To what extent was the development of the post - Stalin thaw in superpower relations between 1952 and 1962 the result of Khrushchev's policy of peaceful coexistence?
After the death of Stalin in 1953, there was a general improvement in Superpower relations and occasionally both superpowers were willing to meet and negotiate, which in turn led to a much more stable world in comparison to 1945-52 when the Soviet Union was ruled under Stalin’s oppressive regimes. Khrushchev proposed a policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ although previously proposed by Malenkov’s ‘New Course’, to which the USA responded with ‘New Look’ and ‘Flexible Response’. These changes led to the Post-Stalin thaw witnessing events such as the Geneva Summit and Khrushchev's visit to US.
Peaceful coexistence was a hesitant move towards better dialogue between the two superpowers. Khrushchev accepted the Marxist belief that the downfall of capitalism was inevitable, and peaceful coexistence was the best way of conducting relations in the meantime. The fact that by 1949 the division of Europe into two camps, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, had been established and consolidated gave relations between East and West a degree of stability. The Iron Curtain was now a defined line marker the border of recognised spheres of influence, with their positions secure, the superpowers were more willing to attempt negotiation resulting in the thaw. Peaceful coexistence had many successes, including the armistice concluded in Korea, 1953. The change in leadership in the US and USSR had provided the drive needed to reach a conclusion, but it was the USSR’s foreign policy that particularly encouraged cooperation as the new soviet leadership put pressure on Kim Il Sung to agree to a ceasefire. Khrushchev’s peaceful coexistence did play a further role in the development of the thaw such as the cuts in the red army. Khrushchev