Brezhnev leonid biography

An investigation of the Khar'kov party organization and publication of a CPSU [Central Committee] declaration on its deficiencies in severely weakened this elite cohort. Shelest's position in the all-union party hierarchy was never an especially important one, although his brezhnev leonid biography had merited a brief membership in the Politburo.

Some advanced to Moscow with Podgorny Nearly all were 'retired' either when Shelest was ousted or when Podgorny was removed in He held both offices until Brezhnev felt strong enough unceremoniously to remove him in By then Brezhnev decided he had waited long enough to add the dignity of becoming formal head of state to his party leadership. Brezhnev assumed the chairmanship himself while remaining first secretary, thus gaining diplomatic status as head of state while also maintaining the real power that came as leader of the CPSU.

Rigby argued that a brezhnev leonid biography oligarchic system had developed in the Soviet Union, centered around Brezhnev, Podgorny, and Kosygin[;] plus Central Committee secretaries Mikhail Suslov and Andrei Kirilenko. Accurate though this assessment was at the time, its publication coincided with the further strengthening of Brezhnev's position by means of an apparent clash with Suslov.

This independent line both surprised and angered colleagues, particularly Suslov, Shelepin, and first deputy prime minister Kiril Mazurov, who wrote a joint letter critical of the speech which they intended to be discussed at the next Plenum in March Brezhnev, however, exerted pressure on Suslov and his colleagues, the Plenum was postponed, the letter withdrawn, and the General Secretary emerged with greater authority and pledges of authority from his erstwhile critics.

Trusted subordinates guided those state organizations critical to the realization of the Brezhnev program. Meanwhile, members of this network linked a number of important regional party organizations, both within the RSFSR and outside it, to the regime in Moscow In general, network members headed the [Central Committee] departments responsible for cadres, party work, and important sectors of the economy.

From an organizational standpoint, the Brezhnev-led network of patronage factions was the dominant element in the [Soviet] national leadership Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. World Marxist Review. Retrieved 29 October Judy; Robert W. Clough Yovits, ed. Academic Press. Tompson The Soviet Union under Brezhnev. An Economy Without Information".

Chicago: Ivan R. Russia Beyond the Headlines. Archived from the original on 23 October Retrieved 22 October Kosygin died for 30 years ago]. Forbes Russia in Russian. Retrieved 29 December Moscow State University. Retrieved 5 October Toward a More Civil Society? Brezhnev's economic programs had led to increases of industrial productivity as well as higher standards of living for most Soviet citizens.

Presidio Press. Ground Forces in Vietnam, — Random House Publishing Group. Pantheon Books. The New York Times. Encyclopedia of US foreign relations1: — Skyhorse Publishing. Bloomsbury Academic. Economist Publications. Leonid Brezhnev was the builder of militarily the most powerful country of the world that USSR is today - a fact that even its adversary, the United States of America acknowledges.

Department of State. Retrieved 11 April Sterling Publishing Co. Give Me Liberty! Richard Nixon Presidential Library. Archived from the original on 27 August State Duma Official Web site. BBC News. Retrieved 17 April The St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on 21 January The Washington Post. ISSN Retrieved 22 January Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 November Retrieved 15 August Retrieved 15 April Press Institute of India.

Palgrave Macmillan UK. Archived from the original on 12 November RIA Novosti. Retrieved 24 May The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 November Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 20 April Retrieved 6 June Archived from the original on 15 June The Deseret News. Associatged Press. Kissinger's Year: Discussion of Party corruption covered in Konstantin M.

Princeton University Press. Retrieved 15 December General and cited references [ edit ]. Library resources about Leonid Brezhnev. Resources in your library Resources in other libraries. Anderson, David L. University Press of Kentucky. Arnot, Bob Bacon, Edwin In Bacon, Edwin; Sandle, Mark eds. Brezhnev Reconsidered. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bacon, Edwin; Sandle, Mark, eds. Bergson, Abram The Soviet Economy: Toward the Year Breslauer, George W. Khrushchev and Brezhnev as Leaders Brown, Archie Brutents, Karen N. OCLC Byrne, Malcolm; Paczkowski, Andrzej Central European University Press. Chiesa, Giuliettlo Childs, David Crump, Thomas. Brezhnev and the Decline of the Soviet Union Routledge, online.

