Leonid Brezhnev
Politician
1906 – 1982
Who was Leonid Brezhnev?
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in duration. During Brezhnev's rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, in part because of the expansion of the Soviet military during this time. His tenure as leader was marked by the beginning of an era of economic and social stagnation in the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoe into a Russian worker's family. After graduating from the Dniprodzerzhynsk Metallurgical Technicum, he became a metallurgical engineer in the iron and steel industry, in Ukraine. He joined Komsomol in 1923, and in 1929 became an active member of the Communist Party. He was drafted into immediate military service during World War II and left the army in 1946 with the rank of Major General. In 1952 Brezhnev became a member of the Central Committee, and in 1964, Brezhnev succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary. Alexei Kosygin succeeded Khrushchev in his post as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
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- Born
- Dec 19, 1906
Dniprodzerzhynsk - Also known as
- Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
- Leonid Ilʹich Brezhnev
- Leonid Ilich Brezhnev
- Parents
- Spouses
- Viktoria Brezhneva
(1928 - 1982/11/10)
- Viktoria Brezhneva
- Children
- Religion
- Atheism
- Ethnicity
- Russians in Ukraine
- Nationality
- Soviet Union
- Profession
- Lived in
- Kutuzovsky Prospekt
- Moscow
- Died
- Nov 10, 1982
Moscow - Resting place
- Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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"Leonid Brezhnev." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/leonid_brezhnev>.
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