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'''Todor Khristov Zhivkov''' (Cyrillic: '''Toдор Xpиcтoв Живков'''; pronounced TO-dor KHRIS-tov ZHIF-kof) (September_7, 1911–August_5, 1998) was the dictator of Bulgaria from March_4, 1954 until November_10, 1989. He was the longest serving leader of any of the Eastern_bloc nations.
==Biography==
Zhivkov was born in the small Village of Pravets. The son of poor Peasants, he moved to Sofia as a youth, seeking work and a better future for himself. As a young man, Zhivkov took the ideals of Marxism to heart, and in 1932 he joined the Komsomol, the youth wing of the illegal Bulgarian_Communist_Party.
During World_War_II, Zhivkov rose up in the Party, and he helped organise a resistance movement against the German occupiers, the People's_Liberation_Insurgent_Army.
After the war, Zhivkov began to take increasingly important posts in the new Soviet backed government, one of these being commander of the People's_Militia. During as time as a militia leader, he had thousands arrested for political reasons.
In 1951, he became a full member of the Politburo, and in 1954 was made first secretary of the Central Committee, the youngest of any of the Eastern bloc leaders.
In 1965, Zhivkov survived a Coup attempt by Dissident military officers and Party members, the first ever such occurrence in a Communist_state. In 1968, Zhivkov sent Bulgarian troops to participate in the Warsaw_Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Zhivkov was also Head_of_state (Chairman of the State Council) of Bulgaria from July_7, 1971 to November_17, 1989.
However, he harshly repressed all voices of dissent in Bulgaria (he was linked to the murder of dissident Georgi_Markov), locking thousands up in prisons across the country. Zhivkov also collectivised farms.
A protégé of Khrushchev's, and a close friend of Leonid_Brezhnev, he was known for his firm, almost servile, allegiance to the Soviet Union throughout the Cold_War. He twice proposed that Bulgaria merge with the Soviet Union, citing their common alphabet and common Slavic heritage as justifications. Georgi_Markov, who Zhivkov would later have killed, said:
:"''[Zhivkov] served the Soviet Union more ardently than the Soviet leaders themselves did.''"
He was also a close friend of leaders like Fidel_Castro, Muammar_al-Qaddafi and Yasser_Arafat.
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Zhivkov tried to promote his children, daughter Lyudmila_Zhivkova and son Vladimir_Zhivkov, up the Communist Party hierarchy. Lyudmila made it to Politburo member and Minister of Culture. She introduced strange ideas related to Far Eastern philosophy which were not welcomed by the Old_Guard. Some sources maintain her early death in 1980 was due to Soviet meddling. Her husband, Ivan_Slavkov, was made a boss of the state-controlled Bulgarian Television, and later President of the Bulgarian_Olympic_Committee. Meanwhile, Vladimir led a Playboy style of life. His drinking bouts made it impossible to promote him further than the top ranks of the Komsomol.
Near the end of his reign, Zhivkov made several limited attempts to modernise Bulgaria, such as introducing scaled down versions of Mikhail_Gorbachev's ''Glasnost'' and ''Perestroika'', while keeping the country under his control. However, these attempts failed to prevent the collapse of communism and his own ouster. The ill-advised campaign to Bulgarise the names of the Ethnic_Turks in the country contributed to his downfall.
At the end of 1989, Zhivkov was ousted from the presidency and expelled from the Bulgarian Communist Party. He was arrested in January 1990. Two years later, he was convicted of Embezzlement and sentenced to seven years in Prison.
However, due to his frail health, he was allowed to serve his term under House_arrest. Todor Zhivkov died of Pneumonia in 1998.
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{{succession box | before = ---| title = Chairmen of the State Council|years=7_July, 1971 - 17_November, 1989| after = Petur_Mladenov}}
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Zhivkov, Todor
Zhivkov, Todor
Zhivkov, Todor
Zhivkov, Todor
Zhivkov, Todor
Bg:Тодор_Живков
De:Todor_Christow_Schiwkow
Ja:トドール・ジヴコフ
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Pl:Todor_Żiwkow
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