Sino-Soviet split facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sino–Soviet split |
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| Part of Cold War and Sino-Soviet relations | |
Two years into the Sino–Soviet split, Chairman Mao Zedong of the PRC was host to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in 1958.
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| Date | 1956–1966 |
| Caused by | De-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, Marxist revisionism and Maoism |
| Methods | Proxy war, propaganda and Sino-Soviet border conflict |
| Resulted in | A tri-polar cold war and competition for Eastern Bloc allies |
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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In the Asian theatre of World War II, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the KMT was kidnapped by one of his own officers and forced to ally with the Communist Mao Zedong of the CCP as reluctant co-belligerents to expel Imperial Japan from China.
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Chairman Mao with US journalist Anna Louise Strong, whose work presented and explained the Chinese Communist revolution to the Western world. (1967)
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The Sino-Soviet split arose from the ideological clash between Soviet first secretary Khrushchev's policies of De-Stalinisation and peaceful coexistence and Mao Zedong's bellicose and Stalinist policies.
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The strait of Taiwan
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Solidarity: China's Mao Zedong and Albania's Enver Hoxha were united in both their stance against Revisionism as well as ideologically upholding Stalin.
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In late 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis concluded when the US and the USSR respectively agreed to remove intermediate-range PGM-19 Jupiter nuclear missiles from Italy and Turkey, and to remove intermediate-range R-12 Dvina and R-14 Chusovaya nuclear missiles from Cuba. In the context of the Sino-Soviet split, Mao said that the USSR's military stand-down was Khrushchev's betrayal of Marxist–Leninist geopolitics.
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A public appearance of Chairman Mao and Vice Chairman Lin Biao among Red Guards, in Beijing, during the Cultural Revolution (November 1966)
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The Sino-Soviet split allowed minor border disputes to escalate to firefights for areas of the Argun and Amur rivers (Damansky–Zhenbao is southeast, north of the lake (2 March – 11 September 1969).
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To counter the USSR, Chairman Mao met with US President Nixon, and established Sino-American rapprochement, in 1972.
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The elimination of Marshal Lin Biao, in 1971, lessened the political damage caused by Mao's Cultural Revolution and facilitated the PRC's transition to the Realpolitik of the Tri-polar Cold War.
See also
In Spanish: Ruptura sino-soviética para niños
