HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 335

responsibility at the top levels of the Communist
Party. From 1949 to 1950 he served as chief edi-
tor of the party newspaper, Pravda. In 1952 he
held a seat in the expanded Presidium (Polit-
buro), which he lost in 1953 but regained in
1955, after siding with KHRUSHCHEV in his strug-
gle with Georgii MALENKOV . He again backed
Khrushchev in the crucial showdown with the
ANTI - PARTY group in 1957, but by 1964 he had
grown tired, like others in the ruling inner cir-
cle, of Khrushchev's unpredictable maneuvers.
He was one of the engineers of the conspiracy
that overthrew Khrushchev in October 1964
and replaced him with a troika of Leonid BREZH -
NEV , Aleksei KOSYGIN , and Nikolai Podgorny,
from which Brezhnev eventually emerged as the
preeminent Soviet leader. From his post as
supervisor of cultural and ideological affairs for
the Communist party, Suslov was instrumental
in blocking domestic reforms and enforcing ide-
ological conformity within the Soviet bloc, as
seen by the 1968 WARSAW P ACT invasion of
Czechoslovakia. While he was temporarily suc-
cessful in delaying the rise of Yuri ANDROPOV ,
whom he considered a rival, Andropov first suc-
ceeded Suslov as ideological guardian and then
Brezhnev as general secretary, after they both
died in 1982. Ironically, Suslov's patronage of
another emerging Communist leader with roots
in the Stavropol region, Mikhail GORBACHEV , also
opened the doors for more far-reaching reforms
in the late 1980s.

Count Aleksandr Suvorov, engraving (Library of Congress)

paigns in Poland. His best-known exploits came
during the Italian and Swiss campaigns of 1799,
which followed PAUL I 's decision to join the anti-
French coalition. Charged with neutralizing the
French advance into Italy, Suvorov defeated the
French in a series of brilliant attacks and con-
quered northern Italy. He was transferred to
Switzerland, and a confusion in the allied com-
mand let to his troops being surrounded by the
French. But through the celebrated, daring
march through the St. Gotthard Pass, Suvorov
escaped the French stranglehold. Suvorov also
served as mentor for some of the officers who
would lead Russia during the War of 1812,
BAGRATION , DAVYDOV , and KUTUZOV . In 1797
Suvorov presented his views on warfare and
training of troops in a treatise entitled The Science
of Conquest. In it he recommends teaching subor-
dinates by example, awareness of the environ-

Suvorov, Count Aleksandr Vasilievich
(1730-1800)
military commander
To this day, Suvorov is celebrated and wor-
shipped as Russia's greatest soldier, although his
reputation has not traveled as well beyond Rus-
sian borders. A learned man, he related with
ease and inspired the rank-and-file soldier, one
source of his enduring popularity. Suvorov first
distinguished himself in the Seven Years' War
(1756-63), the RUSSO - TURKISH WARS of 1768-74
and 1787-92, as well as the 1768 and 1794 cam-