After the death of Stalin it was unclear to the West who was in charge of Soviet foreign policy Within the Soviet Politburo Beria, head of secret police offered the West a proposal for reunified neutral Germany This caused great unrest in East Germany due to the people being afraid that they would be abandoned for Capitalism Khrushchev denounced Stalin and his policies at the 20 th communist party conference President Eisenhower and Khrushchev announced plans to reduce its armed forced by more than 600,000 troops Khrushchev ‘peaceful existence’

How and why did the Soviets develop ‘peaceful coexistence’

Peaceful Coexistence  Peaceful coexistence was a theory developed and applied by the Soviet Union at various points during the Cold War in the context of primarily Marxist–Leninist foreign policy and was adopted by Soviet-influenced "Socialist states" that they could peacefully coexist with the capitalist bloc.This was in contrast to the antagonistic contradiction principle that Communism and capitalism could never coexist in peace. The Soviet Union applied it to relations between the western world, particularly between the United States and NATO countries and the nations of the Warsaw Pact. akvWU

Khrushchev solidified the concept in Soviet foreign policy in 1956 at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The policy arose as a temptation to reduce hostility between the two superpowers, particularly in light of the possibility of nuclear war. The Soviet theory of peaceful coexistence asserted that the United States and USSR, and their respective political ideologies, could coexist together rather than fighting one another, and Khrushchev tried to demonstrate his commitment to peaceful coexistence by attending international peace conferences, such as the Geneva Summit, and by traveling internationally, such as his trip to America's Camp David in Soviet union’s use of Peaceful Coexistence

And its impact on Russian politics

Stalin died on the 1 st March 1953 due to a stroke, dying four days later The West was greatly relieved, due to Stalin’s foreign policy being the greatest factor of increasing Cold war tensions This lead to the development of the “thaw”.

Stalin’s death provided the Soviet leadership with the opportunity to change its approach to the West This led to the introduction of “de-Stalinisation” from leading Russian officials It can also be said to have caused the Hungarian uprising, as they perceived a large political change in Russia.

After the death of Stalin, Beria proposed a neutral, reunified Germany to the West “All we want is a peaceful Germany and it makes no difference to us whether or not it is Socialist.” This statement caused panic in Communist East Germany leading to riots and the intervention of Soviet troops. This resulted in 25,000 arrests and 400 executions.

The riots resulted in serve damage to Beria’s foreign policy It even led o the Soviet leadership to view him as anti- communist, resulting in his arrest and eventual execution as an alleged British Spy

Malenkov’s ‘New Course’ and The Rise of Krushchev

After Beria was removed Soviet Foreign Policy fell into the control of Georgi Malenkov He formed a collective leadership with Krushchev and Bulganin Malenkov believed that war between communism and capitalism was unnecessary This did not mean there was a truce between the two ideologies, just that Malenkov believed the collapse of capitalism was inevitable so war was not necessary

Malenkov’s ‘New Course’ was criticised by Krushchev yet he developed the ‘New Course’ into his own policy of ‘Peaceful Coexist’ 1957 Krushchev was the established leader of the USSR At the 20 th party congress in 1956 Krushchev criticised features of Stalin’s rule His approach became known as De- Stalinisation

All three Soviet leaders had since Stalin’s death recognised the military and economic pressures that made confrontation with the West expensive and dangerous Both Malenkov and Krushchev had built on Beria’s thinking The connection between Malenkov and Krushchev’s foreign policy was highlighted by the use of the term ‘Peaceful Coexistence’ which was used to describe both

What was the immediate impact of Khrushchev’s policy of ‘co-existence’? After Khrushchev’s assumption of leadership, the West were given hope that new policies might lead to accommodation and agreement between the two superpowers. A ceasefire had already been produced in Korea following Stalin’s death and further agreement was seen as possible. Two developments followed over the next few years. These were: the Austrian State Agreement (1955), and the Soviet withdraw from Finland (1956).

The Austrian State Treaty of 1955 Like Germany, Austria had been split into four zones of occupation after the Second World War. The Soviet zone were exploited for resources whilst the Western zone benefitted from Marshall Aid. In 1954, Khrushchev decided that Austrian neutrality would be more appropriate than permanent division. Under the Treaty, both the USA and USSR would withdraw its armed forces from Austria in return for agreeing its neutrality. “Boy pants for adult trousers”

Soviet withdrawal from Finland in 1956 The Finnish-Soviet Peace Treaty of 1947 had forced Finland, a close neighbour of the USSR, to pay $300 million and to give up lands in the east of the country. The USSR was also given as 50- year lease to the Porkkala region. By the autumn of 1955, Khrushchev was prepared to withdraw Soviet presence in Porkkala. Molotov tried to overrule the decision but in 1956, the region was returned to Finland. During the late-1950s and 1960s, Finland followed a more neutral role, however some Soviet influence was still exercised, such as the withdrawal of a presidential candidate in 1962.