Leonid Brezhnev
 | This article does not have any sources. (February 2018) |
Leonid Brezhnev | |
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| 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 | |
| President | Anastas Mikoyan (until 1965) Nikolai Podgorny (until 1977) Himself |
| Premier | Alexei Kosygin (until 1980) Nikolai Tikhonov |
| Preceded by | Nikita Khrushchev |
| Succeeded by | Yuri Andropov |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Russian |
Leonid Illich Brezhnev (19 December 1906 – 10 November 1982) was a leader of the Soviet Union. Born in 1906, Brezhnev was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, effectively the dictator of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982. During the Second World War, Brezhnev was a Political Commissar, supervising various military units. There, he became a friend of Nikita Khrushchev.
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.
Brezhnev died of a heart attack on November 10, 1982.
| Preceded by Nikita Khrushchev |
General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party 1964–1982 |
Succeeded by Yuri Andropov |