Brezhnev's birthday. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev: funeral, date, history and interesting facts

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born on December 19, a Soviet statesman and party leader who held senior leadership positions in the Soviet state hierarchy for 18 years: from 1964 until his death in 1982. Veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Participant in the Victory Parade on Red Square on June 24, 1945.
First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in 1964-1966, from 1966 to 1982 - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1960-1964 and 1977-1982. Marshal Soviet Union (1976).
Hero Socialist Labor(1961) and four times Hero of the Soviet Union (1966, 1976, 1978, 1981). Laureate of the International Lenin Prize “For Strengthening Peace Among Nations” (1973) and the Lenin Prize for Literature (1979).
In 1978 he was awarded the Order of Victory; in 1989 this award was posthumously canceled by decree of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev.
In total, Brezhnev had 117 Soviet and foreign state awards.
According to the survey results public opinion in 2013, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was recognized as the best head of state in Russia (USSR) in the 20th century

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoye, Yekaterinoslav province (now Dneprodzerzhinsk, Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine) in the family of Ilya Yakovlevich Brezhnev (1874-1930) and Natalya Denisovna Mazalova (1886-1975).
His father and mother were born and lived in the village before moving to Kamenskoye. Brezhnevo (now Kursk district Kursk region). Brezhnev's father was a technical worker at a metallurgical plant - a “fabricator”.
Brother - Brezhnev Yakov Ilyich (1912-1993). Sister - Brezhneva Vera Ilyinichna (1910-1997).
In various official documents, including a passport, L. I. Brezhnev’s nationality was indicated as Ukrainian or Russian (see the “Documents” section of this article).
In 1915 he was admitted to the classical gymnasium of the city of Kamenskoye, from which he graduated in 1921.
Since 1921, Leonid Ilyich worked at the Kursk Oil Mill, and in 1923 he joined the Komsomol.
In 1923-1927 he studied at the Kursk Land Surveying and Reclamation College. Having received the qualification of a 3rd category land surveyor, he worked as a land surveyor for several months in the village. Terebreno, Krasnoyaruzhsky volost, Grayvoronsky district, Kursk province, then in the Kokhanovsky district of the Orsha district of the Belarusian SSR (now Tolochinsky district).
In 1927 he married Victoria Denisova.
In March 1928, Brezhnev was transferred to the Urals, where he worked as a land surveyor, head of the regional land department, deputy chairman of the Bisertsky district executive committee of the Ural region (1929-1930), and deputy head of the Ural regional land department.

In September 1930, he left the Urals and entered the Moscow Institute of Agricultural Engineering named after M.I. Kalinin, and in the spring of 1931 he was transferred to the evening faculty of the Dneprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Institute. Simultaneously with his studies, he works as a mechanic at
In 1935 he graduated from the institute and received a diploma in thermal power plants.
Member of the CPSU(b) since October 24, 1931.
In 1935-1936 he served in the army: cadet and political instructor of a tank company in Transbaikalia (the village of Peschanka, 15 km southeast of the city of Chita). He studied at motorization and mechanization courses in the Red Army, after which he received his first officer rank - lieutenant. In 1982, after the death of L. I. Brezhnev, his name was assigned to the Peschansky Tank Training Regiment.
In 1936-1937 he was the director of the metallurgical technical school in Dneprodzerzhinsk. In 1937
Since May 1937, deputy chairman of the Dneprodzerzhinsk City Executive Committee. Since 1937 he worked in party bodies. In Dneprodzerzhinsk, Leonid Brezhnev lived in a modest two-story four-apartment building No. 40 on Pelina Avenue. Now it is called “Lenin’s House”. According to former neighbors, he loved to chase pigeons from the dovecote that stood in the yard (now in its place is a garage). The last time he visited his family nest was in 1979, taking photographs with its residents as a souvenir.
Since 1938, head of the department of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, since 1939, secretary of the regional committee.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he took part in the mobilization of the population into the Red Army and was involved in the evacuation of industry. Then he serves in political positions in the active army: deputy head of the political department of the Black Sea Group of Forces of the North Caucasus Front (1941-1943), head of the political department of the 18th Army, deputy head of the political department of the Southern Front (1943-1945).

At the beginning of 1942, for participation under the command of R. Ya. Malinovsky in the offensive Barvenkovo-Lozovsky operation in the south of the Kharkov region, Brezhnev received his first Order of the Red Banner.

Being a brigade commissar, when the institution of military commissars was abolished in October 1942, instead of the expected rank of general, he was certified as a colonel.

In 1943 he participated in the liberation of Novorossiysk. During the preparation of the operation to liberate the city, he repeatedly visited the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead on the western shore of Tsemes Bay with an amphibious landing, surrounded by the enemy from land. For the liberation of Novorossiysk he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

The head of the political department of the 18th Army, Colonel Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, sailed to Malaya Zemlya forty times, and this was dangerous, since some ships on the way were blown up by mines and died from direct shells and aircraft bombs. One day, the seiner on which Brezhnev was sailing ran into a mine, the colonel was thrown into the sea... he was picked up by sailors...
- S. A. Borzenko in the article “225 days of courage and courage” (“Pravda”, 1943)
“The head of the political department of the 18th Army, Colonel Comrade, took an active part in repelling the German offensive. Brezhnev. The crew of one heavy machine gun (private Kadyrov, Abdurzakov, from the replenishment) became confused and did not open fire in a timely manner. Before the platoon of Germans took advantage of this, they approached our positions to throw a grenade. Comrade Brezhnev physically influenced the machine gunners and forced them into battle. Having suffered significant losses, the Germans retreated, leaving several wounded on the battlefield. By order of Comrade Brezhnev’s crew fired aimed fire at them until they were destroyed.”

Since June 1945, Leonid Brezhnev was the head of the political department of the 4th Ukrainian Front, then the head of the political department of the Carpathian Military District.

Participated in the suppression of the movement for the independence of Ukraine - armed detachments of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

At the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945 on Red Square in Moscow, L. I. Brezhnev was the commissar of the combined regiment of the 4th Ukrainian Front, and walked at the head of the column along with the front commander.

From August 30, 1946 to November 1947, first secretary of the Zaporozhye regional party committee (appointed on the recommendation of N. S. Khrushchev). He supervised the restoration of enterprises and the Dnieper hydroelectric station destroyed during the war. For his success in reviving the Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant, L. I. Brezhnev received his first Order of Lenin on December 7, 1947.

In 1947-1950 he worked as first secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional party committee. He did a lot for the post-war restoration of the city and industrial enterprises. In 1948 he was awarded the medal “For the restoration of ferrous metallurgy enterprises in the South.”
Since the summer of 1950 - first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. He remained in this post until October 1952, when, after a personal meeting with Stalin at the 19th Congress of the CPSU, he was elected a member of the Central Committee for the first time, and at the post-congress plenum of the Central Committee he was elected secretary of the Central Committee and a candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the party. He was also a member of the standing commissions of the Presidium of the Central Committee - on foreign affairs and on defense issues (in the latter from November 19, 1952).

