Damanskiy island. There could be a nuclear war

Damansky Island as a natural object existsin several parts of the globe. For example, this is the name of the territory where the park of culture and rest is located in Yaroslavl on the banks of the Kotorosl river. However, from the point of view of history, another object that is now in the territory of the People's Republic of China is better known.

This Damansky Island is small inThe size is about 1.8 km in length and less than a kilometer in width. During the spring floods, it can not be seen at all, since the Ussuri River completely conceals it under its current. Nevertheless, this scrap of land caused a conflict in 1969 between such serious powers as the USSR and China.

The beginning of this story dates back to the times whenThe Russian Empire was much stronger than the Celestial Empire. Taking advantage of its superiority in those times, Russia established borders along the water along the Chinese coast. It turns out that the Damansky Island, which is closer to China (300 meters), has left our state, although it is further from the Russian shore (500 meters).

This situation did not bother anyone until the middle20 th century, despite the fact that under international law, the borders on the river should be established along the main channel. Only during the reign of N. Khrushchev, when differences began to arise between the CPSU and the Communist Party of China, the problem of disputed territories emerged. Khrushchev did not accept the territorial claims of the Chinese side, but suggested dividing the river so that the islands adjacent to China were transferred to it. The agreement could not be reached only on the territories of Khabarovsk, among which was the Damanskiy Island.

On it a confrontation betweenborder guards of both sides. First, it was forbidden to shoot, so constant fights took place on the ice of the frozen river. But on March 2, 1969, about 300 Chinese soldiers appeared on the disputed territory, to which Soviet soldiers advanced with the proposal to liberate the Damanskiy Island. China responded with fire to defeat. Later on, the parties used artillery, including the Grad installation. Losses of the parties were hundreds of people.

The level of conflict has reached such a level that the USSRplanned a nuclear strike against China. But here the US intervened in the conflict, which at that time had a military contingent of about 250,000 people in Asia. American servicemen could die in this confrontation, the US did not need a weakened China, moreover, this country had claims to the USSR, which did not want to ban China's nuclear development with the United States. The latter successfully conducted military tests in this field in 1964. Therefore, Kissinger warned that a nuclear strike could be possible in a hundred Soviet cities.

In the first decade of September 1969,the talks between Beijing and Moscow, at which a decision was taken to peacefully reconsider the territories on which the Chinese were already entrenched and residing. However, during the life of Mao Zedong there was no progress in this area. Only in 1991 it was decided to transfer the island to the People's Republic of China. Therefore, the map of the island of Damansky today is most relevant for the inhabitants of this particular state.