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Death of Stalin
Without the death of Stalin and later repudiation of key tenets of Marxist-Leninism that he embodied the Sino-Soviet split would have been near impossible to imagine. -
Khrushchev's "Secret Speech"
At the 20th Congress of the CPSU Khrushchev denounced Stalin and several of USSR's key policies. This lead to the liberalization of the economy and what's known as the "Khrushchev Thaw" https://www.marxists.org/archive/khrushchev/1956/02/24.htm -
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 proved pivotal in the relationship of CPSU and CPC. Mao was not in favor of the idealogical or political project of the uprising but nonetheless was against the level the Soviet's took it to. These events inspire the Hundred Flowers Campaign in China and subsequently lead to the release of "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People" https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_58.htm -
1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis
In 1958 as an attempt to obtain more islands in the Taiwan Strait and eventually liquidate the Two Chinas the PRC launches an attack against KMT run Taiwan. Unlike in 1955 this attack catches the Soviets off-guard as China had not previously informed the Soviets of the planned attacks. -
The Cuban Position
The Cuban Revolution was a huge event in it's own right but Cuba's position in the Sino-Soviet split is often overlooked. Whereas Albania sided with China and Vietnam had tried to maintain equally good relations with both countries Cuba decidedly took the Soviet side with Fidel Castro eventually going so far as to call Mao a "fascist". This position was at odds with Che Guevara who accused the Soviets of being Social-Imperialists and was subsequently blocked from leadership circles by Castro. -
Albania Sides with China
While there had been huge rifts between Enver Hoxha's Albania and the Soviets since 1955 the true split came in 1961. Albania held that herself and China were the world's sole anti-reivisionist Communist projects. -
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Cultural Revolution
It would be wrong to view this dispute as one without internal conflict. Many of the same revisionist tendencies that China denounced in the Soviet Union Mao had denounced in his own party especially that of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The invasion of Czechoslovakia and suppression of the Prague Spring should be seen as the last straw between the two opposing Blocs. Unlike 1956 in Hungary both China and Albania offered diplomatic support to Czechoslovakia in 1968. This lead to a complete collapse in trade amongst the opposing sides and their proxies. -
Sino-Soviet Border Conflict
The conflict eventually reached a fever pitch with the two sides going against each other over disputed border territory which ends in a stalemate. -
Death of Mao Tse-Tung
The death of Mao and Deng Xiaoping's overthrow of the Gang of Four is for all intents and purposes the end of the idealogical dispute between the USSR and PRC as the struggle against revisionism dies with Mao and the Cultural Revolution. -
Sino-American Relations Normalized
While many think of Mao's Famous meeting with Nixon as the beginning of the Sino-American thaw it wasn't until the Carter Administration that embassies were exchanged. This is crucial to the Sino-Soviet split because with new leadership in China welcomed by America the Soviet and Chinese dispute began to mitigate as the ideological question of revisionism was no longer being fought against in China under Deng. -
Sino-Vietnam War
While the ideological disputes between the PRC and USSR had fizzled there was still imperial interests and border disputes at play after Russian backed Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia disposing of the Khmer Rouge. -
Formal Normalization of Relations
With the writing on the wall in regards to the Soviet Union's eventual collapse and ideological disputes gone the two countries formally normalized relations on May 18th 1989 in summit held in Beijing between Gorbachev and Deng.
