After Stalin's death, prominent Soviet politicians began to debunk the cult of personality of the deceased leader. In addition, the warming of relations between the USSR and the capitalist countries of the West was brewing. This caused discontent among the head of the PRC, Mao Zedong, and caused the deterioration of Soviet-Chinese relations.
Relations between the USSR and China
During the Stalin era, relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union were the most friendly. The revolutionary USSR helped China become independent and socialist. Union instructors taught the Chinese military to conduct combat and partisan operations. In China, they supplied weapons, ammunition and other equipment.
These were the largest countries of "victorious socialism." The policies of the two leaders were similar, as were their views on power. Joseph Stalin used repression and murder as a political lever. The period of his administration is considered the bloodiest in Russian history: mass purges carried out by security officers from the NKVD, the absence of an opposition not controlled by Stalin. It was a terrible time when it was impossible to get together more than three people and have their own political position.
Mao Zedong was tricky; he resolved all issues with blood and murders. His country also lacked at least some substantial opposition. The party line was bent despite common sense, which led to enormous economic losses and hunger. Mao found a replacement for the Stalinist repressions; it was called the Cultural Revolution.
Communist brotherhood
Western countries were extremely outraged by the friendly relations between the two countries. The prospect of war with a multi-million dollar China and the USSR loomed distinctly. Western media ironically called the union of countries a "red-yellow threat." In fact, the Chinese military did not represent anything serious. In case of war, Mao himself suggested that the Soviets retreat to Central Asia, where the Chinese would get involved in the war.
The early 1950s was the peak of relations between the two countries. Mutual integration and trust, common political views - this is the basis of the friendship of the two peoples. However, in the future relations perspective, everything was not so smooth.
Languages, like the culture of the two countries, were different. What in Russian meant one thing, translated into Chinese meant quite another. This happened with the phrase "fraternal relations." For a Russian, this is a synonym for equality between people. However, in the Chinese understanding of the phrase we are talking about two brothers: the older (USSR) and younger (China).
Soviet politicians actively intervened in the PRC development program. The Union wanted to lead China along its course of socialist development, which caused just indignation among Mao and his party brothers.
Visit of Mao Zedong to Moscow
The Chinese leader flew to the capital of the USSR in December 1949 and stayed there until February 1950. In Moscow, Mao wanted to achieve the signing of favorable economic and political agreements. In a festive atmosphere, Mao was met by Soviet diplomats. Everyone in the USSR rejoiced at the arrival of the leader of a friendly country, Moscow residents eagerly welcomed his motorcade.
Despite the warm welcome in the city, he was met rather dryly in the Kremlin. For a long time, Mao was waiting for a meeting with the Soviet leader and other party leaders were not allowed to see him. Unaccustomed to a long wait, Mao decides to fly back, but does not.
The meeting nevertheless occurred, but was dry. Gromyko noted that the leaders of the two countries failed to establish warm relations. Despite this, the necessary documents were signed by Mao.
Political reasons for the aggravation of Sino-Soviet relations
Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev at the XX Party Congress delivered a speech designed to debunk the personality cult of Stalin. At the party congress, it was decided to improve relations with the capitalist countries. This caused a great indignation of Mao Zedong, as it directly contradicted the ideology of communism, which became one of the reasons for the Sino-Soviet conflict.
But this is only a political background, there were other, no less significant reasons. China wanted to see itself as a powerful player in the arena of world politics. He demanded veneration from the USSR and the return of previously lost territories.
The main causes of the Sino-Soviet split
Mao wanted to strengthen his authority in the party. Starting the Soviet-Chinese conflict, the years of which fell on the end of the 1950s, China wanted to show the world communist community that it was no worse than the USSR and they have their own unique ideas. Historians distinguish four main points that became the causes of the Soviet-Chinese conflict:
- The desire of China to regain its territory and get Mongolia.
- Equality between China and the USSR.
- The solution to the atomic issue.
- Contradictions on many issues.
The relationship of Khrushchev and Zedong
The Chinese leader did not sympathize with Nikita Sergeevich. And for this he had his own subjective reasons, often quite absurd. When Stalin acted as the leader, Mao tolerated the role of the younger brother. However, with the coming to power of Khrushchev, this state of affairs of Zedong did not suit. He considered, since Nikita Sergeevich was his younger, then less experienced and could not be his older brother.
