Who was the Soviet leader who oversaw the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and pursued détente with the West in the 1970s until his death in 1982?

• A. Leonid Brezhnev
• B. Nikita Khrushchev
• C. Yuri Andropov
• D. Mikhail Gorbachev

Answer: (A)

Leonid Brezhnev fits because his leadership bundled two defining actions: enforcing Soviet control over the Eastern Bloc and pursuing the thaw with the West during the 1970s. In 1968, under his direction, Warsaw Pact troops moved into Czechoslovakia to halt the Prague Spring reforms, a move justified by what became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine—the idea that the Soviet Union would intervene to protect socialism in allied states. This shows his willingness to use force to maintain Soviet influence in the region.

At the same time, Brezhnev steered a policy of détente with the West in the 1970s, seeking to ease Cold War tensions through agreements like SALT I and the Helsinki Final Act. He remained in power until his death in 1982, marking a period that combined hard-line actions to defend the Eastern Bloc with a pragmatic, cooperative approach to U.S.-Soviet relations on the world stage.

Others who held power in different periods—Khrushchev earlier, and Andropov or Gorbachev later—were not responsible for both the 1968 invasion and the 1970s détente.