Brezhnev: The Making of a Statesman

by Susanne Schattenberg

Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for eighteen years, a term of leadership second only in length to that of Stalin. He presided over the Brezhnev Doctrine, which accelerated the Cold War, and led the Soviet Union through catastrophic foreign policy decisions such as the invasion of Afghanistan. To many in the West, he is responsible for the stagnation (and to some even collapse) of the Soviet Union. But much of this history has been based on the only two English-language biographies (both published before Brezhnev's death and without access to archival sources) and Brezhnev's own astonishingly untrue memoirs – written for propaganda purposes.

Newly translated from German, Schattenberg's magisterial book systematically dismantles the stereotypical and one-dimensional view of Brezhnev as the stagnating Stalinist by drawing on a wealth of archival research and documents not previously studied in English. The Brezhnev that emerges is a complex one, from his early apolitical years, when he dreamed of becoming an actor, through his swift and surprising rise through the Party ranks. From his hitherto misunderstood role in Khrushchev's ousting and appointment as his successor, to his somewhat pro-Western foreign policy aims, deft consolidation and management of power, and ultimate descent into addiction and untimely death. For Schattenberg, this is the story of a flawed and ineffectual idealist - for the West, this biography makes a convincing case that Brezhnev should be reappraised as one of the most interesting and important political figures of the twentieth century.

Genres: Biography, History, Russia, Nonfiction, Russian History, Soviet History, Politics

512 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2021

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a well done, if long(512 pp.),biography of Leonid Brezhnev, who led the Soviet Union for 18 years--1964-1982. I rate it 4 stars for its impressive breadth and prodigious research into recently released Soviet archives. The author paints a much more nuanced portrait than the traditional Western view of him as a hard line Cold warrior who invaded Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.
She traces his rise from his early days as an oblast leader through the Great Terror of the 30s, WWII, being a supporter of Khrushchev and then to being one of the main players in orchestrating Khrushchev's ouster.
Contrary to the Western view of his invasion of Czechoslovakia, he tried valiantly to persuade Dubcek to come around to his way of thinking. In 1968, his position was not secure and he had to placate hard liners in the party and some of the Soviet satellite states, who were demanding that he deal with Dubcek. He wanted to be remembered as the Soviet leader who pursued peace, signing arms agreements with the US and European leaders.
Unfortunately, his way of dealing with stress was to take an increasing number of pills. From 1976 on, his pill addiction started to affect his health and in 1979, he gave in to his advisors who suggested a short invasion of Afghanistan. He and the Politburo had previously refused 25 requests from the Afghan government for Soviet troops.
One quote "Brezhnev presented himself on three stages: on the political stage, he fostered a new trust with obligingness, friendliness and consistency. With great tact he established himself as a genuine alternative to Stalin and Khrushchev, as someone no one needed to fear. he restored the dignity and sanctity of the old party rituals, treated his comrades with respect and took care of them all, even when removing them."

Thank You Bloomsbury Academic and Susanne Schattenberg for sending me the eARC through NetGalley.
#Brezhnev #NetGalley

[Darya Silman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete biography of Brezhnev the person and Brezhnev the politician, supplemented by revealing photographs.

Susanne Schattenberg took upon herself an almost impossible task of objectively assessing Leonid Il'yich Brezhnev from every viewpoint possible: as a Soviet citizen, as apparatchik, as a husband, as a statesman, etc. After the historian Marc Bloch, she wanted to describe Brezhnev as the 'historical cultural product,' tracing down what influenced him and how he influenced his surroundings in return. To do so, she visited Russian archives as well as sought documents in the countries that were formerly part of the USSR like Moldavia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. What came out, in the end, is a monumental book, 'Brezhnev: The Making of a Statesman,' filled with an appropriate amount of sympathy toward its main protagonist. The author didn't intend to sound like Brezhnev's apologist yet, nevertheless, depicted him as a flawed human being above all else.

