Following the death of 76 year old [[Leonid Brezhnev]] who was in power for 18 years during the [[Years of Stagnation]], 70 year old [[Yuri Andropov]] assumed power for 15 months until his death, followed by the relatively unknown 74 year old Konstantin Chernenko who ruled for 13 months until his death. Chernenko was succeeded by the 52 year old reform-minded [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] who led the [[communist]] [[Soviet Union]] to final dissolution.
The son of a miner, Chernenko served in [[World War II]] as the ''zampolit '' (or political officercommissar to police the political;y correct attitudes of personnel in military units) for a [[P-39 Airacobra]] squadron. Chernenko served as CPSU General Secretary between 13 February 1984 and his death on 10 March 1985.
In 1971 Chernenko was promoted to a full member of the [[democratic socialist]] Central Committee. From 1978 on he served as a full member of the [[Politburo]] and, ''de facto'', was second in the line of succession.