Leonid Brezhnev

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1906–1982)

Leonid Illich Brezhnev (19 December 1906 – 10 November 1982)[1] was a leader of the Soviet Union. Born in 1906, Brezhnev's title was "First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union". He was effectively the dictator of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982.

Leonid Brezhnev

Леонид Брежнев
Brezhnev in 1967
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(as First Secretary from 1964 to 1966)
In office
14 October 1964 – 10 November 1982
PresidentAnastas Mikoyan (until 1965)
Nikolai Podgorny (until 1977)
Himself(until his death)
PremierAlexei Kosygin (until 1980)
Nikolai Tikhonov
Preceded byNikita Khrushchev
Succeeded byYuri Andropov
President of the Soviet Union
In office
7 May 1960 – 15 July 1964
PremierNikita Khrushchev
Preceded byKliment Voroshilov
Succeeded byAnastas Mikoyan
In office
16 June 1977 – 10 November 1982
PremierAlexei Kosygin
Nikolai Tikhonov
Preceded byNikolai Podgorny
Succeeded byYuri Andropov
Personal details
Born
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev

(1906-12-19)19 December 1906
Kamianske, Russian Empire
Died10 November 1982(1982-11-10) (aged 75)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Cause of deathHeart Attack
Political partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union
Spouse(s)Viktoria Brezhneva
ChildrenYuri Brezhnev
Galina Brezhneva
Residence26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt
Signature

During the Second World War, Brezhnev was a Political Commissar. He supervised various military units. There, he became a friend of Nikita Khrushchev.[2]

Unlike Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union before him, Brezhnev did not agree with the process of destalinization, and did not support reform. Under Brezhnev, the Soviet economy mostly consisted of military spending. Because the country's resources were going to the armed forces, as they had under Joseph Stalin in wartime, consumer wants were ignored. The standard of living began to fall.[3][4]

Brezhnev died of a heart attack on November 10, 1982.[5] At over 18 years, Brezhnev was longest ruling Russian Ruler since Stalin until Vladimir Putin broke this record in 2017.

List of wars and uprisings in Europe: WW2 ; Great Patriotic War (1941-1945),Hungarian Revolution of 1956,1968 Warsaw Pact Invasion Of Czechoslovakia

List of wars in Asia: Korean War,Vietnam War,Cambodian Civil War,Cambodian–Vietnamese War,Soviet–Afghan War (1950-1982)

List of wars in Africa and Middle East : Nigerian Civil War,Angolan Civil War,Iran–Iraq War (1967-1982)

References

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  1. "Profile of Leonid Brezhnev". An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945-1996, via Google Books.
  2. Childs, David (2000). The Two Red Flags: European Social Democracy and Soviet Communism Since 1945. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-17181-6.
  3. Hanson, Philip (2003). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy: An Economic History of the USSR from 1945. Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-29958-0.
  4. Dowlah, Alex F.; Elliott, John E. (1997). The Life and Times of Soviet Socialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-95629-5.
  5. Brown, Archie (2009-06-09). The Rise and Fall of Communism. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-113879-9.
Preceded by
Nikita Khrushchev
General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
1964–1982
Succeeded by
Yuri Andropov