Whereas the years from childhood till 1964 are depicted according to chronological order, the material about Brezhnev's years as general secretary is distributed mainly thematically: the foreign policy, dissidents, inner problems. Going into great detail, the author describes every phase of Brezhnev's career, with its ups and downs, while also providing a comprehensive framework of international politics.

History, on the pages of this book, gives a sobering flashback when applied to current political turmoil. The smear campaigns throughout different official media channels have always served as a veil to the ugly truth: the loud proclamations of freedom, equality, and human rights are zilch - on both sides. In 1979, with the connection with Andrei Sahkarov's case, 'US Democrat senator Joe Biden had revealed to Zagladin {Brezhnev's emissary} that the Democrats were less concerned about the fates of individual dissidents than about demonstrating to their voters that they stood up for human rights.' (page 260) Only time and access to censored documents will show politicians' calculations and machinations during the current, second Cold War.

I recommend Susanne Schattenberg's research to all people interested in Russian, and especially Soviet, history. It's the second most detailed biography I have ever read (the first one being of Kissinger by Niall Fergusson). I can't imagine what else can be added to the general image of Brezhnev after this book's publication. The only reservation I have is that the book aims not to entertain but to inform; hence its style is purely academic, not suitable for a broad audience.

I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Leonid Brezhnev, by Edmund Valtan

There is a revealing contemporary joke about Brezhnev’s ‘memoirs’: Brezhnev asks the CC secretary for ideological affairs, Mikhail Suslov, whether he has read his volume of memoirs, The Virgin Lands. ‘Of course, Leonid Il’ich, indeed twice, a wonderful book!’ he replies and turns to leave. Brezhnev stops him: ‘Woah, where are you going?’ ‘To read it a third time!’ Suslov leaves, and Brezhnev starts to think, ‘Hmm, maybe I should read it too.’

The heavy brow, the love of medals, and the memoirs that lead like the life of a saint, the economic stagnation, the blundering, the slurred words - that is the caricature of Brezhnev that exists. And yet, in multiple polls, Russians said he was the favorite, or the leader they most preferred. Even Ukrainians held him on an even keel in 2018, but that seems like decades ago now.

Schattenberg, a professor at the University of Bremen, wrote this volume as an academic biography of Brezhnev to use new archival sources - even those further abroad such as Kazakh archives. Her own outlook was a net positive compared to the older view. Schattenberg admits in the foreword that she may be mistaken as "something of a Brezhnev apologist". Her evaluation is more positive than I expected, even admiring; it tends towards an abundance of detail in the early years and oddly little on key moments of his time as General Secretary.

The early years are quite unexpected. He was average, but not a mediocrity. His hometown was Kamianske, in modern-day Ukraine. He had a fondness for the theatre and poetry - the acceptable favorites of Yesenin and Mayakovsky. He joined the Communist Youth League and then the Party proper by age 25. As a young party official, he was "rather normal", liked for his good looks and his hard work. He survives the purges of 1937 though colleagues fall all around him, a survivor if not the worst perpetrator. In Ukraine, he develops networks of friends that will serve him well, and these will develop into the usual exchange of favors.

In Brezhnev's own memoirs, he is somehow both Audie Murphy and Georgy Zhukov - he mans a machine gun for hours in a dangerous position, and somehow he leads armies through the decisive points of the war. Schattenberg finds nothing of the sort - he was a rear guard officer and good at getting the supplies through, and he seems horrified at what he sees on the front. He is wounded in the jaw so severely that he slurs his voice long before he grows addicted to sedatives; there he earns a medal.

After that he is sent to the far distant reaches of the Soviet sphere to maintain order and drive up production; under Stalin and Khrushchev he is sent to Moldova and Kazakhstan - he gets the cotton production up and is recalled to Moscow before Khrushchev's campaigns start to fall apart. Khrushchev thought Brezhnev was a dunce; the rest of the party grew tired of Khrushchev's campaigns and relentless haranguing; Brezhnev joins the conspiracy to overthrow his boss in 1964. Brezhnev is so nervous that he physically shakes when he holds the phone to give the orders.

