This covers the very dramatic ten years from the death of Stalin to the downfall of Khrushchev in 1964. Assesses the part of new players in explaining the key pattern of conciliation, confrontation and then renewed conciliation. Explores the significance for east-west relations of, the Sino-Soviet split- Khrushchev and Mao personality clash. Maps specified developments along the European Iron Curtain and in relation to nuclear weapons. Highlights the flowering of some degree of liberalisation followed by the savage repression in Hungary, the withdrawal from Austria but the renewed confrontation in Berlin. Recognise the same oscillating pattern repeated with regard to nuclear weapons with the nuclear confrontation over Cuba followed by the Test Ban Treaty.