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The Other Cold War: Why China and the Soviet Union Fell Apart
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, China and the Soviet Union looked like the perfect pairing, as they were two huge Communist powers challenging the Western world. However, by the end of the 1960s, the relationship between the powerhouses quickly began to deteriorate, turning from an alliance into competition for influence, and even to violence. What happened to cause this? How did the two nations go from allies to rivals? The answer lies in one of the most underreported stories of the Cold War. In 1949, when Mao Zedong took control of China and the Chinese Communist Party, he saw building a relationship with the Soviet Union as crucial…
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On this day in history – May 12th, 1949
On May 12th, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted its blockade against West Berlin. Since March 1948, the Soviet Union had blocked the Allies’ road, railway, and water access to the Western sectors of Berlin. Throughout this 11-month period, the United States and British planes had been airlifting supplies to West Berlin and had also been staging a counter-blockade against East Berlin. The success of the US-British airlift and the counter-blockade forced the Soviet Union to abandon the blockade, allowing British and American forces to enter West Germany.
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