There has been much contention over Andropov's family background. According to the official biography, Andropov was born in Stanitsa Nagutskaya (modern-day Stavropol Krai, Russia) on 15 June 1914. His father, Vladimir … See more

In July 1954, Andropov was appointed Ambassador to Hungary. He held this position during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Andropov played a key role in crushing the … See more

Two days after Brezhnev's death, on 12 November 1982, Andropov was elected general secretary of the CPSU, the first former head of the KGB to become general secretary. His appointment was received in the West with apprehension in view of his roles in … See more

Andropov lived at 26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt, the same building in which Suslov and Brezhnev lived. He married Nina Ivanovna, who was born not far from the farm where … See more

Andropov was educated at the Rybinsk Water Transport Technical College and graduated in 1936. As a teenager he worked as a loader, a telegraph clerk, and a sailor for the Volga steamship line. At 16, then a member of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist … See more

In 1957, Andropov returned to Moscow from Budapest in order to head the Department for Liaison with Communist and Workers' … See more

In February 1983, Andropov suffered total kidney failure. In August 1983, he entered Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital; he spent the rest of his life there.
In late January 1984, Andropov's health deteriorated sharply and due to growing toxicity in his blood, … See more