Mao's Long March Into the Himalayas

[ABSTRACT ONLY; NO FULL TEXT] China's annexation of Tibet saw the isolated Buddhist Kingdom became the epicenter of Sino-Indian relations for Tibet had shared a border with both nations. Mao Zedong's drive into the Himalayas is generally regarded as a bi-lateral interaction between Tibet and China but India's role was equally significant. When China annexed Tibet, it inherited Tibet's border with India which fundamentally altered the geopolitical landscape of South Asia. While India sought to avoid a conflict with its new neighbor, China began an aggressive campaign to assert its influence at India's expense. Following a decade of consolidating its position in Tibet, China began to overtly lash out at India over territorial disputes regarding the boundaries of the Indo-Tibetan border which culminated in the 1962 Sino-Indian War. The calamitous defeat suffered by India reinforced the belief held by Mao and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that China was the new regional hegemon in South Asia.