratings in public polls conducted in post-Soviet Russia.
- ^ McCauley 1997, p. 48.
- ^ Brown 2009, p. 59.
- ^ "Brezhnev". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ Jessup, John E. (11 August 1998). An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945–1996. Greenwood. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-313-28112-9.
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