The first decade or so, Brezhnev succeeds "presenting himself as the ‘spokesman’ of the Party". This is probably the time which led some to nostalgia. His campaigns are to drive up production of consumer goods; basic services return; more cars are produced than trucks for the first time ever, the apartment shortage lessens, the gauntlet of state security slackens. He enacts one of the last grand infrastructure campaigns - the Baikal-Amur Mainline; but the old spirit of revolutionary fervor is gone. Those who sign up want the pay. His politics is collegial - he strikes up personal relationships with party bosses and foreign leaders, and gaffes are the result of being too chummy or too forward. He still womanizes. The positive side is that there is a relative thaw in the 1970s, a relaxation of tensions between the Soviets and the western powers.

It is the personalistic approach that gets him in trouble. Schattenberg only briefly alludes to economics, but notes that there are few if any substantial reforms to state production, and he battles with Alexei Kosygin over economic reforms. When Czechoslovakia revolts in 1968, he views it as a personnel issue - he cannot comprehend dissent. Same for when Poland chafes under Soviet rule in 1980. The stress is so bad after Czechoslovakia that his health breaks down, and he becomes addicted to multiple painkillers, washed down with vodka. There is only a very brief discussion in the volume of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the result is that Brezhnev is so enfeebled he can barely make any decisions at all. The news photos show a man in a seat of power where he is completely incapable of action. The cult of personality grows in the late 1970s as a feedback loop between the party elites and Brezhnev himself. Decrepit, powerless, he dies in 1982.

Brezhnev comes across here as a figure with some considerable personal charm at least through the early 1970s - enough that the biographer makes it come across, and even to the reader. But reading through the lines, he was still a man of and from the party bureaucracy; and one who was not truly capable of imagining what changes it needed so that it would survive. The parade music is slowed, distorted, like a record player losing power, and not ten years after Brezhnev's death it would come to a stop.

[Jeff Bursey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A through biography, well sourced, that attempts to discuss the statesman and general secretary rather than, say, the leader of a country and political ideology (like every other leader of every other country) with blood on his hands. A partial dispassion in the work doesn't admit for the bloodshed caused, except in a few instances, but even then it's muffled. "The aim of this biography is to capture the entire spectrum and contradictions of Brezhnev's behaviour in all their complexity and to dismantle the image of the man that remains very much shaped by the Cold War," writes Susanne Schattenberg. "Brezhnev the politician and Brezhnev the man shall be historicised, that is, rendered understandable in the context of their time." (p3).

Much of those aims are admirably achieved (especially when some archive resources are still unavailable). The analysis of Brezhnev's manoeuvring and policy making, his personal brand of being an emissary to the non-ussr world, and his miscalculations are fascinating. After 1973 or so his addiction to pills increases and he became the almost inert gray-faced figure seen on t.v. during my childhood.

"I will not escape accusations of being something of a Brezhnev apologist. At this juncture I must stress that it was certainly not my intention to exculpate Brezhnev for anything." (p12) Indeed, Schattenberg can't escape that charge, and while she doesn't actively exculpate Brezhnev, she doesn't take into sufficient account, in my mind, the real damage he did as head, for a time, of the soviet communist system, to people and peoples. There's a strange lack of empathy that might be a virtue in historical studies, but not when there is real empathy shown for her subject, one of the perpetrators of invasions and arrests, no matter that some of those operations were left to others to personally handle.

This is very much a worthwhile book to read. It filled in gaps I had and explained things clearly (as much as can be explained, give the closed resources mentioned above), but the cost to lives Brezhnev is responsible for has to sit alongside SALT I and SALT II more equitably than is present here. Something is missing when it comes to the impact of his policies that resulted in deaths and confined lives, oppression and poverty, backwardness and the lack of freedoms.

