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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Brezhnev,_Leonid_Ilyich
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INFOTEXT
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1992-09-02
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1906-1982. Soviet leader. A protege of Stalin
and Khrushchev, he came to power (after he
and Kosygin forced Khrushchev to resign) as
general secretary of the Soviet Communist
Party (CPSU) 1964-82 and was president
1977-82. Domestically he was conservative;
abroad the USSR was established as a military
and political superpower during the Brezhnev
era, extending its influence in Africa and
Asia. Brezhnev, born in the Ukraine, joined
the CPSU in the 1920s. In 1938 he was made
head of propaganda by the new Ukrainian party
chief Khrushchev and ascended in the local
party hierarchy. After World War II he caught
the attention of the CPSU leader Stalin, who
inducted Brezhnev into the secretariat and
Politburo 1952. Brezhnev was removed from
these posts after Stalin's death 1953, but
returned 1956 with Khrushchev's patronage. In
1960, as criticism of Khrushchev mounted,
Brezhnev was moved to the ceremonial post of
state president and began to criticize
Khrushchev's policies. Brezhnev stepped down
as president 1963 and returned to the
Politburo and secretariat. He was elected
CPSU general secretary 1964, when Khrushchev
was ousted, and gradually came to dominate
the conservative and consensual coalition. In
1977 he regained the additional title of
state president under the new constitution.
He suffered an illness (thought to have been
a stroke or heart attack) Mar-Apr 1976 that
was believed to have affected his thought and
speech so severely that he was not able to
make decisions. These were made by his
entourage, for example committing the troops
to Afghanistan to prop up the government.
Within the USSR, economic difficulties
mounted; the Brezhnev era was a period of
caution and stagnation, although outwardly
imperialist.