“China’s India War; Collision Course on the Roof of the World” (2018) by Bertil Lintner

June 21, 2019

On the topic of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, China’s India War is a revisionist text that re-examines the long standing opinion on this conflict that it was provoked by Indian intrusion into Chinese territory.

For background, in 1962 and after tensions had been aggravated over several years, the Chinese launched a rapid, month long campaign to drive Indian troops back from the Himalayan frontier. The result was a comprehensive defeat of India’s frontier forces, national shame and a realisation that their military needed massive overhaul.

To date, much of the academic opinion on the subject has been formed by Neville Maxwell’s book India’s China War, published in 1970. It is (if the title doesn’t give that away) to directly counter some of Maxwell’s conclusions that Lintner has written his book.

Lintner contends that not only were the Chinese the real aggressors of the conflict, but that they had been preparing meticulously for the war for several years. He also spells out the reasons for the Chinese withdrawal from much of the territory they captured – often cited as defence for their being “the good guys” – and attempts to place the war into a much larger geo-political context, something he states has not been done by previous authors.

Meticulously covering the creation of the modern border and contested areas, the war itself and the long term consequences, Bertil’s book is certainly of use to anyone interested in the Sino-India war and the countries mutual relationship and histories.

But with the current situation, as tensions rise between the two Asian giants, China’s India War can probably expect to be of interest to those watching current events and the broader region to give context and understanding to the current political situation – something that will no doubt become of much greater interest and concern as both nations vie to become the predominant regional, and potentially global, power.

Guns-A-Go-Go; The Boeing Vertol ACH-47A

Guns-A-Go-Go; The Boeing Vertol ACH-47A

The histories of the US intervention in Vietnam generally start in March 1965, when US Marines stormed ashore at Da Nang…to be met by a bevy of Vietnamese beauties holding signs saying: “Welcome Gallant Marines”. But in fact, the United States had been deploying...

Myanmar Military Reeling From Attacks by Anti-Coup Forces

Myanmar Military Reeling From Attacks by Anti-Coup Forces

Well, it is kicking off in Myanmar. Big time. I have occasionally reported on the ongoing conflict in that bighted for years, indeed I’ve even conducted humanitarian work in some of the conflict areas in the country. But I have never seen anything close to what is...

The Long War Pt.5; The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army

The Long War Pt.5; The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army

As the conflict in Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma, has seen a lot of important developments recently I thought it might be useful to resume this series on the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) fighting against the military junta who seized power in a coup in 2021....

Globemaster Mini Me; The McDonnell Douglas YC-15

Globemaster Mini Me; The McDonnell Douglas YC-15

In my previous “Forgotten Aircraft” article I covered Boeing’s YC-14 and talked about how in the early 1970’s the United States Air Force (USAF) had expressed an interest in acquiring a replacement for the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. For this they initiated the Advanced...

Meet the Ratel S Anti-Tank Drone

Meet the Ratel S Anti-Tank Drone

A few years ago I wrote an article, followed up later by a video, about the need for a cheap guided  anti-vehicle-and-position weapon for infantry. My reasoning was that for many years now most militaries have ended up resorting to using anti-tank missiles for this...