Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (Russian: Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев; IPA: [lʲɪɐˈnʲit ɪlʲˈjit͡ɕ ˈbrʲeʐnʲɪf] ( ); Ukrainian: Леоні́д Іллі́ч Бре́жнєв, 19 December 1906 (O.S. 6 December) – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in duration. During Brezhnev's rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, in part because of the expansion of the Soviet military during this time. His tenure as leader has been criticized for marking the beginning of an era of economic and social stagnation that eventually led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoe into a Russian worker's family. After graduating from the Dniprodzerzhynsk Metallurgical Technicum, he became a metallurgical engineer in the iron and steel industry, in Ukraine. He joined Komsomol in 1923, and in 1929 became an active member of the Communist Party. He was drafted into immediate military service during World War II and left the army in 1946 with the rank of Major General. In 1952 Brezhnev became a member of the Central Committee, and in 1964, Brezhnev succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary. Alexei Kosygin succeeded Khrushchev in his post as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
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Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih or Krivoi Rog is a city in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine; it is the 8th most populous city in the country. It lies within a large urban area, administratively, incorporated with Kryvyi Rih Municipality as a city of region significance. It also serves as the administrative center of the district although it is not part of it. The city extends for 126 km from north to south. Standing on the Saksahan and Inhulets river, Kryvyi Rih has been a major settlement for most of its history, going back to its founding as a postal city in 1775 by the Cossaks. A military settlement until 1860, it was part of Kherson, although it was incorporated during the 20th century with areas of Yekaterinoslav. The township began to expand at an astonishing rate at the beginning of the 1880s. Kryvyi Rih's urbanization was unplanned; French and English investment was brought on by a boom in metallurgy, iron mining and investigation of rich deposits of iron ore. The building of the Yekateryninska Railway in 1884 built for transportation of ore to Donbas transformed Kryvyi Rih into a major industry town that culminated in city status in 1919. Nationalization and investment spurred by soviet authorities led to extensive growth. In 1934 Kryvorizhstal was built, the first of more than 500 factories. The city also gave rise to the foundation of Kryvyi Rih National University. Financially, the city's growth after the nazi occupation increased due to economic reforms. Also, investment spurred by Ukrainian Independence, market economy and the 2014 revolution led to extensive regeneration, particularly in the city centre.
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