Criticism of Stalin posed a threat to the personality cult of Mao himself. Chinese propagandists did their best, making him a local deity. Even the hymn sounded lines:
The east is getting farther, the sun is rising, Mao Zedong was born in China ...
Mao himself evaluated the activities of Stalin more positively than negatively. The specific nature of Nikita Sergeevich prevented the building of friendly relations. Khrushchev was hasty in his actions, too blunt, which differs from the idea of the inhabitants of the East about a good man. In one speech, Khrushchev allowed himself to personally offend Mao Zedong, which also led to a Soviet-Chinese split.
Contradictions between the USSR and China
The Union advocated the peaceful regulation of issues between the countries, no one wanted a war, although everyone was preparing for it. Moscow sought to eliminate the possibility of nuclear war. Beijing, on the contrary, wished for a revolutionary victory. Mao believed that half of all humanity is a small sacrifice for the common good. Their death is not critical, because the other half remains - the ideal communists.
In his memoirs, Nikita Sergeevich recalls how he proposed to dissolve NATO and the Warsaw Treaty at a time. Mao categorically rejected the idea and suggested, in which case, retreat to the Ural Mountains. Khrushchev understood very well that the Chinese leader did not understand anything in military affairs, and he called all his statements "baby talk."
Zedong could not ask for the neutrality of the USSR in relation to the Sino-Indian conflict, which was going on from 1959 to 1962. All three years, Soviet leaders tried to persuade Beijing not to rush to leave India in a non-aligned position. Mao did not like this request, and he accused Moscow of trying to provoke a military conflict.
Million Chinese in Siberia
Without thinking twice, Nikita Khrushchev made a proposal to place about one million workers in Siberia. Such a request naturally outraged Zedong; he considered this an insult to millions of Chinese citizens. By the time the workers are dispatched, Khrushchev decides to cancel everything. The Soviet leader was afraid that with this arrangement of affairs, the Chinese would take Siberia without declaring war.
The deterioration of interstate relations
With the onset of the 60s, political and ideological disputes between China and the USSR did not subside. Beijing newspapers published an article exposing the Union’s foreign policy and criticizing the CPSU.
In response, Moscow withdrew political advisers and narrow-profile specialists, which was an unpleasant surprise for the leadership of the CCP. Comprehensive assistance from the Union has almost completely ceased. As soon as Khrushchev’s ardor faded, the Soviet side decided to return the experts to China. However, the Chinese flatly refused to take them back.
First provocations
Since the beginning of 1960, the Chinese authorities began to provoke the Soviet border guards into conflict. Ordinary citizens repeatedly violated the integrity of the borders, single soldiers crossed the border. There were cases of mass border crossing by certain groups of military. In general, Beijing made every effort to provoke the Soviet border guards and the emergence of the Sino-Soviet split.
It is worth noting that our defenders of the borders lacked the mind and endurance not to open fire on violators. The peak of the Chinese arrogance was 1962, more than 5 thousand various types of border violations were officially registered. And this is only the declared data, and how many times the Soviet border guards were too lazy to document the provocations, no one knows.
Eight Chinese tractors driven by 200 Chinese and military cover plowed Soviet land. Such an incident probably made the border guards laugh a lot, despite this, they put up a screen. The Chinese military forces, along with tractors, tried to break through it with screams, curses and mates.
Moscow incident
Repeatedly, Chinese citizens provoked Soviet fights and swearing. Near the Chinese embassy a rally unfolded criticizing the foreign policy of the Soviet Union.
Chinese provocateurs inflicted a real insult on the mausoleum of V.I. Lenin. In a holy place for all Soviet Communists, the Chinese staged a crush. Using physical force, they pushed other visitors away from the entrance to the mausoleum. At the same time, they loudly cursed and shouted anti-Soviet slogans.
But they did not achieve the desired effect, they did not reach the assault by the citizens of the Union. Law enforcement intervened, and the Chinese were quickly taken away “by the arms”.
