Films: Brezhnev - Interpretations
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
Can't see the video? Download it here
(Student and corporate secondary members can view these films in our Student Zone)
Leonid Brezhnev was the second longest serving leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin, overseeing some of the most difficult relations between East and West, yet he does not have the popular cultural legacy of some of the others. His very unremarkable presence is, however, one of the remarkable stories of poverty to power that the Soviet Union created. Born in 1906 to a working class Ukrainian family, few would have foreseen Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev ending up in any major position of authority.
The October Revolution in 1917 and the creation of the Soviet Union gave men like Brezhnev opportunities that would have never been possible within the Russian Empire. Brezhnev took every chance he was given and steadily carved a path under Stalin; rising from the periphery, avoiding the purges, slowly working himself into the centre of power in Moscow. Read more
1. Brezhnev's early life and career (free and open access)
2. From Khrushchev to Brezhnev
These films form part of our wider series on Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union, including films on Stalin, Lenin, Khrushchev, Yeltsin and Gorbachev. The HA has made these films to help us all explore the history and leaders of the Soviet Union and its lead protagonist – Russia, a country that remains key to international affairs today.