Person1906 – 1982
Leonid Brezhnev
Soviet leader (1964–1982) who crushed the Prague Spring (the Brezhnev Doctrine) and presided over both détente and the invasion of Afghanistan
Where they went
2 related events
- 1
Czechoslovakia’s Dubček launched reforms, including press freedom, under the banner of “socialism with a human face”, but Warsaw Pact forces led by the Soviet Union invaded and crushed them.
- 2
The Soviet Union sent troops to prop up Afghanistan’s communist regime and fought for nearly ten years against mujahideen backed by the US and others before withdrawing in 1989. Détente was over.
People who appear alongside
- Alexander Dubček1921 – 1992
First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (1968–1969) who led the Prague Spring reforms under the banner of “socialism with a human face”
- Mikhail Gorbachev1931 – 2022
Soviet leader (1985–1991) and first president of the USSR whose perestroika and glasnost ended the Cold War but could not prevent the Soviet collapse; Nobel Peace Prize 1990
Themes this person appears in
- The Cold War1945 – 1991
From Yalta to the dissolution of the Soviet Union — half a century in which two blocs led by the US and the USSR divided the world