Soviet Embassy in Beijing
If the Chinese provocateurs were not allowed to turn around on the streets of Moscow, then in their homeland they tried with their usual industriousness. Day and night, rallies and gatherings were held around the Soviet embassy. Protesters shouted slogans against the Soviet Union. They threatened to crack down on the integrity of the country of victorious socialism and to overthrow the current regime. In addition to the above, the Chinese wanted to deal with political figures of the USSR. Their portraits were burned with wild cries, and burning garbage was thrown into the embassy territory.
It got to the point that participants in anti-Soviet rallies entered the inviolable territory of the embassy. They climbed onto the roofs and from there threw propaganda leaflets over the embassy's courtyard. The Beijing authorities did not try to help the Soviet embassy in its siege. Instead, they sent a telegram to Moscow, where they asked to remain in the embassy and not to leave it. Otherwise, they are not responsible for the safety of Soviet citizens.
IX Congress of the Communist Party of China
In April 1969, at the next meeting of the party, it was decided to formalize anti-Soviet activity officially. China began preparations for a permanent revolution and, at the same time, for war. On the borders with the USSR, military groups grew. In 1967, the total strength of the Chinese military totaled more than 400 thousand people. Chinese workers built roads, shelters, and airfields. At that time, the course towards the Sino-Soviet split was finally established.
Damansky Island
Soviet and Chinese troops first massively clashed on a small uninhabited island Damansky. Full-scale conflict was preceded by long and careful preparations. Chinese propaganda called the border zone with the Soviet Union the first line of defense. Military forces gathered there, strengthened posts and dug trenches.
Border conflict occurred in 1969. However, before that, the Chinese conducted small attacks, literally teasing the Soviet military. The Chinese military tried to feel the defense on Kirkinsky Island on the Ussuri River. Actions took place from December 1967 to January 1968.
For sabotage operations against the Soviet border guards and equipment, the Chinese were specially brought in by truck. They repeatedly crossed the border line on ice, thereby invading the island. In response to requests to leave Soviet territory, the Chinese provocateurs used brute force and cursed.
The Chinese authorities were well aware of the provocative actions. Moreover, they coordinated them. Armed with crowbars, the Chinese military disguised again crossed the Soviet border. In groups of several people, acting harmoniously according to a plan conceived in advance, they drove the Soviet military from their own territory.
Technology also got it, the Chinese comrades crowded around the Soviet armored personnel carriers with the military. They blocked their path, broke headlights, glass with crowbars, pierced the wheels. Iron armor was doused with caustic chemicals, and they tried to blind drivers with special dust.
Such incidents helped the Chinese military work out the tactics of a future conflict on the Daman island, which the Chinese called Zhengbaodao. According to the agreement concluded between Moscow and Beijing, the border line was designated along the Chinese coast of Ussuri. The island was closer to the Chinese coast, to it was 47 meters, while from the Soviet - about 130 meters. However, it still belonged to the USSR.
USSR strengthens borders
During the friendship of the two countries, when no one thought about the conflict, the island was freely visited by Chinese collective farmers. Cattle grazed on it, mowed grass and dried hay. The idyll did not last long, the Soviet military soon noticed that military facilities were being created on the Chinese side. Propaganda set up residents of nearby villages against the USSR, real spy mania began.
The Soviet command took retaliatory measures. Armored personnel carriers pulled to the border, border guards posts were equipped with heavy machine guns and other rapid-firing weapons. Some parts of the Red Army relocated from the central regions closer to the Asian border. Preparations for the Sino-Soviet conflict were kept in the strictest confidence. And ordinary citizens of the USSR still believed that the two countries were brothers forever.
Damansky Island was not considered important by Soviet commanders, so its protection was limited to observation and rare patrols.
China training
The Chinese military command completed the offensive plan on January 25, 1969. Direct control of the military operation was entrusted to Wang Tseiliang. He placed his command post at the Gunsa observation post.
The main task of the special operation was the provocation of Soviet troops in an open armed conflict. Beijing wanted to prove the aggressive aspirations of the USSR. To do this, it was necessary to seize their military property, equipment and ammunition. As well as photo documents designed to prove the militarized intentions of the Union against the PRC.
If the Soviet border guards used weapons, the Chinese had every right to fight back. Beijing provocateurs wanted in any way to get evidence of shooting from the Soviet border. If the defense side left its trenches and began to advance, then by any means it was supposed to capture someone. In this situation, the Chinese had a big trump card up their sleeve. Specialists did not cost anything to force the Soviet military to confess to the allegedly impending attack on the PRC.
