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When the time came, Indian commanders, unlike the Chinese, showed themselves to be flat-footed and unimaginative and simply did not know what to do once the enemy went on the offensive.
Shortage of ammunition and obsolete weapon systems played a role but they were not the defining factors in a conflict that was simply not fought by the Indians as a strong unit.
At a time when the rest of the world was exhausted from the Second World War and attention was focused on the Cold War, Mao pulled off one of the greatest real estate coups of all time. It was a masterstroke in geopolitical manoeuvring. That India took the brunt of it was partly due to her own inability to think long term. In the end, even though the cast of villains can be long, we only had ourselves to blame. Hopefully, we shall not make the same mistake twice.
Qing trade regulations meant that the British and other European traders had to pay for their goods in silver. This created a huge imbalance in trade, resulting in the British flooding Canton with Indian-grown opium. The subsequent Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) further reduced the Qing’s ability to deal with internal disturbances such as the Taiping Rebellion (1848-1865).
the biggest contradiction in Britain’s Tibet policy, where it dealt directly with the Tibetan government to achieve its ends, but had to constantly turn to China to legitimize them.
The bone of contention in the western section is the boundary that extends eastwards from the Karakoram Pass to the Changchenmo Valley that lies to the south. This was the traditional line that divided the Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir from Sinkiang and Tibet, both of which are now under Chinese control.
The first British attempt, Cunningham’s Ladakh Border Commission, failed to delineate the eastern border between Ladakh and Tibet and the northern boundaries between Kashmir and Sinkiang in 1847, which left the British no choice but to rely on an earlier treaty, signed on 16-17 September 1842, between Ladakh and Tibet, which was one of non-aggression rather than a boundary treaty.
The frontier between Ladakh and Tibet can be traced back to the tenth century when a Tibetan prince, Skyid-Ida-Ngeemagon, conferred the Meryal (Ladakh) fief to his eldest son. In 1681 and 1683, the Tibetans, aided by Mongols, invaded Ladakh. In 1684, a peace treaty between the two sides was concluded that read: ‘The boundaries fixed in the beginning, when Skyid-Ida-Ngeemagon gave a kingdom to each of his three sons, should still be maintained.’
The year 1821 marked the beginning of the Sikh/Dogra expansion northwards when Gulab Singh’s mercurial rise under Maharaja Ranjit Singh would make the Dogras under General Zorawar Singh important players in Kashmir and Ladakh.
In September 1842, Diwan Hari Chand and Wazir Ratnu, on behalf of Gulab Singh, signed a peace treaty with Kalon Surkhan and Depon Pishy on behalf of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government. This treaty ‘as recognized by both sides since olden times’, accepted the traditional boundary between Ladakh and Tibet.
treaty of 1842 settled the boundary between Ladakh and Tibet in unequivocal terms leaving no cause for any kind of border dispute in this region.
Most writers who have commented on the events leading up to the conflict between India and China in October-November 1962 have failed to pay adequate attention to the crucial role played by the Assam Rifles.
Some observers, including the journalist Neville Maxwell, as well as declassified CIA reports, have zeroed in on Nehru’s Forward Policy and tried to lay the blame at India’s doorstep. This is a blatantly unfair charge, for the Forward Policy as a whole needs to be understood in its entirety, as it had been in existence from around the early 1900s.
Infighting among the Ahom rulers of Assam opened the door to the British.
At the height of the Moamoria Rebellion (1769-1806), the Ahom king, Gaurinath Singha, turned to the rising power in the subcontinent, the British, and appealed for help.
The Dundiya Rebellion that played havoc with lives and property in western Assam followed the Moamoria Rebellion.
Ahom prime minister, Purnananda Buragohain, managed to bring about some semblance of order, but in order to further consolidate his power, he appointed all his relatives to high office. This brought him into direct confrontation with Badan Chandra Borphukan who was the governor of Gauhati. There was an assassination attempt that was traced to Borphukan.
Borphukan turned to the Burmese king, Bodaw U Waing, better known as Bodawpaya.
The Burmese were quick to exploit the situation. The first intervention was in 1816, where the Burmese faced the Ahom Army at Ghiladhari on 27 March, resulting in the Ahom Army suing for peace.
One of the major reasons why the British had hesitated in getting involved in Ahom politics was the probable quantum of troops that would be required to control such a vast expanse of land. However, Captain Welsh’s six companies of sixty men each had shown that a small body of troops, equipped with the best available weapons, could defeat any enemy, regardless of their larger numbers.
