Brezhnev becomes Soviet leader

In 1964 Leonid Brezhnev organises a coup to oust Khrushchev from the leadership of the Soviet Union. A biography of Brezhnev is given. Also I explain how in 1965, Brezhnev made his position as Soviet leader stronger, he remained leader until his death in 1982. While it seemed that the Soviet Union appeared strong in fact internal weakness was undermining it and within a few years of his death the Soviet Union fall apart.

Berlin Wall

In 1960 the Soviets shot an American U2 spy planes over Soviet Central Asia and capture the American pilot Gary Powers. The affair causes a fierce exchange between the two superpowers. In 1961 the East German Government erects the Berlin Wall around West Berlin to prevent East Germans escaping to the West. A biography of the planner of the Berlin Wall Erich Honecker..