The "Middle East Road Incident" with the Soviet Union had a huge impact on Zhang Xueliang's life, so why did this war start?
The "Middle East Road Incident" in 1929 was a major event made by the young marshal Zhang Xueliang that shocked China and foreign countries, the young marshal who had just made a big splash in the country through the northeast YiZhi wanted to show his male ambitions by recovering the Middle East Road, the Middle East Railway was the abbreviation of the China Eastern Province Railway, which was invested and built by Russia, started construction in 1897, and began to operate in 1903, the line was centered on Harbin, west to Manzhouli, east to Suifenhe, south to Dalian, the route was T-shaped, with a total length of about 2400 kilometers.
The results of this operation are basically clear to everyone, the two elite infantry brigades of the Northeast Army were completely destroyed, one was annihilated, one surrendered, with a total loss of nearly 10,000 people, while the Soviet casualties were only more than 1,000. No reinforcements arrived until the Soviets launched a general offensive, and the brigade was completely destroyed. Another 15th Brigade was also forced to surrender after being surrounded by Soviet forces and had no hope of breaking through.
Why did this incident break out? In fact, Zhang Xueliang was dissatisfied with the privileges enjoyed by the Soviet Union on the Road to the Middle East, when the Northeast Army was operated by the Zhang family for two generations, in fact, it was already the most powerful force in China at that time, the center of gravity of the Soviet Union was not in the Far East, and in 1904 they were defeated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War, Zhang Xueliang believed that it was possible for the powerful Northeast Army to defeat the Soviet Union.
The Northeast Army's own account is that 1690 people were killed, 2210 wounded, 6900 captured, and 1800 missing. Soviet sources show that the number of Chinese prisoners reached 9,500. The Soviets themselves announced losses of 281 killed and 729 wounded. The National Government in Nanjing directly opposed the signing of the Boli Agreement, and the impact of the "Middle East Road Incident" on Zhang Xueliang was undoubtedly enormous.