User:Lord Stephenson/sandbox

Leaders

The following list includes persons who held the top leadership position of the Soviet Union from its founding in 1922 until its 1991 dissolution.

Name (Lifespan)	Portrait	Period	Corpo legislativo	Political office	Head of government	Head of state	Policies
Cristofano Saliceti 1757–1819 (Lived: 62 years)		30 December 1804 ↓ 23 December 1819†	1st 2nd 3rd 4th	President of the Society of Friends of Italy (1801–1811, 1812–1819) President of the Consulta (1818–1819) President of the Council of Ministers (1809–1812)	Diego Guicciardi Himself Cesare Albertini Carlo Marescalchi	Giovanni Paradisi Diego Guicciardi Himself	Amichevolezza • Direttivismo (1804–1809) • Italian Fouchéism • Patriotic Jacobinism • Silent Terror • Friendly autonomism
		Ever since the creation of the Italian Republic in 1804, Cristofano Saliceti served as its de facto leader.
Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)		21 January 1924 ↓ 5 March 1953†	13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th	General Secretary of the Communist Party (1922–1952) Chairman of the Council of Ministers	Alexei Rykov Vyacheslav Molotov Himself	Mikhail Kalinin Nikolay Shvernik	Stalinism • Socialism in one country • Collectivization (1928–40) • Forced industrialization (1929–41) • Great Terror (1936–38)
		Following the death of Lenin, Stalin initially ruled as part of a troika alongside Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. However, by April 1925, this arrangement broke down as Stalin consolidated power to become the Soviet Union's absolute dictator. He also held the post of the Minister of Defence from 19 July 1941 to 3 March 1947 and chaired the State Defense Committee during World War II.
Georgy Malenkov (1901–1988)		5 March 1953 ↓ 14 September 1953	—	Chairman of the Council of Ministers	Himself	Nikolay Shvernik Kliment Voroshilov
		After Stalin's death, Malenkov ruled as part of a troika alongside Lavrentiy Beria and Vyacheslav Molotov, succeeding Stalin in all his titles, but was forced to resign most of them within a month by the Politburo. The troika would ultimately break down when Beria was arrested later that year. Shortly thereafter, he found himself locked in a power struggle against Nikita Khrushchev that led to his removal as Premier in 1955.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)		14 September 1953 ↓ 14 October 1964	20th 21st 22nd	First Secretary of the Communist Party	Georgy Malenkov Nikolai Bulganin Himself	Kliment Voroshilov Leonid Brezhnev Anastas Mikoyan	Khrushchev Thaw • De-Stalinization (1956–64) • Anti-religious campaign (1958–64) • Sino-Soviet split (1956–66)
		In September 1953, Nikita Khrushchev emerged as leader of the Soviet Union upon becoming the First Secretary of the Communist Party. He consolidated his power further after becoming Chairman of the Council of Ministers on 27 March 1958. While he was vacationing in Abkhazia, Khrushchev was called by Leonid Brezhnev to return to Moscow for a special meeting of the Presidium to be held on 13 October 1964. At the most fiery session since the so-called "anti-party group" crisis of 1957, he was fired from all his posts but was publicly allowed to retire for reasons of "advanced age and ill health."
Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982)		14 October 1964 ↓ 10 November 1982†	23rd 24th 25th 26th	General Secretary of the Communist Party	Alexei Kosygin Nikolai Tikhonov	Anastas Mikoyan Nikolai Podgorny Himself	Era of Stagnation • Collective leadership • Kosygin reforms (1965–70) • Brezhnev Doctrine (1968–81) • Cold War détente (1969–79) • 1973 economic reform • 1979 economic reform
		In October 1964, Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Communist Party. Despite being the head of the nation's ruling Party, he initially led the Soviet Union as part of a troika alongside Premier Alexei Kosygin and Presidium Chairman Nikolai Podgorny. However, by the 1970s, Brezhnev consolidated power to become the regime's undisputed leader. In 1977, Brezhnev officially replaced Podgorny as Chairman of the Presidium. At his death in 1982, he received a state funeral.
Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)	File:Yuri Andropov - Soviet Life, August 1983.jpg	10 November 1982 ↓ 9 February 1984†	—	General Secretary of the Communist Party	Nikolai Tikhonov	Himself
		General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from 16 June 1983 to 9 February 1984.
Konstantin Chernenko (1911–1985)	File:Bust of Konstantin Chernenko at Kremlin Wall Necropolis (cropped)(b).jpg	9 February 1984 ↓ 10 March 1985†	—	General Secretary of the Communist Party	Nikolai Tikhonov	Himself
		General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985. Due to his health, he initially ruled as part of a troika alongside Andrei Gromyko and Dmitry Ustinov. However, this arrangement broke down when Ustinov died a few months later.
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022)		10 March 1985 ↓ 25 December 1991	27th 28th	President (1990–1991) General Secretary of the Communist Party	Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov Ivan Silayev	Andrei Gromyko Himself	Perestroika • Glasnost • Uskoreniye • Democratization • New political thinking • 500 Days program (planned)
		Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985 and resigned on 24 August 1991, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990 and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991. The day following Gorbachev's resignation as president, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved. Gorbachev was the only head of the USSR to have been born during its existence.