[Kid Ferrous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Described as “Khrushchev without Khrushchev”, in 1964 Leonid Brezhnev replaced the “arrogant leadership” of that Russian premier with an ostensibly more democratic form of “collective rule” and a term in office of eighteen years - second only to Stalin’s in length. Fond of hunting, fast cars and male bonding sessions with the other members of the Politburo at his hunting lodge where he could be the alpha male, Brezhnev was a striking contrast to the previous leaderships. Forging strong relationships with his staff, he established himself as a leader that nobody had cause to fear. This would be played out on a larger scale with Brezhnev’s seemingly sincere desire to be “Europe’s greatest peacemaker”, a drive cut short by his own failing health and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
My abiding memories of Brezhnev are of an inscrutable, bushy-eyebrowed and slightly scary man on grainy late 70s/early 80s news programmes - a distant, unknowable and oh-so Russian part of my childhood. I know much more about him after reading this excellent book, and even cautiously admire him. Brezhnev was a man of contradictions, an aspiring actor in his youth with many aspects of his life eventually being hidden from the public (such as his generally apolitical upbringing and early life ) and it is this side that Susanne Schattenberg explores in this scholarly, revealing biography, translated competently from the original German by John Heath.
Schattenberg’s book joins a very small list of Brezhnev biographies, due to the man himself not attracting the same attention as some of his more “celebrated” predecessors, and also to the difficulty in accessing original files. With restrictions easing a little in recent years, the author was able to make an almost exhaustive trawl of the available archives, enhanced by the inclusion of diary entries and memoirs by Brezhnev’s contemporaries and colleagues at the time.
Fully illustrated with photographs, some familiar - Brezhnev was the first party leader to have their own personal photographer - while other shots are candid and more revealing. It is that photographer’s own photos that have been used in this book, and they certainly show Brezhnev’s more human and charismatic side. Susanne Schattenberg discovers a man who strove to be more healer than hardliner, and someone who cared deeply for the working people and listened to their problems. She stresses that she hasn’t attempted to whitewash Brezhnev, but merely strove to show all sides of his character.
And in that respect, “Brezhnev: The Making of a Statesman” is a triumph. The writing is concise and lucid and this is much more than just a dry and boring political biography. For example, the chapter on Brezhnev’s foreign policy and his desire to build trust with foreign leaders is riveting and enlightening. The book is biography as archaeology, as Susanne Schattenberg has unearthed a wealth of firsthand knowledge about Brezhnev the man, and her book must be regarded as the definitive work on this much-maligned and misunderstood statesman.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and detailed, and based on through and meticulous research, this biography of Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev is both objective and non-judgemental. Brezhnev often seems a shadowy figure, an emblem of the years of stagnation in the Soviet Union, but what this definitive study shows is that there was so much more to him as both man and leader than is generally known. Ambitious and determined, he wanted above all to be seen as a statesman on the world stage and as the equal of western leaders, with whom he attempted – and often succeeded - to forge personal relationships. There’s no doubt that he opened up the USSR and had grand plans for his country, but it all got derailed when he became increasingly dependent on tranquilisers and sleeping pills and gradually lost control both of himself and his position. He was in office for 18 years, achieved much and author Schattenberg demonstrates with insight and empathy how he became his own worst enemy. The book is long, the style plain and concise and commitment is needed on the part of the reader, but it’s well worth the effort. On the basis of this biography it is clear that Brezhnev is due for reappraisal and I found the book both illuminating and informative, not least in relation to Brezhnev’s’ own personal lifestyle which included fast cars, women and the good life, often carried to excess. A good selection of anecdotes and photographs bring him to life. A truly excellent biography and a must-read for anyone interested in Russia and its history.

