Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev {{Audio|Ru-Leonid Ilich Brezhnev.ogg|listen}} ({{lang-ru|??????? ?????? ????????}}) ({{OldStyleDate|December 19|1906|December 6}} – November 10, 1982) was effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, though at first in partnership with others. He was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, and was twice Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state), from 1960 to 1964 and from 1977 to 1982.

Party leader

During the Khrushchev years Brezhnev had supported the leader's denunciations of Stalin's arbitrary rule, the rehabilitation of many of the victims of Stalin's purges, and the cautious liberalization of Soviet intellectual and cultural policy. But as soon as he became leader, Brezhnev began to reverse this process. In a May 1965 speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of defeat of Germany, Brezhnev mentioned Stalin positively for the first time. In April 1966 he took the title General Secretary, which had been Stalin's title. The trial of the writers Yuri Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky in 1966 - the first such trials since Stalin's day - marked the reversion to a repressive cultural policy. Under Yuri Andropov the political police (the KGB) regained much of the power it had enjoyed under Stalin, although there was no return to the purges of the 1930s and '40s.

Related Topics:
1965 - 1966 - Yuri Daniel - Andrei Sinyavsky - Yuri Andropov - KGB

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The first crisis of Brezhnev's regime came in 1968, with the attempt by the Communist leadership in Czechoslovakia, under Alexander Dub?ek, to liberalize the Communist system (see Prague Spring). In July Brezhnev publicly criticized the Czech leadership as "revisionist" and "anti-Soviet," and in August he orchestrated the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and the removal of the Dub?ek leadership. The invasion led to public protests by dissidents in the Soviet Union. Brezhnev's assertion that the Soviet Union had the right to interfere in the internal affairs of its satellites to "safeguard socialism" became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine, although it was really a restatement of existing Soviet policy, as Khrushchev had shown in Hungary in 1956.

Related Topics:
1968 - Czechoslovakia - Alexander Dub?ek - Prague Spring - Revisionist - Warsaw Pact - Dissident - Brezhnev Doctrine - Hungary - 1956

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Under Brezhnev relations with China continued to deteriorate, following the Sino-Soviet split which had broken out in the early 1960s. In 1965 Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai visited Moscow for discussions, but there was no resolution of the conflict. In 1969 Soviet and Chinese troops fought a series of clashes along their border on the Ussuri River. Brezhnev also continued Soviet support for North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. On January 22, 1969, a Soviet Army officer, Viktor Ilyin, tried to assassinate Brezhnev.

Related Topics:
China - Sino-Soviet split - 1965 - Zhou Enlai - 1969 - Ussuri River - North Vietnam - Vietnam War - January 22 - Viktor Ilyin - Assassinate

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The thawing of Sino-American relations beginning in 1971, however, marked a new phase in international relations. To prevent the formation of an anti-Soviet U.S.-China alliance, Brezhnev opened a new round of negotiations with the U.S. In May 1972 President Richard Nixon visited Moscow, and the two leaders signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), marking the beginning of the "détente" era. The Paris Peace Accords of January 1973 officially ended the Vietnam War, removing a major obstacle to Soviet-U.S. relations. In May Brezhnev visited West Germany, and in June he made a state visit to the U.S.

Related Topics:
Sino-American relations - 1971 - 1972 - Richard Nixon - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty - Détente - Paris Peace Accords - 1973 - West Germany

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The high point of the Brezhnev "detente" era was the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, which recognised the postwar frontiers in eastern and central Europe and in effect legitimised Soviet hegemony over the region. In exchange, the Soviet Union agreed that "participating States will respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." But these undertakings were never honoured, and political opposition to the detente process mounted in the U.S. as optimistic rhetoric about the "relaxation of tensions" was not matched by any internal liberalisation in the Soviet Union or its satellites. The issue of the right to emigrate for Soviet Jews became an increasing irritant in Soviet relations with the U.S. A summit between Brezhnev and President Gerald Ford in Vladivostok in November 1974 failed to resolve these issues. (See Jackson-Vanik amendment)

Related Topics:
Helsinki Final Act - 1975 - Jew - Gerald Ford - Vladivostok - 1974 - Jackson-Vanik amendment

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In the 1970s the Soviet Union reached the peak of its political and strategic power in relation to the U.S. The SALT I treaty effectively established parity in nuclear weapons between the two superpowers, the Helsinki Treaty legitimised Soviet hegemony over eastern Europe, and the U.S. defeat in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal weakened the prestige of the U.S. Under Admiral Sergei Gorshkov the Soviet Union also became a global naval power for the first time. The Soviet Union extended its diplomatic and political influence in the Middle East and Africa, and through its proxy Cuba successfully intervened militarily in the 1975 civil war in Angola and the 1977-78 Ethiopia-Somalia War.

Related Topics:
Watergate - Sergei Gorshkov - Middle East - Africa - Cuba - 1975 - Angola - 1977 - 78 - Ethiopia-Somalia War

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Meanwhile Brezhnev consolidated his domestic position. In June 1977 he forced the retirement of Podgorny and became once again Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, making this position equivalent to that of an executive president. Although Kosygin remained as Prime Minister until shortly before his death in 1980, Brezhnev was clearly dominant in the leadership from 1977 onwards. In May 1976 he made himself a Marshal of the Soviet Union, the first "political Marshal" since the Stalin era. Since Brezhnev had never held a military command, this step aroused resentment among professional officers, but their power and prestige under Brezhnev's regime ensured their continuing support. It was also during this time when his health showed signs of decline.

Related Topics:
Chairman of the Presidium - Supreme Soviet - 1980 - 1977 - 1976 - Marshal of the Soviet Union

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