The communist victory in the Chinese civil war resulted in the formation of a new socialist state – the People's Republic of China. The Soviets were the first to recognise the PRC, and subsequently provided China with considerable assistance. After Stalin's death, however, relations rapidly deteriorated over disagreements regarding Stalin's legacy and co-existence with capitalist states. With the 'cultural revolution' in the PRC, these disagreements intensified: the two sides accused each other of revisionism, dogmatism and nationalism. Economic failures and social chaos forced the PRC leadership to seek a method for divesting itself of responsibility for what had taken place. As a solution, they organised a military conflict on the border with the Soviet Union to rally the people around the PRC leadership, while at the same time insignificant enough in scale to prevent it from escalating into a full-fledged war. On 2 March 1969, a specially prepared Chinese army detachment made a