[Peter Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of a Brezhnev biography interested me because like most of my consumption of history and politics, I've read about the messy stuff, the revolutions, the putschs, and the charismatic but often terrible leaders. Brezhnev was the second longest leader of the USSR, he was in power for the first nine years of my life, and my main impression, that of history, is a stiff, somewhat boring and unimaginative leader who just hung on. Schattenberg is on a mission to dispell this myth, or at least try to muddy the waters a bit. This is an impressive bit of scholarship which works within the confines of still a large amount of secrecy from the era. She notes in the introduction that biographers have to be careful not to fall in love with their subjects, and concludes with suggesting that - if with wasn't from Prague '68 and Afghanistan '78 Brezhnev would have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, so I am not sure she succeeded.

Whilst Schattenberg isn't in the business of letting Brezhnev off the hook, she spends half of the book watching him manouver into eventual power without seemingly a plan or ambition. When he gets in power she seems him as a guy who just wants everyone to get along. I had to take some of these characterisations against the ambient ambition and ruthlessness of the Communist Party after WWII. Compared to Kruschev he is no autocratic egomaniac. Compared to Stalin - well - once you start comparing to Stalin you've already won. So instead she carves a stoical figure of someone who got the job done, tried to please everyone and was slower than average to use the levers of fear and terror to do it. It is interesting quite how little of the book is concerned on the deposing of Kruschev - Brezhnev is painted almost as an innocent bystander who could then be popped in post. There's a little more complexity to it, but Schattenberg is keen on telling the Brezhnev version, not least because much of his story is his part of other people's stories. The SALT Talks are probably more Nixon and Brandt with Brezhnev as the glue - taking the hunting and scaring them witless with his driving. She enjoys showing the slightly outre side of Brezhnev - which by the end becomes a pill popping mess as his start on sleeping tablets leads to an yo-yo-ing cocktail of drugs.

The books structure clearly has an eye for its academic use. Its broadly chronological until he becomes leader, at which point it strands itself between his political policies, domestic policy, foreign policy, war and decline. As such there is are a few points of repetition where foreign policy cross into war, or his political style buts into domestic policy. And whilst it is accessible to a general reader, and the translation from German is fine, it is ultimately mainly bound for the University bookshelf - it runs a bit long in places for a casual reader. Nevertheless if you are interested in this part of Cold War history, or the figures history haven't found as dazzling, this is a good read.

[Carlos Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.5 stars. Tons of interesting information and some moments of genuine insight, but too long and unnecessarily detailed in parts. And like a lot of books, it should really have been written by a Marxist historian. But those are few and far between.

[Malihe63 · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب جذابی بود اینکه در دل روسیه کمونیست یک صلح طلب مثل برژنف روی کار بیاد و کلا نوع شخصیتش باعث شد کتاب جذابی باشه

[CASPER HILEMAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chairman Brezhnev in this biography becomes the face of Soviet Foreign Policy in the 1960s and 1970s. Aggressive and expansive in the third world while utterly catastrophic domestically. Brezhnev participated in the 1960s liberation movement by supporting Nationalist Movements in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean while crushing dissent in his own backyard. Brezhnev was the response to Krushchev and his seemingly liberal policies domestically. The answer to stagnation was not innovation but rather more money a whopping 27% of GDP put into the Agricultural sector with little result. Brezhnev should be remembered as the man most responsible for the suffering caused by the Ethiopian and East African Famine of the late 1970s and mid-1980s caused by the Soviet union destabilizing the region by supplying arms men and materials to the Communist Dictator Haile Mengistu Miriam and his genocidal policies.

[Nathan Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fee like most of the focus of the Soviet Union is on its early days and under Stalin. But what about after all that "excitement" stopped and the Soviet Union tried to soften its image starting in the 60's? This book provides a good view of that with a biography of the main leader of that time, Leonid Brezhnev.

You start out going through his early career in low and mid-level party leadership (at times under life or death scrutiny from Stalin himself) and how he survived the Great Terror of the 30's. But the latter half of the book is the Soviet Union under his 18 years of leadership (Brezhnev actually had a very collaborate, "modern" leadership style).

