Brezhnev comes to power

Brezhnev comes to power. Although Khrushchev improved Soviet relations with the West, many of his other policies failed. Farm output lagged, and in 1963 the U.S.S.R. began to buy wheat from the West. Economic growth slowed down, and people criticized the many poorly made products. Also, the split with China and the retreat in Cuba drew criticism. In 1964, a conspiracy among the highest-ranking Communists led to the overthrow of Khrushchev. Khrushchev was replaced by Leonid I. Brezhnev as Communist Party head and Aleksei N. Kosygin as premier.

The new leaders took power amid worsening Soviet relations with a number of countries. In Eastern Europe, several Soviet satellite countries sought to lessen Soviet control and follow their own policies. For example, the government of Czechoslovakia began a reform movement to give the people more freedom. In 1968, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia and crushed this movement. In 1969, fighting broke out between the Soviet Union and China over a disputed border region.

In Africa, however, Soviet influence expanded during the 1970's. The Soviet Union supplied military equipment and advisers to Communist groups that sought to gain, or keep, control of African lands.

Like Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Kosygin tried to step up the production of consumer goods and the construction of housing. The Soviet economy made important gains, though it never met government goals. The rate of growth of Soviet industrial production began to decline. Also, agricultural production suffered from planning problems and a series of disastrous harvests. As a result, the U.S.S.R. continued to import grain from the West.

During the early 1970's, Brezhnev's power increased at Kosygin's expense. By the mid-1970s, Brezhnev was dominant.

Arms agreements eased Cold War tensions. Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev, right, and U.S. President Richard M. Nixon shook hands after signing a nuclear weapons treaty in 1974

Detente. Brezhnev pursued a policy of friendlier relations with the West. This easing of tensions between East and West became known as dätente (pronounced day TAHNT). Brezhnev sought detente chiefly to improve the Soviet Union's economic and military position. For example, the country needed advanced Western technology to tap natural resources in Siberia. Increased trade with the West offered a way to pay for imported grain and technology.

Soviet trade with the West greatly expanded in the period of detente. The United States agreed to supply the U.S.S.R. with wheat. West German firms agreed to build a pipeline to carry natural gas from Siberia to Western Europe. In all, Soviet foreign trade increased about fivefold from 1970 to 1980. Soviet industry, however, continued to lag.

In 1972, the Soviet Union and the United States signed two agreements to limit nuclear arms. These agreements resulted from a series of meetings called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). In 1975, the leaders of the Soviet Union and many other countries agreed to honor such basic human rights as freedom of thought and freedom of religion. This pledge, called the Final Act, was one of several agreements known as the Helsinki Accords.

During detente, Western ideas entered the Soviet Union along with Western goods and technology. Some of these ideas challenged the Soviet government's level of control over the lives of its citizens. In Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltic republics, local leaders sought greater control over cultural and economic matters. Some groups, such as Jews and Germans, demanded and received the right to emigrate. Soviet writers and other intellectuals protested government violations of the people's rights.

The Soviet government arrested many of its critics. It sentenced some of them to prison or to mental hospitals. Others were sent to live in remote areas, and a few were expelled from the country.