After Stalin's death in March 1953, Brezhnev was relieved of both posts and appointed head of the political department of the Navy Ministry. According to Mlechin, with the merger of the Military and Naval Ministries that followed in the same month to form the Ministry of Defense, their political bodies were also merged, and Brezhnev was left without a job. In May 1953, Brezhnev sent a letter to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR G.M. Malenkov with a request to send him to work in the party organization of Ukraine. By order of the USSR Minister of Defense No. 01608 of May 21, 1953, Brezhnev was returned to the cadres of the Soviet army.

According to P. A. Sudoplatov and General K. S. Moskalenko, among the 10 armed generals summoned to the Kremlin on June 26, 1953 to arrest L. P. Beria, there was L. I. Brezhnev.

From May 21, 1953 to February 27, 1954, Deputy Chief of the Main political management Soviet Army and Navy. Lieutenant General (08/04/1953).

In 1954, at the suggestion of N.S. Khrushchev, he was transferred to Kazakhstan, where he first worked as the second, and since 1955, as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the republic. Supervises the development of virgin lands. Participates in preparations for the construction of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakhstan.

Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for the defense industry from February 1956 to July 1960, in 1956-1957 a candidate member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, since 1957 member of the Presidium (from 1966 - Politburo) of the CPSU Central Committee.

From May 1960 to July 1964 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. At the same time, from June 1963 to October 1964 - Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
As the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, L. I. Brezhnev participated in resolving issues related to the construction of the Baikonur cosmodrome and inspected the progress of work on the construction of launch complexes. He wrote:

The experts understood well: it would be faster, easier, and cheaper to settle in the Black Lands. Here and Railway, and highways, and water, and electricity, the whole area is inhabited, and the climate is not as harsh as in Kazakhstan. So the Caucasian option had many supporters. At that time I had to study a lot of documents, projects, references, discuss all this with scientists, business executives, engineers, and specialists who in the future would launch rocket technology into space. Gradually, a well-founded decision took shape in my mind. The Central Committee of the party advocated the first option - the Kazakh one. ... Life has confirmed the expediency and correctness of such a decision: the lands of the North Caucasus were preserved for agriculture, and Baikonur transformed another region of the country. The missile range had to be put into operation quickly, the deadlines were tight, and the scale of work was enormous.

As Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, L. I. Brezhnev oversaw issues of the military-industrial complex, including the development of space technology. For preparing the first manned flight into space (Yu. A. Gagarin, April 12, 1961) he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (the decree was not published)

In 1964, he participated in organizing the removal of N. S. Khrushchev. Leonid Brezhnev suggested that V. E. Semichastny, the chairman of the KGB of the USSR during the preparation of the October plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in 1964, physically get rid of N. S. Khrushchev. Member of the Politburo, Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee (1964-1973), First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (1963-1972) Pyotr Efimovich Shelest recalls:

I told Podgorny that I had met in Zheleznovodsk with V. E. Semichastny, the former chairman of the KGB of the USSR during the preparation of the 1964 Plenum of the Central Committee. Semichastny told me that Brezhnev offered him to physically get rid of N.S. Khrushchev by arranging a plane crash, a car accident, poisoning or arrest.
Podgorny confirmed all this and said that Semichastny and them all these “options” for eliminating Khrushchev were rejected...

All this will become known someday! And how will “our leader” look in this light?
October 14 p.m. The Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU took place. The Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee granted the request of Comrade N.S. Khrushchev to relieve him of his duties as First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR due to his advanced age and deteriorating health. The Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee elected Comrade L. I. Brezhnev as the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

At the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee on October 14, 1964, Brezhnev was elected First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee for the RSFSR
Formally, in 1964, a return to the “Leninist principles of collective leadership” was proclaimed. Along with Brezhnev, important role A. N. Shelepin, N. V. Podgorny and A. N. Kosygin played in the leadership.

The fact is that initially the figure of Brezhnev as Secretary General was not considered permanent. And he knew this very well.

January 22, 1969 during the ceremonial meeting of the crews spaceships“Soyuz-4” and “Soyuz-5” made an unsuccessful attempt on L.I. Brezhnev. Junior lieutenant of the Soviet Army Viktor Ilyin, dressed in someone else's police uniform, entered the Borovitsky Gate under the guise of a security guard and opened fire with two pistols on the car in which, as he assumed, the general secretary was supposed to be traveling. In fact, cosmonauts Leonov, Nikolaev, Tereshkova and Beregovoy were in this car. Driver Ilya Zharkov was killed by shots and several people were wounded before the accompanying motorcyclist knocked the shooter down. Brezhnev himself was driving in a different car (and according to some sources, even on a different route) and was not injured.

In 1967, Brezhnev made official visits to Hungary, in 1971 - France, in 1973 - Germany, in 1974 - Cuba.

On March 22, 1974, Brezhnev was awarded military rank army general (bypassing the rank of colonel general)

Brezhnev, in the course of the apparatus struggle, managed to eliminate Shelepin and Podgorny and place people personally loyal to him in key positions (Yu. V. Andropov, N. A. Tikhonova, N. A. Shchelokova, K. U. Chernenko, S. K. Tsvigun [ Note 1]). Kosygin was not eliminated, but the economic policy systematically sabotaged by Brezhnev.

We, people close to the top leadership of the country at that time, knew that there were certain frictions between them. And Brezhnev more than once, in conversations with us, regional committee secretaries, spoke disapprovingly of the government’s activities. That, they say, it doesn’t work well enough, and many issues have to be resolved in the Central Committee, that is, he emphasized the shortcomings in the work of the Council of Ministers. And it was absolutely clear to everyone that these arrows were aimed at Kosygin.

The party apparatus believed in Brezhnev, viewing him as its protege and defender of the system. According to Roy Medvedev and L.A. Molchanov, the party nomenklatura rejected any reforms, sought to maintain a regime that provided it with power, stability and broad privileges, and it was during the Brezhnev period that the party apparatus completely subjugated the state apparatus, ministries and executive committees became simple executors of party decisions bodies, and non-party leaders have practically disappeared

In 1968, after a series of interstate negotiations with the participation of the heads of socialist countries (except Romania), Brezhnev and his comrades in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee decided to send troops to Czechoslovakia to suppress the Prague Spring. On August 18, a meeting of the leaders of the USSR, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary took place in Moscow, where military-political measures were agreed upon, the implementation of which began 2 days later. Brezhnev was inhibited, his reactions were inadequate, and during the negotiations the Secretary General’s diction was impaired. Aides demanded to know whether Brezhnev could continue negotiations. Brezhnev himself muttered something, tried to get up, and a reaction arose that frightened the entire Politburo. Kosygin sat next to Brezhnev and saw how he gradually began to lose the thread of the conversation.

“His tongue began to tangle,” said Kosygin, “and suddenly the hand with which he was supporting his head began to fall. He should be taken to the hospital. Nothing terrible would have happened.” This was our first sign of weakness. nervous system Brezhnev and the perverted reaction to sleeping pills in connection with this.

