Person1906 – 1982

Leonid Brezhnev

Soviet leader (1964–1982) who crushed the Prague Spring (the Brezhnev Doctrine) and presided over both détente and the invasion of Afghanistan

Where they went

1
1968Prague Springrelated figure
Czechoslovakia’s Dubček launched reforms, including press freedom, under the banner of “socialism with a human face”, but Warsaw Pact forces led by the Soviet Union invaded and crushed them.
2
1979 – 1989Soviet–Afghan Warkey figure
The Soviet Union sent troops to prop up Afghanistan’s communist regime and fought for nearly ten years against mujahideen backed by the US and others before withdrawing in 1989. Détente was over.
3
19801980 Moscow Olympicsrelated figure
The first Olympics held in a socialist country. Some sixty nations led by the United States stayed away in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, among them South Korea, Japan, West Germany and China.

Alexander Dubček1921 – 1992
First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (1968–1969) who led the Prague Spring reforms under the banner of “socialism with a human face”
Mikhail Gorbachev1931 – 2022
Soviet leader (1985–1991) and first president of the USSR whose perestroika and glasnost ended the Cold War but could not prevent the Soviet collapse; Nobel Peace Prize 1990

The Cold War1945 – 1991
From Yalta to the dissolution of the Soviet Union — half a century in which two blocs led by the US and the USSR divided the world
Summer Olympics776 BC – 2024
From the ancient festival at Olympia to Paris 2024 — how the modern Games revived by Coubertin came through wars, boycotts and division