This Day in History

Leonid Brezhnev dies

On this day in 1982, Leonid Brezhnev dies after 18 years as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. Thus ended a period of Soviet history marked by both stability and stagnation.
Brezhnev came to power in 1964 when, along with Alexei Kosygin, pushed Nikita Khrushchev out of office. His near two decades in office brought some degree of stability to Soviet politics unknown since the Stalinist period but was also marked by forceful repression of political opponents and dissidents, a massive military buildup that bankrupted the Russian economy, and a foreign policy that seemed confusing at best.
During Brezhnev’s reign, renowned dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov were harassed and sometimes sentenced to internal exile. His program to bring the Soviet military to parity with the United States drove the Russian economy to the breaking point; by the late 1970s economic growth was almost at a standstill. His foreign policy was often confusing for US officials.
On the one hand, he seemed to approve of the idea of “peaceful coexistence,” pushed for control of nuclear weapons, and helped the United States in its negotiations with North Vietnam. On the other, he unleashed Soviet forces against Czechoslovakia in 1968, became involved with revolts in Ethiopia and Angola in the 1970s, reacted in a threatening manner during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1973, and ordered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. By the end of his rule, discussions about nuclear arms control had almost completely lapsed.
Upon Brezhnev’s death, Yuri Andropov took control of the Soviet Union.

KRouge bomb Phnom Penh airport

Also on November 10, in 1971, Khmer Rouge communist forces bombard the airport at the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, killing 25 persons and wounding 30. Nine airplanes were damaged in the attack and the assault left Phnom Penh without access to international communications networks for several hours.
This attack was another chapter in the Khmer Rouge war against the government troops of Prime Minister Lon Nol. At the same time, another Khmer Rouge unit attacked a government radio transmission facility nine miles to the northwest of the city, leaving 19 Cambodians dead.
One week later, as the fighting was getting closer to Phnom Penh, the United States stepped up its air activities in support of the Cambodian government.
US helicopter gunships struck at North Vietnamese emplacements at Tuol Leap, 10 miles north of Phnom Penh.