This is the memorial and funeral of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, in Moscow 15 November 1982. Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union longer than any person besides Joseph Stalin. He lead the nation from 1963 until his death in 1982. Brezhnev's legacy includes overseeing the most stable period of the country's history of the 20th century. However it was also a time when corruption began to take root within the CPSU and the nation's economy began to stagnate by the mid 1970s. But perhaps Brezhnev's most lasting legacy is making Victory Day (9 may) a national holiday once more in 1965 (the occasion was celebrated in 1946 and 1947, but was cancelled in 1948 by order of Stalin). This holiday would go on to become Russia's most important national holiday today. Brezhnev was also the last Soviet leader to know of the Great Patriotic War not from a book, but through experience.
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