There is a statement that in November 1972, Brezhnev suffered a stroke with serious consequences. However, academician Chazov, who treated Brezhnev, refutes this:

In his life, he [Brezhnev] suffered a myocardial infarction only once, while being the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. In 1957 there were minor changes in the heart, but they were only focal in nature. Since then he has had no heart attack or stroke.

Before Prince Philip visited the USSR in 1973, the Foreign Office provided him with brief descriptions of the persons with whom he was to meet. Leonid Brezhnev was described there as “a strong-willed man, radiating confidence and competence, without possessing a brilliant intellect. Despite his flourishing appearance, he suffered several heart attacks. Loves hunting, football and driving; doesn’t speak English.”

US President Jimmy Carter with the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. L. I. Brezhnev. Vienna, 1979
At the beginning of 1976 he suffered clinical death. After this, he was never able to physically recover, and his serious condition and inability to govern the country became more and more obvious every year. Brezhnev suffered from asthenia (neuropsychic weakness) and atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels. He could only work for an hour or two a day, after which he slept, watched TV, etc. He developed a drug addiction to the sleeping pill Nembutal.

A syringe is enough - and the secretary general becomes a puppet in someone's hands. I suspect that it was the medical intervention that made Brezhnev a parody of Brezhnev...

On May 22-30, 1972, the first official visit of the US President to Moscow took place in the entire history of Soviet-American relations. During the meeting between Brezhnev and Richard Nixon, the Treaty between the USSR and the USA on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (AB Treaty), the Interim Agreement between the USSR and the USA on Certain Measures in the Field of Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (SALT-1), and the Basics of Relations between the USSR were signed and the USA.

On June 18-26, 1973, Brezhnev made a return visit to the United States, held negotiations with Nixon in Washington, which resulted in the signing of an agreement on preventing nuclear war, non-use of nuclear weapons, strategic arms reduction treaty. On behalf of American businessmen, Nixon gave Brezhnev a car worth 10 thousand dollars. Brezhnev stayed for several days at Nixon's villa in San Clemento (California). Brezhnev’s visit took place at a difficult moment for Nixon, recalled USSR Ambassador to the USA Anatoly Dobrynin; his influence and authority in the USA was experiencing a crisis, which ended on August 9, 1974 with his resignation. During Brezhnev's visit, the Watergate hearings, which were broadcast on television throughout the United States, were interrupted for a week. The film “In the Name of Peace on Earth” was shot about Brezhnev’s visit to the USA.

On November 23-24, 1974, a working meeting between Brezhnev and US President Gerald Ford took place in the Vladivostok region. During the meeting, a Joint Soviet-American Statement was signed, in which the parties confirmed their intention to conclude a new agreement on SALT for the period until the end of 1985.

On June 18, 1979, in Vienna, Brezhnev and US President Jimmy Carter signed the Treaty between the USSR and the USA on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (SALT II Treaty).

After the invasion Soviet troops to Afghanistan in December 1979 contacts on top level between the USSR and the USA were curtailed. The next meeting took place only in November 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Nevertheless, a US state delegation led by Vice President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of State George Shultz arrived in Moscow for Brezhnev’s funeral in November 1982.

In the seventies, a partial reconciliation of the two systems (“détente”) took place in the international arena. It was at this time (1973) that Brezhnev received the Lenin Prize for strengthening peace between nations.

In May 1973, Brezhnev made an official visit to Germany, where for the first time the topic of the inviolability of borders in Europe was raised at the highest level. Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt answered Brezhnev evasively and, as it later turned out, insightfully: “There are no eternal borders, but no one should seek to change them by force.” An agreement was signed between the USSR and Germany. The success of Brezhnev’s visit to Germany was facilitated by the operation carried out by the GDR intelligence service Stasi, together with Soviet foreign intelligence, to bribe several Bundestag deputies, which made it possible to prevent the defeat of Chancellor Brandt in parliament during the vote of confidence in him on April 27, 1972. This ensured the subsequent ratification of treaties between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union, Poland and the German Democratic Republic, which secured the eastern borders of the Federal Republic of Germany established after the Second World War.

On March 22, 1974 (bypassing the rank of Colonel General), Brezhnev was awarded the military rank of Army General.

On August 1, 1975, Brezhnev signed the Helsinki Agreements in Helsinki, which confirmed the inviolability of borders in Europe. The Federal Republic of Germany had not previously recognized the Potsdam Agreements, which changed the borders of Poland and Germany, and did not recognize the existence of the GDR. Germany actually did not even recognize the annexation of Kaliningrad and Klaipeda to the USSR.

In the capital of Finland, Brezhnev also held a number of bilateral meetings. During a conversation with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, according to the personal photographer Vladimir Musaelyan who accompanied the Secretary General, a funny episode occurred in which Leonid Ilyich showed his extraordinary sense of humor. As he lit his pipe, Wilson couldn't figure out where to put his case. Brezhnev immediately helped him and at the same time joked: “All the secrets of England are in my hands!”

In the early 1980s, Brezhnev stated that capitalist countries had moved from the ideology of “containing communism” proposed by Harry Truman to the idea of ​​“the convergence of the two systems” and “peaceful coexistence.” Reagan, who became President of the United States in 1981, objected, and soon after the Shield-82 military exercises conducted by the USSR in the summer of 1982, Reagan on March 8, 1983 called the USSR the “Evil Empire.”

From June 20 to 22, 1977, Brezhnev made an official visit to France and held negotiations with President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, as a result of which he signed a joint statement on the easing of international tension, the Soviet-French declaration on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and other documents.
On February 20, 1978, he was awarded the Order of Victory, for, as stated in the decree, “... a great contribution to the victory Soviet people and its Armed Forces in the Great Patriotic War, outstanding services in strengthening the country’s defense capability, for the development and consistent implementation of the foreign policy of the world of the Soviet state, reliably ensuring the development of the country in peaceful conditions,” which was awarded only in war time for outstanding services in commanding the front during victories that ensured a radical change in the strategic situation. The award was canceled by decree of M. S. Gorbachev on September 21, 1989 as contrary to the status of the order.
A group of famous Soviet journalists was commissioned to write Brezhnev's memoirs ("Malaya Zemlya", "Renaissance", "Virgin Land"), designed to strengthen his political authority. As Leonid Mlechin pointed out, “Brezhnev himself not only did not participate in the work on his own memoirs, but did not even tell anything to the people who wrote them. They found some documents in the archives for them and found Brezhnev’s colleagues.” Thanks to millions of copies, Brezhnev's fee amounted to 179,241 rubles. By including the secretary general’s memoirs in school and university curricula and making them mandatory for “positive” discussion in all work collectives, party ideologists achieved the exact opposite result - L. I. Brezhnev became the hero of numerous jokes during his lifetime. I read memoirs on the All-Union radio National artist USSR Vyacheslav Tikhonov.

