Sino-Soviet split facts for kids

The Sino-Soviet split (1960–1989) was a time when the relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union weakened during the Cold War. Eventually, China's leader, Mao Zedong, decided to break the alliance with the Soviet Union.

Sino-Soviet cooperation

The Soviet leader, Stalin, wanted to help spread communism, especially in China. During the Chinese Civil War, the Soviets gave weapons and supplies to the Kuomintang, but once the Communists were about to win, Stalin and the Soviet Union decided to help the Communists. This is one of the main reasons for the Sino-Soviet split since the Soviets didn't help Mao and the Communists from the start.

The split

Suddenly, in 1953, Stalin died. Mao saw Stalin as the leader of Communism, but also had a negative relationship with the Soviet Union throughout his time as leader. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, was not like Stalin. He did not want capitalism to collapse like Stalin did. Mao got angry about this, and he wanted Nikita Khrushchev to help him fight the imperialists. Khrushchev said no, and then Mao decided that if Khrushchev was not going to cooperate, they would not work with each other anymore.

Afterwards

There was peace between the USSR and China, but they were suspicious of each other. They were no longer allies, and Mao's supporters said that it had been a victory.

Images for kids

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  Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Nikita Khrushchev (China, 1958)
  

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  Communist state alignments in 1980: pro-Soviet (red); pro-Chinese (yellow); and the non-aligned North Korea and Yugoslavia (black). Somalia had been pro-Soviet until 1977. Cambodia (Democratic Kampuchea) had been pro-China until 1979.

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  A Chinese stamp depicting Mao and Stalin shaking hands following the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship in 1950

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  Mao Zedong and Albanian leader Enver Hoxha

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  The disputed Argun and Amur river areas; the Damansky–Zhenbao is southeast, north of the lake. (2 March – 11 September 1969).

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  The door to the nuclear war shelter complex in the tunnels of Underground Project 131, in Hubei, China.

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  The ideologic antagonists, Chairman Mao and U.S President Richard Nixon, met in China, in 1972.

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  The elimination of Marshal Lin Biao in 1971 ameliorated the Cultural Revolution (1966–76).

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  Paramount Leader of China, Deng Xiaoping (center), with U.S. President Gerald Ford (left); peaceful coexistence redux. (China, 1975).

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  The China-backed Pol Pot was overthrown by the Soviet-backed Vietnamese in 1979