In the early days of the founding of New China, China and the Soviet Union called each other brothers, the border between the two countries maintained good friendship relations, and the border guards of the two countries respected each other. With the tension in the relationship between the two sides, the guards of the border guard are also tense. By 1966, relations had fallen to a freezing point, and border conflicts were escalating.
Zhenbao Island was originally a small island on the banks of the Ussuri River in Heilongjiang, where soviet troops went on a killing spree, and China fought back, and the battle of Zhenbao Island began. This was originally a local war, which no one expected, and in the end it directly affected the changes in the world pattern. Some international people call Zhenbao Island "a small island that almost triggered the Third World War". Would anyone say that as far as this goes? Are Sino-Soviet relations so vulnerable? How did the end result of this battle change the world? Now we go back in time and find the answer from it.
Prelude to the storm
The Battle of Zhenbao Island stemmed from a long-standing dispute over the territory on the Sino-Soviet border. Counting from the Opium War, China was caught up in more than 100 scuffles and a constant change of regime. The rise of the Tsarist State at this time forced the Qing government to sign a series of unequal treaties, occupying a large area of China's land, and the border between the two countries was 7600 kilometers long.
In order to protect the Chinese land they had already occupied, after experiencing the instigation and instigation of Russia and the former Soviet Union and the connivance of the United States and Britain, Outer Mongolia became independent, forming a significant reduction in the occupied border between China and the Soviet Union, and Outer Mongolia became a buffer zone on the Sino-Soviet border. By the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Sino-Soviet border consisted of only two borders, northeast China and Xinjiang.
After Khrushchev came to power, in order to ensure his political status, the two sides made compromises with China, and the relations between the two sides were further developed. Later, due to the issue of sovereignty related to long-wave radio and naval fleet, China did not compromise with the Soviet Union, which became a turning point in the relations between the two sides. After that, the Soviet Union withdrew its aid and experts from China, and Sino-Soviet relations began to deteriorate.
After Brezhnev came to power, he assumed a posture of starting a war, and Sino-Soviet relations declined sharply. On the Sino-Soviet border, the Soviet side added 10 divisions and a million troops pressed the border. At that time, the Soviet Military Economy was very strong, and China was not on the same level compared to it. Brezhnev assumed a bullying posture, and the army began to shoot Chinese border people on the Sino-Soviet border, plunder property, and incite ethnic minorities to defect to the Soviet Union in Xinjiang.
Brezhnev's principle on the issue of the border controversy was: Mine is mine, yours is mine, naked bandit policy. In the face of the strong Soviet Union, the Chinese side hoped to resolve the border dispute through negotiations, but several rounds of negotiations ended in failure. Border conflicts have escalated, and Qiliqin Island and Zhenbao Island, located on the Ussuri River, have become the more serious areas of conflict between the two sides.
Use wisdom to win in defensive battles
In January 1968, the Soviets sent tanks and military vehicles to transport weapons and equipment and personnel to Zhenbao Island, and also shot at our border guards. For the strong offensive of the Soviet Union, the Chinese side knew that its strength was inferior to that of others, did not want to fight with the other side in the form of war, and began to adopt restraint and tolerance. At this time, the Soviets lightning-fast captured Czechoslovakia by force. This incident has made China feel a lot of pressure. The great man clearly understood the international situation, judged the hour and sized up the situation, and immediately adjusted his foreign strategy.
In 1969, just after the Spring Festival, the snow in Ussuri was vast and the weather was cold. Suddenly, on the silent river, guns and cannons sounded, and China and the Soviet Union officially started a war. An arrogant Soviet army did not take the Chinese army in the eyes, nor did it expect that the Chinese army would stubbornly resist. After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the Chinese army repelled the Soviet attack. Although the First Confrontation ended in defeat for the Soviets, the war was far from over.
The Soviets had advanced weapons and equipment, as well as aircraft for backup. China is very "shabby", only infantry and artillery, the strength is not equal, whether it is technology or equipment, are at a disadvantage. No one in the world is optimistic that China can win this war, but Chinese is wisdom.
The surface of the Ussuri River is covered with ice and snow, and on the flat ice surface, there is no place to hide. The tanks and armored vehicles put in by the Soviets during the offensive were the most advanced equipment, and under the cover of artillery fire, they could drive straight in. Inspired by the snowdrifts on the river, our army put anti-tank mines on white cloth and used the night to place them on the ice. After a night of wind and snow, the mines were covered with snow, and the enemy could not imagine that our army had such wisdom when it was killed.
When the Soviet tanks drove into the river, the tanks that hit the head were blown off the tracks, and the tanks behind them felt that there was an ambush and did not dare to advance, so they turned around and withdrew. When he learned that the tank had been thrown on the river, Brezhnev was furious and wanted to drag the tank back at all costs. You know, this T62 tank was the most advanced tank in the Soviet Union at that time. What they fear is that if China transports the tanks back, their core technology will be leaked, and it will become ironclad evidence that the Soviet Union "invaded" China.
Zhou Enlai was happy to learn this news, because this technology is exactly what our country needs most, and this good thing must not be given up. The two sides began a scramble over this nest of tanks. But neither side could get close to the tank, and whoever tried to approach, the other side's artillery bombarded in unison. Eventually, the Soviet army exploded the ice, the tanks fell into the river, and the battle ended. When the spring bloomed, the snow and ice melted, and China dispatched naval divers to fish out the tank. Because of this, the technology of Chinese tank development has been greatly improved.
Aftermath of the war
In the battle of Zhenbao Island, the Soviet Union did not occupy the peak, and started from Xinjiang and blatantly violated our territory. At this time, Brezhnev was mad and began to plan a nuclear strike against China. The Soviet Union would plan to inform the United States that it hoped to remain neutral in the event of a surgical strike against China.
U.S. President Richard Nixon was surprised when he received the notice. He was well aware that the nuclear weapons that China already possessed, if the Soviet Union launched a nuclear strike against China, It was bound to retaliate against China. By then, the lives of the 250,000 U.S. troops deployed in Asia would be unsafe. Nixon felt that the situation was serious, but the United States did not want to offend the Soviet Union, and there was no way to inform China, and there was no diplomatic relations between China and the United States at that time. Thinking about it, the United States still passed this news to China through the non-governmental media.
As soon as the news came out, the world was in an uproar, and the domestic situation suddenly tightened and entered a state of war readiness. A vigorous campaign of "digging deep holes, accumulating grain, and not seeking hegemony" has been launched throughout the country. A large number of important factories have been relocated to remote mountainous areas, and air raid shelters have been dug everywhere, and even now, there are traces of air raid shelters in many cities.
Brezhnev was so angry that he cursed the United States, and because his plan had been announced and was influenced by international public opinion, he had to give up for the time being. However, the Chinese side does not dare to take it lightly, and on the one hand it mediates internationally and on the other hand, it makes military preparations. The main reason why the Soviet Union eventually abandoned its nuclear program was that the United States and the Soviet Union also received data from the Seismic Monitoring Center that China had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.
A nuclear crisis came to an end, and the diplomatic process between China and the United States has quietly begun.