On December 12, 1979, Brezhnev and his closest associates decided on a special operation to change power in Afghanistan and the entry of Soviet troops into this country, which was the beginning of the USSR’s long-term participation in the intra-Afghan conflict.

... my uncle called Dmitry Ustinov every day and, using the generally accepted folklore dialect, asked: “When will this ... war end?” Angry and blushing, the general secretary shouted into the phone: “Dima, you promised me that this wouldn’t last long. Our children are dying there!”

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which Brezhnev decided on, the West introduced sectoral sanctions against the USSR, the most sensitive of which affected the gas export industry: pipes were no longer supplied to the Soviet Union large diameter and compressors for gas pipelines, which, according to the last Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, gave impetus to the construction of pipe rolling plants and the production of import-substituting domestic products for gas and oil pipelines.

In 1981, on the eve of Leonid Ilyich’s 50th anniversary in the party, a gold badge “50 years in the CPSU” was issued for him alone (for other CPSU veterans this badge was made of silver with gilding).

The fourth Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Brezhnev in December 1981 on the occasion of his 75th birthday[
On March 23, 1982, during Brezhnev’s visit to Tashkent, a walkway collapsed on him at an aircraft manufacturing plant, full of people. As a result, Brezhnev had a broken collarbone, which later never healed. After this incident, the health of the Secretary General was completely undermined. The next day, Brezhnev was supposed to speak at a ceremonial meeting in Tashkent. They tried to persuade him to immediately return to Moscow and get treatment, but Brezhnev refused, stayed and made a speech. It seemed to those sitting in the hall and the television viewers that Brezhnev had been drinking the day before, because he was somewhat sluggish. Only the people accompanying him knew that even a slight movement right hand was extremely painful for him, so the doctors gave him a painkiller. On November 7, 1982, Brezhnev made his last public appearance. Standing on the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum, he hosted the military parade on Red Square for several hours; however, his poor physical condition was evident even during the official shoot.

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev died in his sleep on the night of November 10, 1982 at the state dacha "Zarechye-6". According to the medical examiner's report, death occurred between 8 and 9 a.m. from sudden cardiac arrest. From the published materials and evidence it remains unclear why on that night and at the time the body was discovered at the dacha there was no attached personal doctor Brezhnev Mikhail Kosarev (who usually always sat at the table with the General Secretary even during meals), there was no medical post, which is why only security guard Vladimir Sobachenkov had to carry out resuscitation measures for about an hour. This strange and inexplicable circumstance, even more than 30 years later, is pointed out, in particular, by the historian and publicist Leonid Mlechin. At the call of the head of security, Major General of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Medvedev, the attending physician Yevgeny Chazov soon arrived, who, according to his recollections, barely glanced at the blue face of the Secretary General and realized that resuscitation was already useless. Chazov, having carefully weighed all the circumstances and consequences, decided first of all to inform everyone about the death of Secretary General Yuri Andropov, the second person in the party and state. Andropov, the first of politicians and arrived at the scene of death, immediately took Brezhnev’s personal briefcase with a digital lock, which Leonid Ilyich himself laughingly told his relatives about, as if it contained incriminating evidence on all members of the Politburo. The media reported Brezhnev’s death only a day later, on November 11 at 10 am. However, many experienced people both in the USSR and abroad, even on the day of the Secretary General’s death, guessed that something out of the ordinary had happened in the country: minor classical music was played on all radio channels, television canceled the broadcast of a festive concert dedicated to Police Day (his replaced by a screening of the film about Lenin “The Man with a Gun”), by the evening on Red Square there was an unusual crowd of black government “member-carrying” cars, which attracted the attention of Western correspondents, who made the first public assumptions on the radio.

Brezhnev was buried on November 15 on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall. According to published evidence, it was the most magnificent and pompous funeral since Stalin's in March 1953; heads of state and government from more than 35 countries of the world were present.

Among those who arrived to say goodbye to Brezhnev, the President of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq, unexpectedly appeared, who actively supported the Afghan Mujahideen in the war against Soviet troops and was therefore perceived in the USSR as an unfriendly figure. Taking advantage of an unforeseen opportunity, Andropov and Gromyko held a meeting with Zia-ul-Haq in the Kremlin, and these were the first direct negotiations of the Soviet leadership on resolving the conflict in Afghanistan

On November 10, 1982, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev died. The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee had been seriously ill since 1974. The list of his ailments is impressive.

Among them: heart disease, jaw cancer, due to which the Secretary General could barely speak, gout, emphysema. He could also have leukemia. IN last years Throughout his life, Brezhnev found it increasingly difficult to cope with his responsibilities. He was an old, deeply ill man, exhausted by almost a decade of constant physical illness.

The death of the Secretary General had been expected literally any day for a long time. And yet, when it happened, everyone was stunned. Brezhnev died on November 10, 1982. 3 days before, he hosted a military parade in the main square of the country and looked pretty good. No one expected that the Secretary General would no longer exist so soon. What were the reasons for his unexpected departure, historians are still arguing.

Political struggle is the main reason

Leonid Ilyich did not have much hope for his fragile health, so he had been preparing for his own departure for a long time. Since the mid-70s I have been trying to find a successor. As always happens in such a situation, political infighting and hidden struggle began in the circle of the head of state. Yuri Andropov became especially active. There was strong opposition against him in the Central Committee, but Yuri Vladimirovich dealt with his opponents decisively and energetically.

The post of successor to the aging Brezhnev was almost assigned to Andropov. And suddenly, in the summer of 1982, the candidacy of Vladimir Shcherbitsky came forward. Leonid Ilyich wanted to recommend him for the post of the new head of the USSR. The behind-the-scenes political struggle immediately intensified. It took very little to “push” Brezhnev into the grave.

Resuscitation efforts were too lax

According to one version, Brezhnev could “accidentally” exceed his usual dose of sedative pills, which he often took in Lately. When Colonel V. Medvedev discovered his body, Andropov was one of the first to appear at the dacha of the late Secretary General. According to the testimony of the same Medvedev, the latter took the news surprisingly calmly.

The doctors who arrived on the call tried to revive Brezhnev “for show,” but it was all in vain. Yes, no one particularly sought to resurrect the “bygone era.” The new contender for the throne, Andropov, was right there, in the same room with the body of the late Brezhnev. It was clear to everyone that he would soon take more warm place head of the Soviet state.

Problems with my daughter

According to another version, Brezhnev was driven into his grave by the court case against his daughter. Galina Brezhneva was distinguished by an irrepressible, violent disposition. She changed husbands and lovers like gloves. Her latest hobby was the artist of the Romen Theater B. Buryats, a gypsy by nationality. At the end of 1981, he was accused of stealing diamonds.

Suspicion also fell on Galina Brezhneva, as she carefully tried to shield her lover. This was well known to Leonid Ilyich. Brezhnev's entourage did not spare him - they informed him of all the details of the case. Perhaps this was done deliberately in the hope that another blow from the unlucky daughter would bring the weak-hearted Secretary General to the grave. And so it happened.

