Leonid Brezhnev

COUNTRY: Russia

PERSON: Leonid Brezhnev

HEADLINE: Biographies

As supreme leader of the Soviet Union from 1966 to 1982, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was responsible for international Soviet expansion, yet he also helped develop the era of detente with the West that led to the end of the cold war in the early 1990s.

Brezhnev was born on Dec 19, 1906, in Kamenskoye, Ukraine. He received training in surveying, agriculture, and metallurgy. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party. During World War II he was assigned to the army and promoted to major general and chief of the Carpathian military district. He progressed through a series of first secretary positions within the Communist Party. In 1952, Brezhnev became a member of the party's Central Committee and after Joseph Stalin's death, became one of the inner circle of the party loyal to Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin's successor. In 1957 he became a full member of the Presidium and in 1960 was appointed chairperson of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In 1964, Khrushchev was relieved of his top positions by the Central Committee, and Brezhnev was chosen as the party's first secretary of the Council of Ministers. He was originally regarded as an insignificant transition figure, but he maneuvered his supporters into key positions and assumed sole leadership of the Soviet Union.

As the Soviet leader, Brezhnev is best known for his development of detente between the Soviet Union and the West. In 1969 the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty talks began between the Soviet Union and the United States. The first agreement was signed with President Richard Nixon in 1972 and subsequent negotiations continued with President Gerald Ford. Despite the development of detente Brezhnev strongly pushed for solidarity in the communist world. He was the author of the "Brezhnev Doctrine," which stated that a threat to the cause of socialism in one communist country was a threat to all communist countries. He used this doctrine in 1968 to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia to stop its break from Soviet communism.

During Brezhnev's leadership, Soviet expansion was also seen in the buildup of military might at the expense of domestic prosperity and in the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, again to maintain a communist government. In domestic policy, Brezhnev continued the repression of dissidents, though more moderately than former Soviet leaders. He was also largely responsible for drafting a new Soviet Constitution (1978), which enhanced the power of the Presidium chairperson.

Brezhnev died on Nov 10, 1982 while still in office. He was buried in the Kremlin wall in an elaborate ceremony.

[Sources: Current Biography Yearbook; The New York Times Index]

LOAD-DATE: February 18, 1998

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