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.

Rise to power

Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoye (now Dniprodzerzhyns'k) in Ukraine, the son of a steel worker. Despite being an ethnic Russian, he retained specific Ukrainian pronunciation and manners for his whole life. Like many working class youth in the years after the Russian Revolution, he received a technical education, at first in land management and then in metallurgy. He graduated from the Dneprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Institute and became an engineer in the iron and steel industries of eastern Ukraine. He joined the Communist Party youth organisation, the Komsomol in 1923 and the Party itself in 1931.

Related Topics:
Dniprodzerzhyns'k - Ukraine - Pronunciation - Working class - Russian Revolution - Technical education - Land management - Metallurgy - Communist Party - Komsomol - 1923 - 1931

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In 1935-36 Brezhnev was drafted for obligatory army service, and after taking courses at a tank school he served as a political commissar in a tank company. Later in 1936 he became director of the Dneprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Technical College. In 1936 he was transferred to the regional centre of Dnepropetrovsk and in 1939 he became Party Secretary in Dnepropetrovsk, in charge of the city's important defence industries.

Related Topics:
1935 - 36 - Political commissar - Dnepropetrovsk - 1939

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Brezhnev belonged to the first generation of Soviet Communists who had no adult memories of Russia before the revolution, and who were too young to have participated in the leadership struggles in the Communist Party which followed Lenin's death in 1924. By the time Brezhnev joined the Party, Joseph Stalin was its undisputed leader, and Brezhnev and many young Communists like him grew up as unquestioning Stalinists. Those who survived Stalin's Great Purge of 1937-39 gained rapid promotions, since the Purges opened up many positions in the senior and middle ranks of the Party and state.

Related Topics:
Lenin - 1924 - Joseph Stalin - Great Purge - 1937 - 39

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In June 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and, like most middle-ranking Party officials, he was immediately drafted (his orders are dated June 22nd). Brezhnev worked to evacuate Dnepropetrovsk's industries to the east of the Soviet Union before the city fell to the Germans on August 26, and then was assigned as a political commissar (Russian politruk). In October Brezhnev was made deputy head of political administration for the Southern Front, with the rank of Brigade-Commissar.

Related Topics:
1941 - Nazi Germany - Invaded the Soviet Union - August 26 - Political commissar - Politruk - Southern Front

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In 1942, with Ukraine completely lost, Brezhnev was sent to the Caucasus as deputy head of political administration of the Transcaucasian Front. In April 1943 he became head of the Political Department of the 18th Army. Later that year the 18th Army became part of the 1st Ukrainian Front, as the Red Army regained the initiative and advanced westwards through Ukraine. The Front's senior political commissar was Nikita Khrushchev, who became an important patron of Brezhnev's career. At the end of the war in Europe Brezhnev was chief political commissar of the 4th Ukrainian Front, which entered Prague after the German surrender.

Related Topics:
1942 - Caucasus - Transcaucasian Front - 1943 - 1st Ukrainian Front - Nikita Khrushchev - 4th Ukrainian Front - Prague

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In August 1946 Brezhnev left the Red Army with the rank of Major General. He had spent the entire war as a commissar, rather than a military commander. After working on reconstruction projects in Ukraine he again became First Secretary in Dnepropetrovsk. In 1950 he became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet, the Soviet Union's highest legislative body. Later that year he was appointed Party First Secretary in Soviet Moldavia, which had been annexed from Romania and was being incorporated into the Soviet Union. In 1952 he became a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee and was introduced as a candidate member into the Presidium (formerly the Politburo).

Related Topics:
1946 - Major General - 1950 - Supreme Soviet - Soviet Moldavia - Romania - 1952 - Central Committee - Politburo

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