Tibet is a mountainous
region located between India, China, and Nepal.
Tibetan history, as a separate and independent
country, dates back at least to the early 7th
century, with the establishment of the Tibetan
Kingdom. Modern Tibet gained independence from
the Manchu Chinese Empire in 1911, and enjoyed
independence until the Communist Chinese
invasion of 1950-1951.Tibetans are a Buddhist
people, and the lure of this faith is so
powerful in Tibet that the secular leader of
Tibet since the late 1500s has been the primary
Tibetan Buddhist religious leader, known as the
Dalai Lama (meaning "Ocean of
Wisdom").
Relations between Tibet and
China have been often hostile, sometimes
friendly, since the two nations first made
contact in the 700s. At times, both Tibet and
China came under the domination of foreign
conquerors. In the 1200s, the Mongol warlord,
Genghis Khan and his heirs ruled Tibet and
China, and beginning in the 1600s, both Tibet
and China came under the influence of the Manchu
Empire. The Manchu ruled China from 1644 until
the Chinese Revolution of 1911, and began to
gain influence in Tibet in the 1720s. When the
Chinese Revolution took place in 1911, ending
the Manchu Empire, the people of Tibet rose up
against the Imperial troops in Lhasa and
regained independence.
Below is a partial listing of
wars and conflicts between Tibet and China. It
should be noted that the several conflicts from
1911 into the 1930s were attempts by Tibet to
throw off Manchu/Chinese domination and to
reclaim ethnic Tibetan territory occupied by the
Chinese.
670 --War between Tibet
and the T'ang dynasty of China. Following
this war, Tibetan influence in the Central Asian
trade routes grows.
692-- China retook
western border lands from the Tibet after
defeating Tibetan forces at Kashgar
763--Tibet seizes the
Tang Chinese capital city of Chang'an (now
Xian)
822-- Peace Treaty
between Tibet and China defines the border
between them
1207- Tibet surrenders
to the Mongol Genghis Khan, who also conquered
China.
1368--When the
Mongols' Yuan Empire fell in 1368 to the
ethnic-Han Chinese Ming, Tibet reclaimed
independence and refused to pay further tribute
to the new Chinese Emperor.
1911-1913--Tibetan
Uprising --During the anti-Manchu Chinese
Revolution, Tibetans revolt and force out the
Manchu Chinese garrison. The surviving Chinese
troops evacuate Tibet by way of British
India.
1918--Sino-Tibetan
War-- China, having never accepted Tibet's
independence, sent troops into eastern Tibet in
1918. This conflict is considered as a
stalemate, and ended due to British
diplomacy.
1930-1932--Sino-Tibetan
War--A Tibetan army attacked Sichuan
Province in China, which was then ruled by a
warlord named Liu Wen-Hui. China was at the time
divided among dozens of "Warlords" who often
fought amongst themselves as well as against the
central Chinese government. Liu Wen-Hui battled
the Tibetans for several years, sometimes with
the aid of other warlords, such as the Qinghai
province's warlord Ma Bu-Fang. A peace agreement
was finally signed in 1932, setting Tibet's
eastern border at the Yangtze River.
1950-1951--Chinese
Communist invasion and occupation of Tibet.
The subsequent occupation and consolidation of
Communist control over the Buddhist kingdom
resulted in the destruction of thousands of
Buddhist temples and the deaths of at least tens
of thousands of Buddhist monks and other Tibetan
civilians.
Tibetan
Soldiers during the 1950 Chinese
Invasion
1956-1959-Tibetan
Revolt--Khampa rebels in eastern Tibet
rebelled against Communist Chinese rule. Up to
20,000 Tibetan guerrillas battled the Chinese
army. By March, 1959, the situation in the
capital city of Lhasa had deteriorated as tens
of thousands of Chinese troops occupied the city
and made preparations for an attack on the Dalai
Lama's palace and his guard force. On March 17,
1959, after two Chinese mortar shells landed
near his palace, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped
from Lhasa with his bodyguards and headed into
exile in neighboring India. In Lhasa, the
Chinese troops attacked the Dalai Lama's palace,
killing thousands of Tibetan civilians who had
encircled the palace to prevent the Chinese from
seizing their spiritual leader. Over the next
several days, severe urban warfare played out in
the Tibetan capital, as the Chinese consolidated
their control over the city, killing thousands
of rebels and civilians. Many Tibetan monks and
civil leaders were publicly executed.
Since the Chinese takeover of
Tibet, in addition to the acts of brutality
against the native population and the religious
leaders, Chinese policy has led to a large
influx of ethnic Chinese into Tibet. This is
termed by many as a form of "Demographic
Genocide," with the Chinese culture beginning to
supplant the native Tibetan culture.
1956-1974-Chushi Gandrug
Resistance Movement--The American Central
Intelligence Agency aided Tibetan rebels from
1956 through 1974, when China and the U.S. began
to re-establish relations. The Tibetan
guerrillas used American-supplied weapons and
training to wage a war of resistance to the
Communist occupying army. After American aid
ended in the early 1970s, the surviving rebels
fled to Nepal, where they were wiped out by
Nepalese security forces.
March/April,
2008--Tibetan protests against Chinese
occupation gain the attention of the world
media, in part because China was the host of the
2008 Olympics.
Links and
Resources:
Dalai
Lama stepping down as Tibetan political leader:
Speech comes on anniversary of 1959 uprising
against Chinese
control --MSNBC,
March 9, 2011
1.
Kohn, George C. Dictionary
of Wars.
New York: Facts On File Publications.
1986.
3.
Steems, Peter and William L. Langer., ed.
An
Encyclopedia of World History.
Boston,
Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin,
2002.
4.
Banks, Arthur S., ed. Political
Handbook of the
World
.
5th ed. Binghamton, NY: CQ Press,
2004.
A
Chronology of Tibet's
History--From
PBS
The
History/Background of Tibet
Brief
History of
Tibet--from Friends
of Tibet.org
CIA's
Secret War in
Tibet--An article
from HistoryNet
History
leading up to March 10th
1959--From the
Tibetan Government in Exile
Media,
Blogger, and Opinion Pieces:
China
will hold on to Tibet: US security think
tank-April 17,
2008--Times of India article, commenting on how
China will not/cannot let go of Tibet for
strategic reasons.
China:
more sour than
sweet-March 20,
2008--by John Birmingham, author and social
critic. Birmingham reminds readers the Chinese
occupation of Tibet is more accurately seen as a
brutal, amoral Communist act of
repression.
