Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich

Brezh·nev

 (brĕzh′nĕf, -nyĭf), Leonid Ilyich 1906-1982.

Soviet leader. He was instrumental in removing Khrushchev from power (1964) and served as general secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR (1964-1982). In 1968 he enunciated the Brezhnev Doctrine, which asserted that the USSR could intervene in any Warsaw Pact country in which the Communist government was threatened. Soviet adherence to this doctrine was evidenced by the invasions of Czechoslovakia (1968) and Afghanistan (1979).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.