WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOVIET LEADERS?

LEONID BREZHNEV, 1964-82

• Hard line Communist with no intention of lessening Cold War tensions
• Architect of the Brezhnev Doctrine
• However, with Nixon, an architect of detente
• Changed the constitution in 1977 to give himself greater powers
• Represented a return to repressive policies

BREZHNEV

• By the mid-1970s it was clear detente had failed
• The SU were still seeking influence in the Third World
• Aided pro-communist forces in SE Asia and Africa
• Health went into decline from the mid-1970s
• Addicted to sleeping tablets, strokes and heart attacks

BREZHNEV

• Invasion of Afghanistan (with hindsight) = major mistake
• Also saw the crushing of Solidarity in Poland
• Impossible for him to meet with President Reagan

YURI ANDROPOV, 1982-84

• Architect of Afghanistan war and crushing of Solidarity
• Broke off arms control limitation talks with the USA in 1983
• September 1983: Korean Air flight KAL-007 shot down
• From February 1983, suffered Kidney failure
• Resided permanently in a Moscow hospital

KONSTANTIN CHERNENKO, 1984-85

• 83 when appointed leader (3yrs older than Andropov)
• Was so ill he could barely read Andropov's eulogy
• Agreed to hold arms limitations talks with the US in 1985
• His period in office saw an improvement in Sino-Soviet relations
• A smoker from 9, he was hospitalised from late 1984

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, 1985-91

• At 53, Russia finally had a young leader!
• Met Reagan for the first time at Geneva in 1985
• Internal reforms led (some believe) to the collapse of communism
• These included; Glasnost, Perestroika and Democratisation

HOW DID BREZHNEV, ANDROPOV AND CHERNENKO LEAD TO A SECOND COLD WAR?