USSR planned nuclear attack on China

bhramos

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The Soviet Union was on the brink of launching a nuclear attack against China in 1969 and only backed down after the US told Moscow such a move would start World War Three, according to a Chinese historian.

US President Richard Nixon in Moscow with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1974 Photo: AP

The extraordinary assertion, made in a publication sanctioned by China's ruling Communist Party, suggests that the world came perilously close to nuclear war just seven years after the Cuban missile crisis.
Liu Chenshan, the author of a series of articles that chronicle the five times China has faced a nuclear threat since 1949, wrote that the most serious threat came in 1969 at the height of a bitter border dispute between Moscow and Beijing that left more than one thousand people dead on both sides.



He said Soviet diplomats warned Washington of Moscow's plans "to wipe out the Chinese threat and get rid of this modern adventurer," with a nuclear strike, asking the US to remain neutral.
But, he says, Washington told Moscow the United States would not stand idly by but launch its own nuclear attack against the Soviet Union if it attacked China, loosing nuclear missiles at 130 Soviet cities. The threat worked, he added, and made Moscow think twice, while forcing the two countries to regulate their border dispute at the negotiating table.
He quotes Soviet ministers and diplomats at the time to bolster his claim.
On 15 October 1969, he quotes Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin as telling Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev that Washington has drawn up "detailed plans" for a nuclear war against the USSR if it attacked China.
"[The United States] has clearly indicated that China's interests are closely related to theirs and they have mapped out detailed plans for nuclear war against us," Kosygin is said to have told Brezhnev.
That same day he says Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to Washington, told Brezhnev something similar after consultations with US diplomats. "If China suffers a nuclear attack, they (the Americans) will deem it as the start of the third world war," Dobrynin said. "The Americans have betrayed us."
The historian claims that Washington saw the USSR as a greater threat than China and wanted a strong China to counter-balance Soviet power. Then US President Richard Nixon was also apparently fearful of the effect of a nuclear war on 250,000 US troops stationed in the Asia-Pacific region and still smarting from a Soviet refusal five years earlier to stage a joint attack on China's nascent nuclear programme.
The claims are likely to stir debate about a period of modern history that remains mired in controversy.
Mr Liu, the author, admits his version of history is likely to be contested by rival scholars. It is unclear whether he had access to special state archives but the fact that his articles appeared in such an official publication in a country where the media is so tightly controlled is being interpreted by some as a sign that he did have special access.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-planned-nuclear-attack-on-China-in-1969.html

wow if it was what would have been today............
 

Armand2REP

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Soviet Union was at its height in 1969, it didn't need to nuke China. It could easily have overun it with the Red Army. It was the most powerful force the world had ever seen.
 

Agantrope

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Soviet Union was at its height in 1969, it didn't need to nuke China. It could easily have overun it with the Red Army. It was the most powerful force the world had ever seen.
Till date no force in the world would have matched the Soviet's Red army. I even doubt today's US army is not as of USSR Red army's strength. @Armand, China is vast territory so it will be difficult for a conventional forces to run into their territory. So nuking would be a option to surrender them in their Kneels
 

Oracle

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USSR backed down by a threat from US of A in 1969? Gimme a break. Oh! I see, a Chinese historian(funded by the CIA ssshhhhhhhhh). BS.
 
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Armand2REP

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Till date no force in the world would have matched the Soviet's Red army. I even doubt today's US army is not as of USSR Red army's strength. @Armand, China is vast territory so it will be difficult for a conventional forces to run into their territory. So nuking would be a option to surrender them in their Kneels
They don't need to take all of it, just Beijing. Once they burst through the pathetic defences of Manchuria it would have been a matter of weeks and the Politburo would be in custody.
 

ajtr

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The historian claims that Washington saw the USSR as a greater threat than China and wanted a strong China to counter-balance Soviet power. Then US President Richard Nixon was also apparently fearful of the effect of a nuclear war on 250,000 US troops stationed in the Asia-Pacific region and still smarting from a Soviet refusal five years earlier to stage a joint attack on China's nascent nuclear programme.
That explains Henry Kissinger's hanky -panky with china in 1970s....
 

amoy

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not new stories - long ago in China's tabloids, there were such reports like the US threatened to attack China during Korean War but USSR intervened and saved China from it. Or USSR planned nuke attacks on China, then the US 'betrayed' the plot.

the US or USSR, being 'responsible' top powers, knew well nukes were only effective before really putting them into use.

Thanks. 'Chinese wankers' will take good care of ourselves.
 
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civfanatic

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They don't need to take all of it, just Beijing. Once they burst through the pathetic defences of Manchuria it would have been a matter of weeks and the Politburo would be in custody.
If the USSR had done that, China would have responded with nukes for sure, which is why the Soviets were interested in a preemptive nuclear attack.

They won't just sit still until Soviet T-72s roll through Tiananmen Square.
 

ganesh177

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So US wud nuke 130 soviet cities for china, that too in 1969 ? What load of BS.
 

badguy2000

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So US wud nuke 130 soviet cities for china, that too in 1969 ? What load of BS.
don't forget cold war was there in 1969. 1/3 of SOviet forces were deployed beside China .
Had China been beaten by Soviet, NATO led by USA would face much more pressure.
that was why CHina and USA became quasi allies against Soviet during 1970s-1980s.
 

neo29

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Still not a valid reason by Moscow to nuke China. They did not even interfere during Sino Indian war.
 

badguy2000

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Still not a valid reason by Moscow to nuke China. They did not even interfere during Sino Indian war.
when Sino-India war took place in 1962, the split between China and Soviet was still not open . at that time, Soivet and CHina were still allies.
 

mayfair

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Badguy, Soviets would have roasted your arse in a full blown conflict like they did on the banks of the Amur river..there were many reasons why it did not happen which are well documented including subtle American threats on activating other fronts..oh bloody Nixon
 

Armand2REP

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If the USSR had done that, China would have responded with nukes for sure, which is why the Soviets were interested in a preemptive nuclear attack.

They won't just sit still until Soviet T-72s roll through Tiananmen Square.
Chinese nuke arsenal in 1969 was nothing but experimental bombs weighing 2200kg. No one was scared of that at the time. It was the US that stopped a Soviet invasion by threatening nukes.
 

neo29

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when Sino-India war took place in 1962, the split between China and Soviet was still not open . at that time, Soivet and CHina were still allies.
They would have helped but were busy with Cuban missile crisis ...
 

pmaitra

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when Sino-India war took place in 1962, the split between China and Soviet was still not open . at that time, Soivet and CHina were still allies.
The Sino-Soviet split was not open, yes, but they were surely not allies and Khrushchev's role in 1962 proves that.
 

nimo_cn

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Well, it seems USSR's nuclear blackmail is fully supported by some Indian fellows.
 

pmaitra

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Well, it seems USSR's nuclear blackmail is fully supported by some Indian fellows.
Count me in the list mate. As long as the illegal occupation of Indian territories by PRC persists, we will hope for the demise of PRC; not to mention Tibet.
 

Rage

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Well, it seems USSR's nuclear blackmail is fully supported by some Indian fellows.
Not necessarily, as long as you give up our territories and live in your corner. And ofcourse, stop the illegal detention, demographic subsumption and territorial occupation of Tibet.
 

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