Here are some of the interesting bits I encountered to give a sample:

On Brezhnev's hidden admission that the Soviet Union was lower in quality of life to the West: "First we let you out, then others, and before you know it, I'll be on my own with Kosygin, and he'll clear off too at the first opportunity".

The Communists recognized Consumerism wins: " They particularly wanted people to be happy with additional imported goods in the holidays in May and November so that they associated the anniversy of the Revolution with a positive consumer experience."

Brezhnev wasn't a Communist idealogue or theoretician: "Accordingly, when he took up office as general secretary, he instructed his staff not to include Lenin quotations in his speeches, since no one would believe that he had read him anyway."

In 1973 at Camp David, Brezhnev scared the hell out of Nixon by driving incredibly fast around the campus.

You will gain a new perspective on the Soviet Union with this book, albeit not with a "well written" experience.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

He comes across as a competent, reliable, and personable guy who got along easily with people, and had a penchant for organization and getting things done.

Pretty ordinary dude, especially compared to Stalin and Khrushchev.

During the post-war famine in Ukraine, he oversaw rebuilding of a major hydro electric dam as well as a giant steel works. People who worked under him remembered his kindness and “softness”, even though they were all being forced to work like demons to meet Stalin’s unrealistic timelines or face possible arrest and execution.

He comes across as pragmatic real world issues rather than going off on emotional rants like K, or paranoia like Stalin.

Much exaggeration was done when he made it to the top job, to burnish his pretty modest history until that point, and embellish him to be some sort of Soviet super-citizen war hero, which he really wasn’t.

But after the emotional temper tantrums and outbursts of the Khrushchev era, and the terror under Stalin, a somewhat boring but competent leader is probably what everyone was desperate for. He vowed to increase the standard of living in the country & focus on consumer goods, housing, and other everyday necessities.

His philosophy of governing was “trust and care”. Consensus. Trying to heal the wounds of the Stalin era and the Khrushchev manias.

Slow descent into alcoholism and sedatives / benzodiazepines in the second half of the 70’s which turned him into a barely “with it” automaton. Led to a lot of stagnation and corruption.

[GooseReadsBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and detailed study of one of the Soviet Union's longest serving but often overlooked leaders. Wedged between the rule of Khrushchev and Gorbachev, it is easy to see the rule of Brezhnev as simply a period of stagnation and a lack of leadership. Schattenberg reveals a complex character, a well-meaning individual who shocked by the authoritarian style of rule employed by Stalin and Khrushchev employed a collective rule and sought to avoid a cult of personality. The book tracks the rise of Brezhnev from humble beginnings to a tragic end of being addicted to pills and no longer being able to be the leader his country needed. The only reason that this review is not five stars is purely because at times it feels like the biography is lacking details that would have added fascinating insight into the subject, however this is undeniably difficult as the material on Brezhnev is still limited

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not always an easy read, mostly as a result of the story's need to incorporate the names and titles of a bast cast of Soviet diplomats, apparatchiks, and power brokers. But Schattenberg does an impressive job of breathing life into a figure who's usually reduced to a grey presence in the grey story of the Cold War eastern bloc. Turns out he was congenial, effective, and for the most part a calming presence in an uncalm world--you can omit Czechoslovakia 1968 from that assessment.

[Vuk Prlainović · Rating 3 out of 5]

A meandering book with some odd factual errors that had me scratching my head at times. Glossing over Brezhnev's relationships with other Comecon leaders is inexcusable considering the subject matter. I guess it's ok as entry-level material but the way it's written suggests higher aspirations.

[Lee Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a slog but thoroughly enjoyed how the author painted the dichotomy that was Brezhnev and allowed the reader to make their own conclusions.

[Dryan1066 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book. Really interesting if you like reading Soviet History.