Tibet uprising in 1959
Tibet within China
| date | 10. - 21st March 1959 |
|---|---|
| place | Tibet |
| output | Victory of the People's Liberation Army and Tibet remains in China |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| losses | |
| approx. 86,000 Tibetans and 2000 Chinese | |
The Tibetan Uprising , which broke out in Lhasa , the capital of Tibet , on March 10, 1959 , was directed against the communist government of the People's Republic of China . Although a Tibetan government existed until 1959, Tibet has been de facto under Chinese rule since the 1950 invasion. The anniversary of the uprising is celebrated by many Tibet independence groups as " Tibet Uprising Day ". Some consider the Xunhua incident of 1958 to be the forerunner of the Tibetan uprising.
history
In the late 1950s, resistance to the Chinese presence in Tibet grew within the city of Lhasa. The first armed resistance by some Tibetans began as early as 1956 in the provinces of Kham and Amdo , and the Chinese military responded by stationing additional troops in eastern Tibet. In addition, the Chinese government carried out some punitive actions against villages and monasteries in Tibet. Furthermore threatened Chinese officers , the residence of the Dalai Lama , the Potala Palace to destroy and kill the Dalai Lama himself to intimidate the rebels.
On March 1, the 14th Dalai Lama Tendzin Gyatsho was unusually invited to attend a theater performance at the headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army outside Lhasa. The Dalai Lama, who was preparing to graduate from Lhrarampa Geshe , initially postponed the invitation so that the date was set for March 10th. The day before, Chinese army officers visited the chief of the bodyguard of the 14th Dalai Lama. In doing so, they insisted that the 14th Dalai Lama come to the theater performance without his bodyguard and that, contrary to tradition, there should be no public ceremony for his procession from his residence to headquarters.
When the news of this invitation was spread in Lhasa, parts of the Tibetan population feared that the 14th Dalai Lama would be kidnapped. On March 10, about 30,000 Tibetans gathered at the residence of the 14th Dalai Lama to prevent him from attending the theater performance. This event is generally seen as the beginning of the Tibetan uprising, although the Chinese military had already fought with guerrilla units outside Lhasa in December of the previous year.
On March 12, the first protesters took to the streets of Lhasa to proclaim Tibet's independence and thus liberation from Chinese rule. As a result, the first barricades were erected in the streets of the Tibetan capital, and both Chinese and Tibetan military forces reinforced their positions in preparation for a clash inside and outside Lhasa. At the same time, the Tibetans sent a cry for help to the Indian envoy.
The Chinese and Tibetan troop positions were continuously strengthened in the following days. In addition, the Chinese military positioned parts of its artillery outside the summer residence of the Dalai Lamas, the Norbulingka . On March 15, the Tibetan military prepared for the 14th Dalai Lama to flee the city by keeping an escape corridor free. This escape had been planned for some time. By this time, the Dalai Lama had had art treasures and gold dust worth 42 million US dollars transported from the monasteries to the Tibetan-Indian border. On March 17, two Chinese artillery shells struck near the residence, causing the 14th Dalai Lama to go into exile.
The open conflict broke out on the evening of March 19 with the bombing of Norbulingka and the main monasteries in Lhasa. The fighting lasted only two days as the Tibetan forces were outnumbered and relatively poorly armed.
Effects
It is estimated that there were a total of about 89,000 dead during the uprising. The Norbulingka was hit about 800 times and an unknown number of Tibetans died in the ruins of the palace. Lhasa's three main monasteries - Sera , Ganden and Drepung - were also badly affected. The Chinese military disarmed and publicly executed the remaining members of the 14th Dalai Lama's bodyguard who had remained in Lhasa. In addition, other Tibetans who had hidden weapons were executed. Countless monks were executed or arrested, and their monasteries and temples were looted or destroyed.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chen Jian: The Tibetan Rebellion of 1959 and China's Changing Relations with India and the Soviet Union (PDF; 214 kB)
- ↑ Siling Luo: 西藏 的 秘密 战争 ， 究竟 发生 了 什么？ （下） ( zh ) June 22, 2016.
- ^ Jianglin Li: Tibet in Agony ( en ). Harvard University Press, October 10, 2016, ISBN 978-0-674-08889-4 .
- ↑ History of the uprising on the pages of the Tibetan government-in-exile ( Memento from April 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), (English)
- ↑ Colin Goldner: Behind the smile of the Dalai Lama (lecture at the University of Vienna on May 18, 2012)