Tuhia he tomokanga mo tenei pene - I whanau a Alexander Lebed i te taone Cossack o Novocherkassk, i te Rostov Oblast, i te 1950. I tona tamarikitanga ehara ia i te akonga kino engari he pai ki a ia te mekemeke me te chess. I tipu ake ia i roto i te rawakore. He kaihoahoa tana papa, i whiua ia ki te whitu tau i roto i te puni mahi Gulag mo te tae wawe ki te mahi e rua nga wa, a ka kite i te parekura o Novocherkassk
i te tau 1962. I taua wā i mahi ia i tētahi wheketere. I whakatauhia ia kia noho hei paratrooper ka uru atu ia ki te Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School i te 1969, ka noho hei kaihauturu me te rangatira o te kamupene i a ia i reira. I te tau 1982, hei rangatira mo nga Ropu Rererangi o te Soviet, i riro a Lebed hei rangatira o te ope i Afghanistan i te pakanga a Soviet i reira. I a ia e noho ana i Afghanistan, i rongonui a Lebed ki nga hoia i raro i tana whakahau. I mau ia i tenei tuunga tae noa ki te 1982 i taua wa i haere ia ki te Frunze Military Academy. I roto i ana mahi ko te mema o te tari tangihanga i te wa o te mate maha i waenga i te gerontocracy Soviet, tae atu ki nga rangatira Soviet e toru.