Sino-Indian War
| Sino–Indian War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Sino-Indian border dispute | |||||||||
Indian soldiers patrolling Spanggur Tso at the Sino–Indian border in January 1962 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| China | India | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Mao Zedong Zhou Enlai |
Jawaharlal Nehru V. K. Krishna Menon Brij Mohan Kaul | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 80,000 | 22,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
Chinese figures:
Indian claims:
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Indian figures:
Chinese sources:
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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. Amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis, seeing that the U.S. was pre-occupied with dealing with it, China abandoned all attempts towards a peaceful resolution on 20 October 1962, invading disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometre (2,004 mi) border in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line in the northeastern frontier. 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, which can be attributed to the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis and fears of U.S. intervention to support India, 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). 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.