This is a POD with the death of Mao Zedong in 1956. A prominent Chinese Communist once famously observed:
"Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements would have been immortal. Had he died in 1966, he would still have been a great man but flawed. But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one say?"
He was referring to the twin Gotterdammerungs which resulted from Mao's ideological dellusions. The first being the badly mismanaged agricultural reforms which starved to deah tens of millions in the late 1950s early 60s. The second being the white terror of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
However if the author of that statement got his wish, and Mao died of natural causes in 1956, what impact would it have on the Cold War?
The Sino-Soviet Split was largely the result of personality conflicts between Mao Zedong and Nikita Khruschev. Mao disagreed with Khruschev's de-Stalinization campaign and feared a Khruschev style reform in China after his own death. Indeed, the Cultural Revolution which he launched was aimed at getting rid of the "Chinese Khruschevs", especially their leader Liu Shaoqi who was Mao's heir apparent at the time.
With an early death of Mao, the split would probably have been reconciled before it became serious. It may be that the alliance could not sustain indefinatly due to other sources of tension, but the effect of a longer lasting alliance would surely have serious consequences for the Cold War. The Chinese would warm up to Khruschev in a big way and the Communist world would more effeciently coordinate their antagonism toward the West.
For starters in OTL the Soviets and Chinese keep over a million troops tied up on their borders facing eachother, costing untold amount of Rubles and Yuans. If their alliance continued into the 1980s the Soviet war in Afghanistan may also have turned out very differently.
The Soviet Union itself may still exist in some form. As for China, it would be unrecognizable. It was Mao's personal prejudice against population control which caused the population to explode to 1.3 billion today. Without Mao the Chinese population may be hundreds of millions less. Without his violent class struggle the Chinese economy and culture would be very different. But perhaps without Mao's excesses, the Chinese would also not have been as motivated to pursue economic reforms in the 1980s as they did and followed a less successful Russian reform pattern.
What a world it would be?
"Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements would have been immortal. Had he died in 1966, he would still have been a great man but flawed. But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one say?"
He was referring to the twin Gotterdammerungs which resulted from Mao's ideological dellusions. The first being the badly mismanaged agricultural reforms which starved to deah tens of millions in the late 1950s early 60s. The second being the white terror of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
However if the author of that statement got his wish, and Mao died of natural causes in 1956, what impact would it have on the Cold War?
The Sino-Soviet Split was largely the result of personality conflicts between Mao Zedong and Nikita Khruschev. Mao disagreed with Khruschev's de-Stalinization campaign and feared a Khruschev style reform in China after his own death. Indeed, the Cultural Revolution which he launched was aimed at getting rid of the "Chinese Khruschevs", especially their leader Liu Shaoqi who was Mao's heir apparent at the time.
With an early death of Mao, the split would probably have been reconciled before it became serious. It may be that the alliance could not sustain indefinatly due to other sources of tension, but the effect of a longer lasting alliance would surely have serious consequences for the Cold War. The Chinese would warm up to Khruschev in a big way and the Communist world would more effeciently coordinate their antagonism toward the West.
For starters in OTL the Soviets and Chinese keep over a million troops tied up on their borders facing eachother, costing untold amount of Rubles and Yuans. If their alliance continued into the 1980s the Soviet war in Afghanistan may also have turned out very differently.
The Soviet Union itself may still exist in some form. As for China, it would be unrecognizable. It was Mao's personal prejudice against population control which caused the population to explode to 1.3 billion today. Without Mao the Chinese population may be hundreds of millions less. Without his violent class struggle the Chinese economy and culture would be very different. But perhaps without Mao's excesses, the Chinese would also not have been as motivated to pursue economic reforms in the 1980s as they did and followed a less successful Russian reform pattern.
What a world it would be?