Who Would Win in a 1969 Zhenbao Island War?

I can't tell if you're calling comparing the US in a Cuban-Missile-Crisis-gone-wrong to the Soviets or China.

The Soviet Union. They had a massive advantage over China in terms of their nuclear arsenal, just like America held a massive advantage over the Soviets themselves in 1962.
 
The Soviet Union. They had a massive advantage over China in terms of their nuclear arsenal, just like America held a massive advantage over the Soviets themselves in 1962.
For reference the Chinese had about 150-160 warheads in 1984 (according to a US intelligence estimate) so they probably had less in 1969. The USSR meanwhile had about 10,000 nuclear weapons.
 
The Soviet Union would win in the conventional sense, but America really wins because they weren't involved.

And besides, as they say...
Nuclear War is like tic tac toe...
Nobody wins
 
The Soviet Union would win in the conventional sense, but America really wins because they weren't involved.

And besides, as they say...
Nuclear War is like tic tac toe...
Nobody wins

Except when you get three in a row of either x or o.(Oh and yes I know exactly what you're referencing)
 
The Soviets win hands down. The PRC had very few nuclear weapons and those that they had weren't capable of hitting European Russia. The Soviets would lose a few Far Eastern and Central Asian cities, but China wouldn't exist as a nation.
 
I'd say the Soviet Union, considering their lands are slightly bigger and less concentrated populations.

That said, neither side was willing to lob nukes or commit anything more than a few dozen to hundreds if troops to fight for a tiny-ass island on the Amur. Not worth the reward.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
It would not be China. Combine Mao's nonsense going on at this point with a likely nuclear confrontation and probably, a lack of decent Soviet help, and China gets fucked up.
 
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