Dallin, David. Soviet foreign policy after Stalin online. Daniels, Robert Vincent Russia's Transformation: Snapshots of a Crumbling System. Penguin Press. Green, William; Reeves, W. Robert Westview Press. Guerrier, Steven W. In Tucker, Spencer C. Retrieved 23 April Herd, Graeme P. Security Dynamics in the former Soviet Bloc. The Baltic Question during the Cold War.

Hornsby, R. The Soviet Sixties. Yale University Press. Hough, Jerry ; Fainsod, Merle How the Soviet Union is Governed. Harvard University Press. Kakar, M. Hassan University of California Press. Kornberg, Judith; Faust, John UBC Press. Kort, Michael The Soviet Colossus: History and Aftermath. Kotkin, Stephen. Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 2nd ed.

Kotz, David Michael; Weir, Fred Loth, Wilfried McCauley, Martin Who's who in Russia since Russia, America and the Cold War, — Pearson Education. McNeal, Robert Brezhnev: Soviet Politician. Oliver, Michael J. Economic Disasters of the Twentieth Century. Edward Elgar Publishing. Ostrovsky, Alexander.

Brezhnev leonid biography

Who put Gorbachev? More From encyclopedia. About this article Brezhnev, Leonid — Updated About encyclopedia. Breytenbach, Breyten ? Breyfogle, Nicholas B. Breyer, Stephen G. Breyer, Julius. Breyer, Hiltrud —. Brey, Carter. Brexner, Edeltraud —. Brewton-Parker College: Tabular Data. Brewton-Parker College: Narrative Description. Brewster, William Herbert Sr.

Brewster, Paget —. Brewster, Mike Brewster, Martha Wadsworth fl. Brewster, Martha Wadsworth. Brewster, Jordana —. Brewster, Hugh —. Brewster, Hugh When Brezhnev returned to the Ukraine from the military, Khrushchev made him first secretary of a regional Communist Party committee. In this important position, Brezhnev oversaw reconstruction of industry in a region devastated by the war.

Brezhnev's success in this job brought him personal acclaim. By Novemberhe became first secretary of a larger district, his home district of Dniprodzerzhyns'k. The Central Committee was an important administrative brezhnev leonid biography overseeing day-to-day party activities. Soon, Khrushchev appointed him first secretary of the Central Committee in the Soviet republic of Moldavia.

Brezhnev was to complete the Sovietization of that country by changing private farmland into community-owned farmland and strengthening the Communist Party. Party membership in the region greatly increased because of Brezhnev's efforts. While he was in Moldavia, Brezhnev formed a strong working relationship with another future Soviet brezhnev leonid biography, Konstantin Chernenko — Inbecause of his connection to Khrushchev and his own success in promoting the communist cause, Brezhnev was elected to membership in the Soviet Central Committee and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

The Presidium was the executive body and center of power in the Soviet Communist Party; it sets party policies. When Stalin died inhowever, Brezhnev, a longtime Stalin supporter, temporarily lost his lofty seats. He was demoted to a position in the ministry of defense and was in charge of the political aspects of the Soviet navy. Brezhnev's fortunes would shift again when Khrushchev became first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

He appointed Brezhnev second secretary of the Kazakhstan Communist Party; Kazakhstan was the second largest republic in the Soviet Union. In Kazakhstan, Khrushchev placed Brezhnev in charge of the ambitious Virgin Land program, an effort to convert a vast amount of unused land, some 90 million acres, into grain production. Brezhnev would become first secretary of the Kazakhstan Central Committee in August after purging the previous first secretary and his supporters.

