Brezhnev spent eighteen years in the position of soviet leader. During his eighteen years in power, Brezhnev led the Soviet Union to the peak of its comprehensive national strength. To this day, russians still miss life in the Brezhnev era. But what is quite surprising is that Brezhnev was in the eyes of historical commentators as a sinner of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
(Brezhnev old photo)
So, obviously making the people's lives better and better, why is brezhnev difficult to get praise?
In 1964, a coup d'état occurred in the Soviet Union, Khrushchev was ousted during his vacation on the Black Sea, and Brezhnev was put on the leadership.
In order to consolidate his dominance, Brezhnev promoted a large number of cronies to the central government. For example, Chernenko, Serlovkov and others were promoted in the early days of Brezhnev's rise to power.
As Brezhnev's power grew stronger, he began to squeeze out other forces within the party. For example, Serepin, Podgorny, and others who made great contributions to the neutrality of the coup and supported him later, were all excluded from the leadership by Brezhnev.
Of course, Brezhnev's methods are only the usual way for politicians. What really holds him in place is his economic achievements.
In the first and middle periods of Brezhnev's reign, he carried out drastic reforms of the Soviet economic management system. Among them, the main one is to reduce the indicators of the central directive plan and enhance the autonomy of enterprises. Under a series of reforms, the Soviet economy achieved rapid development in a short period of time. From 1965 to 1975, the national income of the USSR increased nearly twice, and the people's living standards were greatly improved. In particular, Brezhnev promoted the construction of rural roads and vigorously developed the agricultural economy, which made the life of the Soviet peasants better and better.
Militarily, Brezhnev also achieved good results.
After Brezhnev took office, the Soviet military developed vigorously, especially the number of nuclear weapons, and even surpassed the United States for a time. The Soviet Union became a military power historically, while the United States was mired in the Vietnam War. In the event of this, the Soviet Union began to gain an advantage in the US-Soviet struggle for hegemony.
So, since Brezhnev is so capable, why does everyone not think highly of him?
Brezhnev's greatest mistake was to focus on consolidating his rule and to condone the corruption of Soviet officials. This eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet political and economic system.
During Khrushchev's reign, the Soviet Union introduced a cadre rotation system, and everyone's position could be threatened. But after Brezhnev came to power, he directly changed this system to a lifelong system. Officials sat firmly on the Diaoyutai and gradually began to pursue other interests based on their own work.
Brezhnev was well aware of the corruption of Soviet officials, but he did not care at all. He even uttered such bizarre quotes as "No one can live on a salary" to defend corrupt officials in a dignified manner.
(Order of Brezhnev)
In addition to condoning corruption, Brezhnev was a leader with special fetishes.
Brezhnev was a fanatical self-toutist. In the 1991 Gillis World Records certification, Brezhnev was awarded "the most medallisted man in the world". He received a total of 114 medals in his lifetime, four of which were gold stars in recognition of the "Hero of the Soviet Union". In history, zhukov was the only one who could receive this medal four times, who made great contributions to the country.
It is worth saying that Brezhnev's medals were all awarded to himself.
In addition to the medals, Brezhnev also found several gunmen to ghostwrite and wrote three memoirs for him, "The Land", "Revival", and "Wasteland". These three books were published in large quantities during his reign, eventually winning the Lenin Golden Prize for Literature and even being selected as Soviet textbooks. When Gorbachev came to power, all these books were banned.
Brezhnev especially likes to kiss others, and his "Brezhnev's Kiss" is "famous" in the international community. East German leader Honecker was forcibly kissed by Brezhnev, and the media treasured this scene and circulated it as the famous "brotherly kiss". Today, the photograph has also become a timeless classic historical moment.
In terms of speech, Brezhnev was an outright loser. When he attended the Congress of The Azerbaijani Party members, he began to go crazy because he had taken the wrong speech. Just when the audience was confused, his secretary took the stage to change into a new speech, and Brezhnev realized it later. And with no manuscript in hand, Brezhnev could not utter even a complete sentence.
Later in power, Brezhnev followed the old path of Stalin's cult of personality. Therefore, despite certain achievements, future generations really cannot have much positive evaluation of Brezhnev.
(Reference: Brezhnev Biography)