Sino-Indian War

"Indo-Chinese War" redirects here. For the war in the area named Indochina, see Indochina War and Indochina Wars. For clashes on the Sino-Indian border in 1967, see Nathu La and Cho La clashes. For the recent border dispute between China and India, see 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes.

Sino–Indian War
Part of Sino-Indian border dispute and the Cold War

Indian soldiers patrolling Spanggur Tso at the Sino–Indian border in January 1962
Date20 October – 21 November 1962
(1 month and 1 day)
Location
Aksai Chin, North-East Frontier Agency, and Assam
Result Chinese victory
Territorial
changes		 Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
 China  India
Commanders and leaders
Mao Zedong
Zhou Enlai		 Jawaharlal Nehru
V. K. Krishna Menon
Brij Mohan Kaul
Strength
80,000[1] 22,000[2]
Casualties and losses

Chinese sources:[3][4]

  • 722 killed
  • 1,697 wounded

Indian sources:[5]

Indian sources:[6][7]

  • 1,383 killed
  • 1,696 missing
  • 548–1,047 wounded
  • 3,968 captured

Chinese sources:[3]

  • 4,897 killed or wounded
  • 3,968 captured
This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispute. Fighting occurred along India's border with China, in India's North-East Frontier Agency east of Bhutan, and in Aksai Chin west of Nepal.

There had been a series of border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. Chinese military action grew increasingly aggressive after India rejected proposed Chinese diplomatic settlements throughout 1960–1962, with China resuming previously banned "forward patrols" in Ladakh after 30 April 1962.[8][9] Amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis, China abandoned all attempts towards a peaceful resolution on 20 October 1962,[10] invading disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometre (2,004 mi) border in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line in the northeastern frontier.[11] Chinese troops pushed Indian forces back in both theatres, capturing all of their claimed territory in the western theatre and the Tawang Tract in the eastern theatre. The conflict ended when China unilaterally declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its pre-war position, the effective China–India border (also known as the Line of Actual Control).

Much of the fighting comprised mountain warfare, entailing large-scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (13,000 feet).[citation needed] Notably, the war took place entirely on land, without the use of naval or air assets by either side.

As the Sino-Soviet split deepened, the Soviet Union made a major effort to support India, especially with the sale of advanced MiG fighter aircraft. Simultaneously, the United States and the United Kingdom refused to sell advanced weaponry to India, further compelling it to turn to the Soviets for military aid.[12][13]

  1. ^ Margolis, Eric S. (2002). War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet. Taylor & Francis. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-415-93468-8. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  2. ^ 刘振起 (2017). 毛泽东精神. 中国民主法制出版社. p. 121. ISBN 978-7516214862. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Wortzel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Feng, Cheng; Wortzel, Larry M. (2003). "PLA Operational Principles and Limited War". In Ryan, Mark A.; Finkelstein, David Michael; McDevitt, Michael A. (eds.). Chinese warfighting: The PLA experience since 1949. M. E. Sharpe. pp. 188–. ISBN 978-0-7656-1087-4. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  5. ^ Gupta, Shekhar (30 October 2012). "'Nobody believed we had killed so many Chinese at Rezang La. Our commander called me crazy and warned that I could be court-martialed'". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  6. ^ Wortzel 2003, pp. 340–341. The source says Indian wounded were 1,047 and attributes it to Indian Defence Ministry's 1965 report, but this report also included a lower estimate of killed.
  7. ^ Malik, V. P. (2010). Kargil from Surprise to Victory (paperback ed.). HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 343, note 134. ISBN 978-9350293133. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  8. ^ Van Tronder, Gerry (2018). Sino-Indian War: Border Clash: October–November 1962. Pen and Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-5267-2838-8. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  9. ^ Hoffman, Steven A. (1990). India and the China Crisis. University of California Press. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-0-520-30172-6. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  10. ^ Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English language: Chronology of Major Dates in History, p. 1686. Dilithium Press, 1989
  11. ^ "Sino-Indian War | Causes, Summary, & Casualties | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 10 May 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  12. ^ Chari, P. R. (March 1979). "Indo-Soviet Military Cooperation: A Review". Asian Survey. 19 (3): 230–244. doi:10.2307/2643691. JSTOR 2643691. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020.
  13. ^ Sharma, Shri Ram (1999). India-USSR Relations, 1947–1971: From Ambivalence to Steadfastness. New Delhi: Discovery. pp. 52–59. ISBN 978-81-7141-486-4. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.