The funeral was not without an unpleasant moment. When the coffin was lowered into the grave, the servants could not hold it and dropped it. During the live broadcast! The whole country saw how the coffin with Brezhnev's body fell awkwardly to the bottom of the grave. After this incident, the moments of immersion of the coffin into the grave of the following general secretaries it was decided not to be shown on television anymore.

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev came to criticize the cult of personality and the Cuban missile crisis, which almost plunged the world into the Third World War, whose years of rule were remembered for the naturally reverse process.

Stagnation, the strengthening of Stalin's importance in the eyes of the public, softening in relations with the West, but at the same time attempts to influence world politics - these are the characteristics that this era is remembered for. The years of Brezhnev's rule in the USSR were some of the key ones that contributed to the subsequent economic and political crisis of the nineties. What was this politician like?

First steps to power

Leonid Ilyich was born into an ordinary working-class family in 1906. He first studied at a land management technical school, and then studied to become a metallurgist. As director of the Technical College of Metallurgy, which is located in Dneprodzerzhinsk, he became a member of the CPSU party in 1931. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, Brezhnev worked as deputy head of the political department on the Southern Front. By the end of the war, Leonid Ilyich became a major general. Already in 1950 he worked as first secretary in Moldova, and in subsequent years he replaced the chief in the Political Directorate of the Army of the Soviet Union. Then he becomes chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council. It is known that an absolutely trusting relationship developed between Khrushchev and Brezhnev, which allowed the latter to advance to the levers of governing the country after Nikita Sergeevich’s illness.

Brezhnev's reforms

The years of Leonid Brezhnev's reign (1964-1982) can be characterized as a time of conservative measures. Agricultural expansion was not the main task for the ruler. Although Kosygin's reform was carried out during this period, its results were disastrous. Expenditures on housing and healthcare construction only decreased, while expenses on the military complex grew by leaps and bounds. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, whose years of rule were remembered for the growth of the bureaucratic apparatus and bureaucratic arbitrariness, was more focused on foreign policy, apparently not finding ways to resolve internal stagnation in society.

Foreign policy

It was precisely on the political influence of the Soviet Union in the world that Brezhnev worked most of all, whose years of rule were full of foreign policy events. On the one hand, Leonid Ilyich is taking important steps in de-escalating the conflict between the USSR and the USA. The countries are finally finding a dialogue and agreeing on cooperation. In 1972, the President of America visited Moscow for the first time, where a treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was signed, and in 1980, the capital hosted guests from all countries for the Olympic Games.

However, Brezhnev, whose years of rule are known for his active participation in various military conflicts, was not an absolute peacemaker. For Leonid Ilyich, it was important to designate the place of the USSR among world powers capable of influencing the resolution externally political issues. Thus, the Soviet Union sends troops into Afghanistan and participates in conflicts in Vietnam and the Middle East. In addition, the attitude of the socialist countries that had been friendly to the USSR until that time is changing, and Brezhnev is also interfering in their internal affairs. The years of Leonid Ilyich's reign were remembered for the suppression of Czechoslovak protests, deterioration of relations with Poland and the conflict with China on Damansky Island.

Awards

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was especially distinguished by his love of awards and titles. Sometimes it reached such absurdity that as a result many anecdotes and inventions appeared. However, it is difficult to argue with the facts.

Leonid Ilyich received his first award back in Stalin’s time. After the war he was awarded the Order of Lenin. One can only imagine how proud Brezhnev was of this title. The years of Khrushchev's rule brought him several more awards: the second Order of Lenin and the Order of the Great Patriotic War, first degree. All this was not enough for the vain Leonid Ilyich.

Already during his reign, Brezhnev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union four times out of a possible three. He also received the title of Marshal of the USSR and the Order of Victory, which was awarded only to great commanders who participated in active hostilities, where Brezhnev never ended up.

Results of the board

The main defining word of the Brezhnev era was “stagnation.” During the leadership of Leonid Ilyich, the economy finally showed its weakness and lack of growth. Attempts to carry out reforms did not lead to the expected results.

As a conservative, Brezhnev was not satisfied with the policy of softening ideological pressure, so during his time control over culture only intensified. One striking example of this is the expulsion of A.I. Solzhenitsyn from the USSR in 1974.

Although relative improvements were planned in foreign policy, the aggressive position of the USSR and the attempt to influence internal conflicts other countries worsened the world community's attitude towards the Soviet Union.

In general, Brezhnev left behind a number of difficult economic and political issues that his successors had to resolve.

During the funerals of Soviet leaders, it is customary to carry their awards pinned to small velvet pillows. When Suslov was buried, fifteen senior officers carried his orders and medals behind the coffin. But Brezhnev had more than two hundred orders and medals! It was necessary to attach several orders and medals to each velvet cushion and limit the honorary escort to forty-four senior officers.

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born on December 6 (19), 1906, in the village of Kamenskoye (now Dneprodzerzhinsk), Ukraine. He began his working life at the age of fifteen. After graduating from the Kursk Land Management and Reclamation College in 1927, he worked as a land surveyor in the Kokhanovsky district of the Orsha district of the Belarusian USSR. He joined the Komsomol in 1923, and became a member of the CPSU in 1931. In 1935 he graduated from the Metallurgical Institute in Dneprodzerzhinsk, where he also worked as an engineer at a metallurgical plant.

Brezhnev was nominated to his first responsible post in the Dnepropetrovsk regional party committee in 1938, when he was about 32 years old. At that time, Brezhnev's career was not the fastest. Brezhnev was not a careerist who worked his way up by elbowing aside other contenders and betraying his friends. Even then, he was distinguished by his calmness, loyalty to his colleagues and superiors, and did not push forward on his own as much as others pushed him forward. At the very first stage, Brezhnev was promoted by his friend at the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute Grusheva, who was the first secretary of the Dneprodzerzhinsk city party committee. After the war, Grushevoy remained in political work in the army. He died in 1982 with the rank of colonel general. Brezhnev, who was present at this funeral, suddenly fell in front of his friend's coffin, bursting into sobs. This episode remained incomprehensible to many.

During the war, Brezhnev did not have strong patronage, and he made little progress. At the beginning of the war he was promoted to the rank of colonel, at the end of the war he was a major general, having advanced only one rank. They didn’t spoil him in terms of awards either. By the end of the war, he had two Orders of the Red Banner, one of the Red Star, the Order of God of Khmelnitsky and two medals. At that time, this was not enough for a general. During the Victory Parade on Red Square, where Major General Brezhnev walked with the commander at the head of the combined column of his front, he had much fewer awards on his chest than other generals.

After the war, Brezhnev owed his promotion to Khrushchev, which he carefully kept silent about in his memoirs.

