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.

This calm, stable, clear-thinking operator positioned himself as the perfect alternative to the instability and chaos of Khrushchev, whose leadership had culminated in the peril of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When Brezhnev assumed control in October 1964, he departed from his predecessors in seeking to rule through collective leadership, focusing on reforms that would engender stability within the Soviet Union and with the West.

In this set of films, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln) examines Brezhnev’s life and career, his policy of détente and what this meant for the world, and how his 18 years of leadership were characterised as a period of relative peace, stability and predictability which was much desired after the turmoil of Khruschev and the purges of Stalin.

However, if any Western leaders had hoped his lack of drama meant weakness and a softening of the regime they were to be disappointed. Brezhnev’s response to the Prague Spring in 1968 demonstrated a steel and adherence to an Iron Curtain that would develop into the Brezhnev Doctrine and his declaration that the Soviet Union would make sure that the Soviet bloc would remain loyal to Moscow.

Dr Bacon reflects that Brezhnev’s era may have been one of authoritarianism, involving both the Prague Spring and the invasion of Afghanistan, but it was also the high point of Soviet soft power (Soviet culture, athletes and the space race). Opinion polls showed time and again that, when asked what the best period in the 20th century was many Russians would say: The Brezhnev years.

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