USSR planned nuclear attack on China in 1969

The Telegraph ^ | 5/13/2010 | Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Peter Foster in Beijing

[bruinbirdman]

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.

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.

Richard Nixon in Moscow with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1974

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

[TypeZoNegative]

What part of “I am not a crook” didn’t you hear?

[Androcles]

I got taught this twenty years past (American sources), save for the threat of US nuc lear threats. At the time, the analysis was that the US were tempted but too smart to stand by and watch the Sovs destroy China. In a three way conflict, you always assist or prevent the destruction of the weakest member. Had the Sovs been allowed to take out China then:

A - The US would have been partners (albeit through inaction) in a bloody crime, because I doubt the Sovs could have done it without a few nukes in civilian zones and millions dead

and

B - The USSR would have had the luxury of not having to be nervous about their horrendously long land border with China, or with China’s influence over the international communist groups. That would have simplified Soviet strategic needs greatly, to the detriment of the west.

China and the US had nothing in common politically save distrust of the Soviets, but without China the Sovs would have been a much more credible threat. Even though China never matched Russia remotely in terms of strngth, they had the North Korean factor - e.g. the Russians were never sure what that crazy old bastard Mao would do, so they had to be given either careful treatment or all-out treatment.

[Navy Patriot]

Re: #36,

All true.

However, Nixon did not offer to blow the USSR off the face of the Earth to solve the problem.

He was much more skilled, he offered Détente, and the deal was excellent from the USSR's point of view.

By 1972 he had SALT I in place and SALT II in the works, and the pressure between the USSR and China dialed down to manageable levels.

This was a real achievement considering the ongoing Vietnam war.

Nixon had courage as others have pointed out, however he was about as far from a warmonger as one could get, and not a reckless man.

[Navy Patriot]

Re: #42,

Good points.

It should have been easy to predict communists fighting among themselves from history.

The Bolshevik theft of the Revolution and Lenin's pursuit of the victims of that theft. Hitler's (the communist's) usurpation of the communist plot to take Germany. The two way double cross between Hitler and Stalin.

So Nixon could have easily seen the USSR's problem coming, and the seriousness of it.

Nixon might well have seen the Cultural Revolution coming as well, and knew all he had to do was buy time till the USSR perceived less threat from a decaying China, the careful treatment.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

One more reason to hate Nixon, he should’ve let them do it.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[artaxerces]

“One more reason to hate Nixon, he should’ve let them do it.”

And that would be the worst mistake American could’ve ever made. Russia and China are the 2 dominant powers of Eurasia. It is in our interest to keep Eurasia divided.

In 1970, Russia could’ve conceivably annihilated all military opposition in China with about 50 strategic nukes and taken over the entire East Asian Mainland largely intact.

Now imagine a fully industrialized USSR that controls 90% of Eurasia, with the combined natural resources of Russia and the human resources of China.

Such an empire would have 5X our population, 5X our natural resources, and be within 5 years of our military tech curve. We might well have lost the cold war if that had happened.