The Soviet Union and China battle against each other for Zhenbao Island.
Get this: From what I’ve heard, the USSR even seriously considered nuking China.
Over a fucking island.
I get that Sino-Soviet relations were shit, but how the fuck was it so bad that the Soviet Union wanted to fucking drop a nuke?
Especially since, by this point, China already had nukes, and most likely they would retaliate, risking the end of humanity. Especially if the United States got involved, which they threatened to do.
Can somebody explain to me why the hell this whole situation was even able to happen?
The imperialists purposely played off the USSR and the PRC against each other. They constantly amplified minor disputes and even today they try to make the former split seem worse than it actually was in order to keep the distrust between Russians and Chinese high. Yes the relations were bad at the time and yes there were some border disputes, but i doubt that this “Soviets wanted to nuke China” story is more than imperialist disinformation aimed at stoking resentment.
If i am wrong and there are good historical sources confirming that this was indeed something that was seriously considered (i.e. not just theoretical contingency plans which every major country draws up, and by the same token you could say “the Soviets were planning to nuke Europe” since they also had plans in case of a serious conflict with NATO) then i will stand corrected, but for now i advise taking this sort of thing with a grain of salt. The US on the other hand seriously considered nuking China in the 50s.