After some success on the Virgin Land project, which produced a record grain harvest of 33 million tons 30 million metric tons inBrezhnev returned to the inner power circles of Moscow, where he would remain the rest of his life. He rose to secretary of the Soviet Central Committee in February and became a member of the Presidium again in July InBrezhnev became the head of state as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

In this position, he became involved in foreign affairs, though Khrushchev remained in charge as general secretary of the Central Committee. By JuneBrezhnev resigned from his Presidium position to be second secretary of the Central Committee. He served as Khrushchev's assistant in the day-to-day operations of the Soviet Communist Party. At this point, many considered him the eventual successor to Khrushchev.

By the fall ofBrezhnev's relationship with Khrushchev would dramatically change. On October 14,Brezhnev helped lead a bloodless coup against Khrushchev, his longtime mentor. Usually carried out by a small group, a coup is an overthrow of an existing leader or government. Sometimes a coup can turn violent. Other Communist Party leaders were tired of Khrushchev's increasingly independent behavior and unpredictable shifts in policies.

They wanted more stability and predictability. They would find that in Brezhnev, who succeeded his former friend as Soviet leader. Whereas Khrushchev was bold and impulsive, Brezhnev was cautious and patient. A collective leadership structure was put in place so power would be shared among a small group of leaders. Brezhnev became first secretary of the Central Committee, the most powerful of all the positions.

Aleksey Kosygin —; see entry became chairman of the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers controlled Soviet economic and cultural life. By DecemberNikolay Podgorny — was named head of state in charge of foreign affairs. Brezhnev was in charge of Communist Party activities; Kosygin was responsible for economic planning ; and Podgorny headed foreign affairs.

By MarchBrezhnev had gained greater dominance, becoming general secretary of the Communist Party. Under Brezhnev's conservative leadership, the vast Soviet bureaucracy gained strength. Brezhnev brought changes to the Soviet Union. He stopped public attacks on Stalin and his policies, attacks that Khrushchev had begun in Brezhnev also sought to boost Soviet agricultural productivity.

However, with the Communist Party tightly controlling the agricultural industry, progress was limited. Khrushchev had opposed the Stalin regime of force and terror by the secret police ; Khrushchev related to the peasants having been one himself and thus supported domestic improvements, such as agricultural reforms, that would help the common person.

Brezhnev returned the secret police to power to maintain control, but without Stalin's terror. The Soviets again more forcibly repressed dissidents, individuals who disagree with the ideas of those in power. Many prominent writers and artists were deported, exiled, or sent to labor camps and psychiatric wards. The hard-line communists believed the traditional party bureaucracy was being threatened by Khrushchev's reforms; they also felt that too much freedom of expression was creeping into the communist system under Khrushchev, so they tightened controls on behavior and ended the rather mild reforms.

During his rule, Brezhnev and his family continued living modestly, occupying a five-room apartment. However, he did have an affection for luxury cars and owned one of the few Rolls-Royce automobiles in the Soviet Union. Other world leaders would give him luxury cars as gifts. Another affection of Brezhnev's was tobacco, which would contribute to severe health problems later.

One of Brezhnev's key goals was to reach nuclear parity equal strength in nuclear arms with the United States by Through a massive and expensive missile production program, he accomplished this goal. Brezhnev also built a huge navy and maintained the largest army in the world. In addition, the Soviet space program overtook the United States in reaching space exploration goals.

Brezhnev became more directly involved in foreign affairs inwhen Czechoslovakian leader Alexander Dubcek — proposed giving greater freedoms to Czech citizens, including freedom of the press. Brezhnev approved the use of military force to crush the reform movement and remove Dubcek from office. Brezhnev then unveiled what became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine, stating that the Soviets would intervene in any country where threats to communist rule could threaten other communist countries as well.

The Soviets would use this doctrine to justify military intervention in the internal politics of other communist countries under Soviet influence. Military skirmishes occurred near the long border between the two countries. Because the PRC's relations with the United States were improving, Brezhnev worried that those two countries might form an alliance against the Soviets.