After working in Zaporozhye, Brezhnev, also on the recommendation of Khrushchev, was nominated to the post of first secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional party committee, and in 1950 to the post of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (6) of Moldova. At the 19th Party Congress in the fall of 1952, Brezhnev, as the leader of the Moldovan communists, was elected to the CPSU Central Committee. For a short time, he even became a member of the Presidium (as a candidate) and the Secretariat of the Central Committee, which were significantly expanded at the suggestion of Stalin. During the congress, Stalin saw Brezhnev for the first time. The old and sick dictator drew attention to the large and well-dressed 46-year-old Brezhnev. Stalin was told that this was the party leader of the Moldavian SSR. - said Stalin. November 7, 1952 Brezhnev stood on the podium of the Mausoleum for the first time. Close

Until March 1953, Brezhnev, like other members of the Presidium, was in Moscow and waited for them to gather for a meeting and distribute responsibilities. In Moldova he was already released from work. But Stalin never collected them.

After Stalin's death, the composition of the Presidium and Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee was immediately reduced. Brezhnev was also removed from the staff, but he did not return to Moldova, but was appointed head of the Political Directorate Navy THE USSR. He received the rank of lieutenant general and had to put on his military uniform again. In the Central Committee, Brezhnev invariably supported Khrushchev.

At the beginning of 1954, Khrushchev sent him to Kazakhstan to supervise the development of virgin lands. He returned to Moscow only in 1956 and after the 20th Congress of the CPSU he again became one of the secretaries of the Central Committee and a candidate member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. Brezhnev was supposed to control the development of heavy industry, later defense and aerospace, but all the main issues were decided personally by Khrushchev, and Brezhnev acted as a calm and devoted assistant. After the June Plenum of the Central Committee in 1957, Brezhnev became a member of the Presidium. Khrushchev appreciated his loyalty, but did not consider him a strong enough worker.

After the retirement of K. E. Voroshilov, Brezhnev became his successor as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In some Western biographies, this appointment is assessed almost as Brezhnev’s defeat in the struggle for power. But in reality, Brezhnev was not an active participant in this struggle and was very pleased with the new appointment. He did not then aspire to the post of head of the party or government. He was quite satisfied with the role of a person in leadership. Back in 1956-1957. he managed to transfer to Moscow some people with whom he had worked in Moldova and Ukraine. Among the first were Trapeznikov and Chernenko, who began working in Brezhnev’s personal secretariat. In the Presidium of the Supreme Council, it was Chernenko who became the head of Brezhnev’s chancellery. In 1963, when F. Kozlov lost not only Khrushchev’s favor, but was also struck down by a stroke, Khrushchev hesitated for a long time in choosing his new favorite. Ultimately, his choice fell on Brezhnev, who was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Khrushchev was in very good health and expected to remain in power for a long time. Meanwhile, Brezhnev himself was dissatisfied with this decision of Khrushchev, although moving to the Secretariat increased his real power and influence. He was not eager to plunge into the extremely difficult and troublesome work of the secretary of the Central Committee. It was not Brezhnev who organized the removal of Khrushchev, although he knew about the impending action. Among its main organizers there was no agreement on many issues. In order not to deepen differences that could derail the whole matter, they agreed to the election of Brezhnev, assuming that this would be a temporary solution. Leonid Ilyich gave his consent.

Finding himself at the head of the party and state, Brezhnev, as can be judged by his

behavior, constantly experienced an inferiority complex. In the depths of his soul, he still understood in the first years of his power that he lacked many qualities and knowledge to lead a state like the Soviet Union. His assistants assured him otherwise, they began to flatter him, and the more gratefully Brezhnev received this flattery, the more frequent and exorbitant it became. Gradually he began to need her, like a constant dose of drugs.

Various kinds of myths began to be created, especially around Brezhnev’s military biography. As a political worker, Brezhnev did not take part in the largest and most decisive battles of the Patriotic War. One of the most important episodes in the combat biography of the 18th Army was the capture and retention of a bridgehead south of Novorossiysk for 225 days in 1943, called “Malaya Zemlya”.

Brezhnev’s amazing penchant for the tinsel of external honors and awards also evoked not respect, but only ridicule. After the war, under Stalin, Brezhnev was awarded the Order of Lenin. For 10 years of Khrushchev's leadership, Brezhnev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. However, after Brezhnev himself came to lead the country and the party, awards began to fall on him like from a cornucopia. By the end of his life, he had much more orders and medals than Stalin and Khrushchev combined. At the same time, he really wanted to receive military orders. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union four times, which according to its status can only be awarded three times (only G.K. Zhukov was an exception). Dozens of times he received the title of Hero and the highest orders of all socialist countries. He was awarded orders of countries Latin America and Africa. Brezhnev was awarded the highest Soviet military order "Victory", which was awarded only to the largest commanders, and at the same time for outstanding victories on the scale of fronts or groups of fronts. Naturally, with so many highest military awards, Brezhnev could not be satisfied with the rank of lieutenant general. In 1976, Brezhnev was awarded the rank of Marshal of the USSR. Brezhnev came to the next meeting with veterans of the 18th Army in a raincoat and, entering the room, commanded: “Attention! The marshal is coming!” Throwing off his cloak, he appeared before the veterans in a new marshal's uniform. Pointing to the marshal stars on his shoulder straps, Brezhnev proudly said: “I have achieved the rank!”

During the funerals of Soviet leaders, it is customary to carry their awards pinned to small velvet pillows. When Suslov was buried, fifteen senior officers carried his orders and medals behind the coffin. But Brezhnev had more than two hundred orders and medals! It was necessary to attach several orders and medals to each velvet cushion and limit the honorary escort to forty-four senior officers.

Brezhnev was lost on various kinds ceremonies, sometimes hiding this confusion with unnatural inactivity. But in pain

In a narrow circle, during frequent meetings or on days off, Brezhnev could be a completely different person, more independent, resourceful, and sometimes showing a sense of humor. Almost all politicians who dealt with him remember this, of course, even before the onset of his serious illness. Apparently understanding this, Brezhnev soon began to prefer to conduct important negotiations at his dacha in Oreanda in Crimea or in the Zavidovo hunting ground near Moscow.

Former German Chancellor W. Brandt, with whom Brezhnev met more than once, wrote in his memoirs:

"Unlike Kosygin, my immediate negotiating partner in 1970, who was mostly cool and calm, Brezhnev could be impulsive, even angry. Changes in mood, Russian soul, quick tears are possible. He had a sense of humor. He Not only did he swim for many hours in Oreanda, but he talked and laughed a lot. He talked about the history of his country, but only about the last decades... It was obvious that Brezhnev tried to take care of his appearance. His figure did not correspond to those ideas, which may have appeared from his official photographs. He was not in the least an imposing person, and, despite the bulk of his body, he gave the impression of being graceful, lively, energetic in his movements, cheerful person. His facial expressions and gestures betrayed him as a southerner, especially if he felt relaxed during the conversation. He came from the Ukrainian industrial region, where various national influences were mixed. More than anything else, the second had an impact on the formation of Brezhnev as a person. World War. He spoke with great and slightly naive excitement about how Hitler managed to deceive Stalin..."

