Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982. Cautious and ideologically vacuous, Brezhnev remains a mystery, despite a lengthy rule. Under him, the Soviet Union descended into corruption and economic stagnation, and paved the way for the era of reform under Mikhail Gorbachev. Arguably, the Brezhnev era represented the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. However, others have interpreted the Brezhnev “stagnation” as a moment of stability in a country that was rarely stable, leading to interesting questions as to how different these two phenomena really are. 

My guest for this conversation is Susanne Schattenberg, professor of contemporary history and director of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen in Germany. Her book, Brezhnev: Making of a Statesman, was published by Bloomsbury in 2021. We discuss Brezhnev’s ascent towards the pinnacle of Soviet power, his questionable commitment to the Bolshevik cause, and whether his cautious approach to leadership has been emulated by Russian leaders hence, principally Vladimir Putin.