Recognizing the need for strong neighboring allies, Brezhnev sought to ease tensions on the Soviet Union's western border. He wanted to normalize relations between West Germany and the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact was a defense. In andBrezhnev built a warm relationship with West German chancellor Willy Brandt —; see box in Konrad Adenauer entry.

Once Brezhnev had achieved nuclear parity, he was willing to enter arms control talks. He was eager to cut back military spending to help raise the standard of living in the Soviet Union. Arms control talks progressed, and in MayBrezhnev hosted U. This treaty froze production of certain nuclear weapon systems. Other meetings followed: Brezhnev traveled to Washington, D.

Ford —; served —77 went to the Soviet city of Vladivostok in November This agreement recognized the postwar territorial boundaries of the European nations. The Soviets had long sought recognition of the political boundaries of Eastern European communist countries and finally achieved it in Helsinki, and again more formally in the treaty ending World War II in By the mids, Brezhnev's prestige had substantially risen, and so had the Soviet Union's.

InBrezhnev became marshal of the Soviet Union, the only party leader aside from Stalin to achieve that military rank. In MayBrezhnev became the first Soviet party leader to also be head of state, replacing Podgorny as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. During the s, Brezhnev also pressed for more Soviet support of national liberation movements and greater support of left-wing governments in Third World countries.

Left-wing groups are politically radical elements often seeking change from traditional forms of rule. Third World refers to poor underdeveloped or economically developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Many of these countries were seeking independence from the political control of Western European nations. Brezhnev believed such radical movements, as opposed to the traditional oppressive military dictatorships, opened the door for adopting alternative forms of government such as communism.

Brezhnev also used his influence to help Nixon negotiate a peace treaty with the North Vietnamese to end the war. He believed this would lead to U. The United States, through its strong pro-Israel lobby within the United States itself, provided substantial economic support to Israel. Brezhnev also supported communist rebels in in Angola.

He provided equipment, Soviet military advisors, and twenty thousand Cuban troops. The rebel forces successfully overthrew the government. InBrezhnev provided similar support to the Ethiopian government so it could repel attacks by neighboring Somalia, a U. By the end of the s, problems were building for Brezhnev. Inhe approved the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The Soviets were seeking to support an unpopular communist government against an Islamic movement trying to seize power. The war would drag on for ten years and cost thousands of Soviet lives. The Soviet invasion angered President Carter, and U. The arrival of President Ronald Reagan —; served —89; see entry in the White House in January would lead to even cooler relations.

Reagan greatly boosted the U. In DecemberBrezhnev made another move unpopular with the West when he supported the Polish government's suppression of the Solidarity workers union. The government had officially banned Solidarity as martial law was imposed on Polish citizens. The union, which represented a strong challenge to communist control, was protesting the rise in brezhnev leonid biography prices and challenging communist authority in Poland.

On the home front, the dramatic arms buildup through the s and s and Soviet military adventures in Third World countries had taken money away from other sectors of the Soviet economy. As a result, agriculture, industrial production of nonwar consumer goods, and health care services declined sharply. Shortages of goods became worse, and the Soviet standard of living declined.

Soviet morale sank as lines of people seeking basic necessities grew longer outside Soviet stores. The decline in morale would cause worker production to drop further, in a vicious downward spiral. Widespread rumors of corruption in Brezhnev's government lowered morale even further. Meanwhile, Brezhnev kept tight control of the growing number of Soviet dissidents criticizing communist rule.

ByBrezhnev's health was visibly failing. He had suffered a heart attack in and was suffering from leukemia a blood disease and emphysema a respiratory disease by the early s. His public appearances dwindled. Despite increasing feebleness, he stayed in power until his death in November In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item.

Leonid Brezhnev. Marshal HSU. References [ change change source ]. ISBN The Life and Times of Soviet Socialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. The Rise and Fall of Communism.