G. Kissinger also called Brezhnev “a real Russian, full of feelings, with rude humor.” When Kissinger, already as US Secretary of State, came to Moscow in 1973 to negotiate Brezhnev’s visit to the United States, almost all of these five-day negotiations took place in the Zavidovo hunting ground during walks, hunting, lunches and dinners. Brezhnev even demonstrated to the guest his art of driving a car. Kissinger writes in his memoirs: “One day he took me to the black Cadillac that Nixon had given him a year ago on Dobrynin’s advice. With Brezhnev at the wheel, we raced at high speed along narrow, winding rural roads, so that one could only pray that at the nearest intersection some policeman appeared and put an end to this risky game. But this was too incredible, because if there were any traffic policeman here, outside the city, he would hardly have dared to stop the car of the General Secretary of the Party. Quick The ride ended at the pier. Brezhnev placed me on a hydrofoil boat, which, fortunately, he did not drive himself. But I had the impression that this boat should

to break the speed record that the Secretary General set during our car trip."

Brezhnev behaved very directly at many receptions, for example, on the occasion of the flight into space of a joint Soviet-American crew under the Soyuz-Apollo project. However soviet people we have never seen or known such a cheerful and spontaneous Brezhnev. In addition, the image of a younger Brezhnev, who was not very often shown on television at that time, was supplanted in the minds of the people by the image of a seriously ill, sedentary and tongue-tied man who appeared on our television screens almost every day in the last 5-6 years of his life.

Brezhnev was generally a benevolent person; he did not like complications and conflicts either in politics or in personal relationships with his colleagues. When such a conflict did arise, Brezhnev tried to avoid extreme solutions. When there were conflicts within management, very few people retired. Most of the “disgraced” leaders remained in the “nomenklatura”, but only 2-3 steps lower. A member of the Politburo could become a deputy minister, and a former minister, secretary of the regional party committee, member of the CPSU Central Committee was sent as ambassador to a small country: Denmark, Belgium, Australia, Norway.

This benevolence often turned into connivance, which dishonest people also took advantage of. Brezhnev often left at his posts not only guilty workers, but also employees who had stolen. It is known that without the sanction of the Politburo, the judicial authorities cannot conduct an investigation into the case of any member of the CPSU Central Committee.

It often happened that Brezhnev cried at official receptions. This sentimentality, so little characteristic of politicians, sometimes benefited... art. For example, back in the early 70s, the film “Belarusian Station” was created. It was a good picture, but it was not allowed on the screen, believing that the film did not contain better light Moscow police are represented. Defenders of the painting secured a viewing of it with the participation of members of the Politburo. There is an episode in the film where it is shown how fellow soldiers who met by chance and after many years sing a song about the airborne battalion in which they all once served. This song, composed by B. Okudzhava, touched Brezhnev, and he cried. Of course, the film was immediately approved for distribution, and since then the song about the airborne battalion has almost always been included in the repertoire of concerts attended by Brezhnev.

Even at the age of 50 and even 60, Brezhnev lived without worrying too much about his health. He did not give up all the pleasures that life can give and which do not always contribute to longevity.

Brezhnev's first serious health problems appeared, apparently, in 1969-1970. Doctors began to be constantly on duty next to him, and medical offices were equipped in the places where he lived. At the beginning of 1976, something happened to Brezhnev

about what is commonly called clinical death. However, he was brought back to life, although for two months he could not work, because his thinking and speech were impaired. Since then, a group of resuscitation doctors, armed with necessary equipment. Although the health of our leaders is one of the closely guarded state secrets, Brezhnev's progressive infirmity was obvious to all who could see him on their television screens. American journalist Simon Head wrote: “Every time this corpulent figure ventures beyond the Kremlin walls, the outside world closely looks for signs of deteriorating health. With the death of M. Suslov, another pillar of the Soviet regime, this eerie scrutiny can only intensify. During the November (1981) meetings with Helmut Schmidt, when Brezhnev almost fell while walking, he at times looked as if he could not last a day."

In essence, he was slowly dying in front of the whole world. He had several heart attacks and strokes in the last six years, and resuscitators brought him back from clinical death several times. The last time this happened was in April 1982 after an accident in Tashkent.

Of course painful condition Brezhnev's leadership began to affect his ability to govern the country. He was forced to frequently interrupt his duties or delegate them to his ever-growing staff of personal assistants. Brezhnev's working day was shortened by several hours. He began to go on vacation not only in the summer, but also in the spring. Gradually, it became increasingly difficult for him to carry out even simple protocol duties, and he stopped understanding what was happening in the district. However, many influential, deeply corrupt, corrupt people from his circle were interested in Brezhnev appearing in public from time to time, at least as a formal head of state. They literally led him by the hand and reached the worst: the old age, infirmity and illness of the Soviet leader became objects not so much of the sympathy and pity of his fellow citizens, but of irritation and ridicule, which were expressed more and more openly.

Even on the afternoon of November 10, 1982, during the parade and demonstration, Brezhnev stood for several hours in a row, despite bad weather, on the podium of the Mausoleum, and foreign newspapers wrote that he looked even better than usual. The end came, however, after just three days. In the morning during breakfast, Brezhnev went into his office to get something and did not return for a long time. The concerned wife followed him from the dining room and saw him lying on the carpet near the desk. The doctors' efforts were unsuccessful this time, and four hours after Brezhnev's heart stopped, they announced his death. The next day, the CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet government officially notified the world of the death of L.I. Brezhnev

USSR during the reign of L.I. Brezhnev (1964 - 1982)

Hello, dear readers of the site and applicants!

We continue the series of articles about the history of the USSR in the second half of the 20th century. Here are past articles on this topic:

Today I will focus on the years of L.I.’s reign. Brezhnev (1964 - 1982) . At the end of the article you will find a test to test your knowledge on this topic. Be sure to go through it to know how much you really know about this topic!

Of course, I cannot cover all aspects of this topic in one post, but I can give some comments about what you, dear reader, should know when preparing for the Unified State Exam on this topic. At the end of this post you will find interesting video materials on the reign of L.I. Brezhnev and interesting anecdotes. I will provide more complete information on this topic in my own video course, which should be released in March 2013.

So, after the resignation of N.S. Khrushchev, at the XXIII Congress of the CPSU Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was elected General Secretary. And the Soviet Union began to develop as follows:

Political development USSR during the reign of L.I. Brezhnev

Starting from the late 1960s, the so-called “neo-Stalinism” began to take shape - a cult of personality, but now not of Stalin, but of L.I. Brezhnev. As you know, there are five main features of a totalitarian regime: one party (CPSU), an apparatus of repression, a cult of personality (belief in the infallibility of the leader, in his holiness), a single mass ideology (Marxism-Leninism), and control over all spheres of social life.

You understand that after the debunking of Stalin’s personality cult under N.S. Khrushchev, there is a need for a new personality that unites not only the USSR, but the entire socialist bloc, which is what L.I. became. Brezhnev. It all started with undeserved awards. Leonid Ilyich, who ended the war with the rank of major general, overnight became a marshal of the Soviet Union, a holder of the Order of Victory (this order was awarded only to the heads of Headquarters and the General Staff, as well as to the commander of the fronts), four times Hero of the Soviet Union.

