Leonid Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presides over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982, (QC). His 18 year period the Secretary-General was second only to that of Joseph Stalin, in length. During the rule of Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Union's global influence has grown dramatically, partly because of the expansion of the Soviet military during this time, but his tenure was often criticized by the leader to mark the beginning of a period of economic stagnation, which overlooked the serious economic problems, problems that eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 year.