The Chinese side took into account the specifics of the Russians. It is difficult to coordinate the actions of the troops on weekends, and on holidays the task is complicated three times. This is what the Chinese commanders did. Shrovetide, a traditional Russian holiday, was celebrated on January 23. The commanders of the border detachments must have celebrated the triumph, which means they were not in the service. The Chinese military did not take tricks, they also took into account the technical component.
The Soviet border guards did not have the opportunity to monitor at night, because they did not have any equipment that allowed them to see in the dark. Therefore, the discovery of the shrinking Chinese military forces was impossible. And precisely on the weekend, aviation did not fly around the border of the two countries.
Culmination of conflict
On the night of January 23, 1969, the Chinese military crossed the USSR border. Under cover of night, they entered Damansky Island, where they dug in, buried in the snow. It was extremely difficult to notice them; overnight the snow swept their tracks. In the morning their penetration was discovered and reported to the command. At that time, it was believed that there were only 30 violators, when in fact there were about 300 of them. Lieutenant Strelnikov advanced to Chinese positions, along with 30 Red Army soldiers.
Their plan was to encircle the Chinese military, followed by expulsion from the island. It is worth noting that none of the Soviet military expected an armed conflict. Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov and a group of 5 people directly advanced to the position of the Chinese. He walked deliberately, with a protest and cultural request to leave Damansky Island.
The Chinese military almost point-blank shot Soviet delegates. In response to this, another group bypassing the flank opened mortar fire on Chinese positions. Immediately engaged in all-round defense and called for reinforcements.
A neighboring border outpost led by Lieutenant V. Bubenin came to the rescue. They managed to get around the Chinese from the rear and force them to capitulate to their territory. The battle lasted until the evening. As a result, 31 people were killed on the Soviet side, 14 were injured and one was missing.
According to eyewitnesses, the missing was the Komsomol Pavel Akulov. His corpse was carried away by the Chinese. Later, his corpse was dropped from a Chinese VO helicopter. On the body of Akulov, the Chinese left more than 20 knife holes, it looked more like a sieve than a human body.
A special commission arrived at the scene of the armed conflict. Her task was to document what happened. Chinese camouflage cloaks, shot cartridges, and even vodka were found on the island.
Second wave
Apparently, the past clash was a rehearsal on the Chinese side to probe the Soviet defenses. Small skirmishes continued until March 15, when the Chinese attempted to drive the Soviet military off the island.
Under the guise of distant artillery and mortars, large forces of the PRC military launched a chain attack. This method provides relatively small losses from machine gun fire of the enemy. The massive Chinese offensive forced the Soviet military to retreat from the island. The outpost held on until evening without any apparent support. This was due to political confusion in Moscow.
The fact is that all important decisions were made in the capital of the USSR, but no installations about the Sino-Soviet conflict came to Damansky Island.
On-site command, it was decided to use the artillery of the division and the Grad installation. Thus, the Soviet military declared to the Chinese that they were ready for any provocations. A massive strike by long-range guns and rocket launchers brought the Chinese out of balance, thanks to which the border guards, along with the motorized rifle battalion, were able to drive the Chinese out of the island and again gain a foothold on it.
China Event Evaluation
The ultimate goal of the Chinese propagandists has been achieved. The Soviet Union led a provocation, entering into fierce battles with the military of the PRC. Losses from the Chinese side amounted to 600 killed, and Soviet border guards lost 58 people. Beijing authorities gave their assessment of the events.
In their opinion, it was the Soviet side that provoked the conflict. Their point of view has not changed so far. The Soviet military of 70 people with trucks and armored personnel carriers crossed the border and occupied the Chinese island of Zhengbaodao, which is part of the Hulin County. Then they took measures to destroy the brave Chinese soldiers, but they resisted them. The Chinese authorities have repeatedly warned the USSR not to start hostilities and stop provocations. However, on March 15, Soviet troops launched an offensive. By the forces of tanks, aircraft, artillery and infantry, they managed to push the Chinese military back and capture the island. That was the story of Soviet-Chinese relations in the middle of the last century.