It's like this.DavidD wrote:
Besides, has India even been in a real war, like ever? I'm afraid a few minor skirmishes with your neighbors have given you a false sense of how a real war is like.
Too much noise is made about the Chinese winning wars without fighting.. No one actually looks at India - and perhaps that's a good thing. India, after 1947 (and excluding UN engagements) has generally gone to war when some other nation has attacked India, or when some nation has asked for help. I will post a list shortly, but India has very rarely taken the initiative to attack and start a conflict on a largish scale. Examples of that are the Indian action to expel the Potuguese from Goa (1961) and the 1948 action to take Hyderabad from the Nizam.
India does not go to war unless war is thrust upon us. But Indian troops have been in combat continuously. The generation of air force pilots who faced enemy fire in 71 taught the generation who once again faced enemy fire in 1999. And that generation is not yet retired.
So if conflict comes - these men and women will not get cowed down. The question about "real war" in an interesting one. My generation and a generation older than me have seen "real war" which involved the entire nation including nationwide black outs and air raids and blood donation camps in 1965 and 1971. Not sure how many Chinese can say that. The reason why India does not go to war even after severe provocations from Pakistan is because the armed forces and the nation know about real war and we weigh the options and know that a stalemate is not good enough. However if someone makes war - then we have no other go. We can make it a stalemate or defeat for them. That is why people are so sanguine about Chinese bluster. I don't think the people threatening war from China know about war either - including the morons who said they would put paratroops in Delhi. Yeah. Sure. Putting them there is easy. Winning a war is different.
I think China knows this too - and if the Chinese don't know it means that all this talk about China winning war without fighting is a load of crock.
India has watched China getting stronger and stronger and threatening the small Island nations to its east. Maybe the Chinese have historic reasons to be suspicious of those countries. But messing with India can only go so far and no further. Sooner or later China will be made to feel pain. Will India feel pain? Of course. That is war. You don't have wars without much pain. But India will do everything in its power to unseat China from its self proclaimed high pedestal. Ironically India is in the same position that China put Pakistan in. Pakistan does not have to win. Merely denying India victory is enough to keep India from appearing like top dog. The same holds true for India. In fact China challenging India may mean that the days of using Pakistan are coming to an end. The Chinese are not stupid is what I like to think - but I think they are only trying to save face holding on to Pakistan. Pakistan is India gone bad. That is the worst kind of country to call a friend. But I digress
List of wars from 1947 if anyone is interested. You will have to take the trouble to enlarge- it is too long for normal font
[*]In 1947-48 India fought Pakistani forces who occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The war was ended prematurely by Nehru going to the UN
[*]1962 India fought a reluctant war when Mao decided to "punish" India. It was a half-fought war.
[*]1965 was a big 2 front war with Pakistan that ended inconclusively ( I was old enough to follow this war form start to finish). Started by a Pakistani attack
[*]1967 was a skirmish with China in Nathu La. Chinese started shooting. India ended it
[*]1971 - a two front war - a major war when Bangladesh was liberated. India did not start teh war, but finished it
[*]1984; Not a war. India occupied Siachen and "opened a new front" that gave control of the Karakoram pass between China and Pakistan occupied Indian territory
[*]1988: India-Sri Lanka agreement leading to Indian troops in Sri Lanka. Lot's of fighting many casualties.
[*]1988: India rescued the Maldives from a coup. Navy, Air Force and spl forces action
[*]1999: Kargil war. Mainly army and air force action. Navy role mainly in sea lane domination
[*]1989 to 2017: Army action against Pakistani terrorists entering India.