Leonid Ilyich also loved cars, and each representative of one country or another gave the ruler of the USSR a car. Brezhnev loved to drive around the Kremlin in order to test this or that car. For this purpose, the streets of Moscow were blocked so that Leonid Ilyich could enjoy burning! :)))

In addition, valuable memoirs, published during his reign under the title “Little Land,” suddenly came to light. By the way, in almost all universities, no matter what specialty you are taking the exam in, they began to demand that students retell the great work of L.I. Brezhnev. Ignorance of memoirs sometimes led to expulsion from the university. All three “Malaya Zemlya” films can be viewed and evaluated at the end of this article.

During the reign of L.I. Brezhnev in political life country, a social class of nomenklatura appears - senior party and state functionaries who already lived under communism. The omnipotence and irremovability of the nomenklatura led to disastrous consequences - for example, the aging of the elite. So average age By the early 1980s, party functionaries had reached the 70-year mark. What do old people need? Less physical movement - maybe everything will work out on its own!

The new course towards the cult of personality also resulted in KGB control over society. But now they were often not shot, but put in a mental hospital, which, by the way, was veiledly ridiculed in the comedy “ Caucasian captive", which was published in 1974.

Socio-economic development of the USSR during the reign of L.I. Brezhnev

Studying the topic “Board of L.I. Brezhnev,” you need to understand that after Khrushchev’s resignation, many of his innovations were canceled, in particular, economic councils, and the management of industry and agriculture returned to the hands of line ministries. In addition, it is necessary to remember about the reform of A.N. Kosygina. Its essence is (1) in changing the system of remuneration of industrial workers, and also (2) in transferring part of the enterprises (0k. 15%) to self-financing, that is, self-sufficiency, self-financing, self-government.

In total, 15% of enterprises were transferred, which produced 37% of the gross national product. However, the reform was not brought to its logical conclusion, since it assumed the legalization market relations, and could not be built into the command and administrative control system built under I.V. Stalin.

3. Foreign policy during the reign of Brezhnev.

Foreign policy I explained it in the post .

This is how I would briefly describe this topic. Naturally, you need to remember that Brezhnev’s reign was a time of “Stagnation”, they didn’t dare to do that internal problems life of the country. There is a shortage, a shadow economy and a lot of other interesting things that will be covered in my author's video course on the history of Russia .

Anecdotes about the reign of L.I. Brezhnev:

Brezhnev’s reign went down in our history as the “Stagnation Period,” since during these years the country’s internal problems were not resolved. People are very creative and began to create all kinds of jokes. I would say that we are talking about a kind of folk art, art... Thanks to these anecdotes, we can “get used to” the Brezhnev era and find out what the Soviet people laughed at.

It means that Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev are traveling in the train carriage. Suddenly the train stops, Stalin shoots the driver - the train does not move, Khrushchev rehabilitates the driver - the train does not move, Brezhnev draws the curtains and says with relief: “Well, finally let’s go!”

POLITICAL BLUP
They say that during Brezhnev’s time there were a lot of official texts in newspapers, boring and unreadable. At that time they were very strict about mistakes in the newspaper - they could easily have fired you.
One day, one of the central publications released a spread with a huge photograph of all members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. In addition, the title of another note was visible on the spread: “A Herd of Ancient Mammoths.” If you folded the newspaper in a specific way, the headline would fit right under the photograph.
As a result, the mistake was recognized as political, and the publication was approximately punished.

Brezhnev walked up to the mirror and thought out loud:
“Yes... he has become old, very old, SUPERSTAR!”

Carter came to Brezhnev in the summer from an official position. visit. We took him on an excursion to
VDNH. The heat was terrible, and Brezhnev invited Carter to swim in
central fountain. Carter sensibly counters:
“And if your representative of the law comes up and asks why we’re swimming in
in the wrong place?
- Well, you answer that you are the President of the United States, and he, of course, will understand everything and leave.
They swim and swim. And then a policeman comes up and turns to Carter:
- Come on, you, swim here! ;-E What are you doing here?
- Yes, how do you address me! I am US President Carter!!!
- Yeah, now that big-faced guy will swim up and say that Brezhnev.

Brezhnev, covering his face with a Panama hat, lies on the men's beach of the Politburo sanatorium.
A dog came up and licked his genitals. Without changing his posture, Brezhnev lazily
reacts:
- Well, this is too much, comrades!

Brezhnev arrived in the Kremlin on the first day of Easter. Ustinov meets him:

Brezhnev nodded and moved on. Towards Chernenko, smiling fawningly:
- Christ is risen, Leonid Ilyich!
- Thank you, they have already reported to me.

Brezhnev comes to Carter on an official visit. Carter takes Brezhnev around the White House, shows him various sights and at the end takes him into a small office. In this office there is a small panel attached to the wall, and on it there are two buttons - white and black. Carter tells Brezhnev:
- Look, Leonid Ilyich: I have two buttons. If I click on white, it will fall on the USSR atomic bomb, and if I click on black, then a hydrogen bomb will fall on the USSR...
He said it and looked to see what impression his words would make. Brezhnev thought and said:
- You know, Mister President, during the war I had a lady friend in Poland. She had two toilets in her house - one blue and the other pink... But when they entered Warsaw soviet tanks, she shit herself right on the stairs!

Leonid Ilyich, what is your hobby?
- It will be twenty centimeters!
- No, I mean your hobby!
- Oh, I collect interesting anecdotes about myself.
- And what successes?
- Already assembled three and a half camps

A resident of the Far North came from Moscow and said: “They say that in our country everything is for the person - and I saw this person.”

Lenin proved that even cooks can rule the country.
Stalin proved that one person can rule the country.
Khrushchev proved that even a fool can rule a country.
Brezhnev proved that there is no need to govern the country at all.

Under Lenin it was like being in a tunnel: there was darkness all around, light ahead.
Under Stalin, it’s like on a bus: one is driving, half is sitting, the rest are shaking.
Under Khrushchev it’s like in a circus: one speaks, everyone laughs.
Under Brezhnev, it’s like in a movie: everyone is waiting for the end of the show.

Nixon, who visited the USSR, asked Brezhnev why Soviet workers were not on strike. Instead of answering, Brezhnev took him to the factory and himself addressed the workers: “Starting tomorrow, your wages will be reduced!” (Applause).
The working day will be extended! (Applause).
Every tenth person will be hanged! (Applause, question: “Should I bring my own rope or will the trade union committee provide it?”

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PocketBook 640, White

The PocketBook company is a recognized leader in the production of electronic books. What are the main advantages of such books? First, e-ink technology prevents your eyes from getting tired.

Secondly, the e-reader holds its charge for a very long time (up to 1 month). And, thirdly, the presented model is also waterproof. Whether rain or snow caught you reading: it doesn’t matter.

Of course, there is an opening of all book formats, dictionaries and other useful things, for example wi fi

Buy an e-book Pocketbook 640