Chairman Brezhnev's Afghan War: The last act of the man who destroyed the Soviet Union

This paper examines how the Brezhnev era was destructive to the Soviet Union by using the Soviet war in Afghanistan as a case study. The decision to go to war in Afghanistan developed over three decades. Once that decision was made, Brezhnev and his Politburo made decisions that ultimately harmed the soldiers fighting on behalf of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The leaders concealed the war from the general public and created war policies that harmed the soldiers serving on the ground. The decision to employ secrecy and the war polices created the bitter legacy iof that war in the Soviet Union. The case of Afghanistan, however, is but the last act of the man who destroyed the Soviet Union.