WI/AHC/ASB: Sino-Soviet Land War

Sino-Soviet War


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RousseauX

Donor
Basically, once the Red Guards are in occupied territory and separated from their "beloved" Chairman Mao, they'll start bickering over whether to fight or submit. The whole CR is a case of "The Emperor's New Robes" gone violent, so all it takes is for one person to point out that they've been tricked the whole time and the resistance falls apart.

What are you talking about?

The Red Guards were about rebelling against authority in the name of Maoism, it was ended because Mao realized that they were rebelling against his own government and that can't go on indefinitely. So he met with the leaders and told them to tune it down.

In this case you had a real, foreign power to rebel against that instantly unifies everybody. Nothing rallies the people around a flag more than foreign invaders. There is no possible "submission" ideologically to invading Soviets because OTL they were "submitting" to Mao when they tune down the violence.

An invading "revisionist" power is basically red guard's ideological wet dream.
 
What are you talking about?

The Red Guards were about rebelling against authority in the name of Maoism, it was ended because Mao realized that they were rebelling against his own government and that can't go on indefinitely. So he met with the leaders and told them to tune it down.

In this case you had a real, foreign power to rebel against that instantly unifies everybody. Nothing rallies the people around a flag more than foreign invaders. There is no possible "submission" ideologically to invading Soviets because OTL they were "submitting" to Mao when they tune down the violence.

An invading "revisionist" power is basically red guard's ideological wet dream.

This ^

Either a soviet invasion will result in a quagmire, the worst any military general could have imagined or a Decisive Maoist Victory.
 
What are you talking about?

The Red Guards were about rebelling against authority in the name of Maoism, it was ended because Mao realized that they were rebelling against his own government and that can't go on indefinitely. So he met with the leaders and told them to tune it down.

In this case you had a real, foreign power to rebel against that instantly unifies everybody. Nothing rallies the people around a flag more than foreign invaders. There is no possible "submission" ideologically to invading Soviets because OTL they were "submitting" to Mao when they tune down the violence.

An invading "revisionist" power is basically red guard's ideological wet dream.


I agree, Mao portrayed himself as a leader that will protect the country after a century of humilation. By this time, Mao was already worshipped as a demi-god, if a foreign imperial power invade it will only further boost his legitimacy and any collaboration with the invader will be unthinkable even to those who may oppose Mao's policies.
 
In this case you had a real, foreign power to rebel against that instantly unifies everybody. Nothing rallies the people around a flag more than foreign invaders. There is no possible "submission" ideologically to invading Soviets because OTL they were "submitting" to Mao when they tune down the violence.

Red Guards are loyal to Mao. Great, but Mao can't command them if the land they're sitting on is occupied by Russians. In this case leadership falls to the most popular individuals, who are, to put it lightly, not fit for the role of insurgent officers. Everyone says "I'll fight the neo-Tsarist revisionists with all my might," but they have no competent organization to do that. It's all political fluff.

As it is here, the likely speed of a Soviet advance would be such that the entirety of the Northeast would be under occupation within weeks and Chinese armies in the area totally routed. There isn't much to unify around when hundreds of thousands of PLA troops are in prison camps and the Red Army has taken all the roads and rail. It's like Barbarossa all over again, but with even worse odds for the defender.

If the Red Guards were organized in any fashion beyond the schoolyard clique, say, if they were integrated into the PLA or some other effective institution before the invasion, there might be some chance of regrouping behind enemy lines to offer resistance, but no such organization exists when all you've been doing for three years is shout "Long Live Chairman Mao."
 
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