Peaceful coexistence at all costs: Cold War exchanges between Britain and the Soviet Union in 1956

Khrushchev's visit to Britain in 1956 exemplified and gave impetus to the proliferation of transnational ties that connected Britain and the Soviet Union during the period of de-Stalinisation. This article shows how Khrushchev's visit affected British-Soviet relations at the levels of policy and mass perceptions. It analyses the significance of the exchanges that resulted in the areas of trade, technology transfer, culture, science, and the professions. The article concludes that the Suez and Budapest crises of 1956 were only superficial disruptions to the increasingly powerful and elaborate British-Soviet connections that de-Stalinisation set in train.