{{Short description|Military emergency order}} '''Order Number One by Lin Biao''' ({{zh|first=s|s=林副主席第一个号令|t=林副主席第一個號令}}) was a military emergency order issued by Lin Biao, then Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and Vice President of the Central Military Commission, on October 18, 1969.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Xu |first=Jinzhou |title=9 Analysis of 1969’s “Order Number One” |date=2015-01-01 |work=Selected Essays on the History of Contemporary China |pages=168–193 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004292673/B9789004292673_010.xml |access-date=2025-01-03 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-29267-3}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Hong Yung |date=August 2018 |title=From Revolutionary Cadres to Party Technocrats in Socialist China |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft9n39p3pc&chunk.id=d0e8966&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e8966&brand=ucpress |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=University of California |page=108}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=中国共产党大事记·1969年 |trans-title=Major events of the Chinese Communist Party (1969) |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64164/4416087.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806101132/http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64164/4416087.html |archive-date=2024-08-06 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=People's Net}}</ref> The order required all personnel of the People's Liberation Army to enter the emergency state of combat readiness and to prepare for the imminent attack including nuclear strike from the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
== History == [[File:1967-06 1967年5月毛泽东林彪出席五一劳动节庆祝4.jpg|thumb|Mao Zedong and Lin Biao in a car (1967)]] With the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, the tension between the two countries reached its climax after the Zhenbao Island Incident in March 1969.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":722">{{Cite web |last=Xu |first=Ni |title=1969年, 中苏核危机始末 |trans-title=The nuclear crisis between China and the Soviet Union in 1969 |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/85037/85039/7218846.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303213408/http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/85037/85039/7218846.html |archive-date=2022-03-03 |website=People's Net |language=zh}}</ref><ref name=":32" /> The Soviet Union planned to launch a large-scale nuclear strike against China.<ref name=":722" /><ref name=":32">{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Mark |date=May 12, 2010 |title=Nixon intervention saved China from Soviet nuclear attack |url=https://www.scmp.com/article/714064/nixon-intervention-saved-china-soviet-nuclear-attack |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912221259/https://www.scmp.com/article/714064/nixon-intervention-saved-china-soviet-nuclear-attack |archive-date=2015-09-12 |website=South China Morning Post}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite web |date=2010-05-13 |title=USSR planned nuclear attack on China in 1969 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7720461/USSR-planned-nuclear-attack-on-China-in-1969.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516014916/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7720461/USSR-planned-nuclear-attack-on-China-in-1969.html |archive-date=2010-05-16 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> Meanwhile, Lin Biao was named the successor of Chairman Mao Zedong at the 9th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in April 1969, during which the CCP leaders were also preparing for the war with the Soviet.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lamb |first=Stefanie |date=December 2005 |title=Introduction to the Cultural Revolution |url=https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/introduction_to_the_cultural_revolution |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203035801/https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/introduction_to_the_cultural_revolution |archive-date=2024-12-03 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Stanford University |language=en}}</ref>
On October 14, 1969, the Central Committee of the CCP released an urgent evacuation order to the Party and state leaders in Beijing, requiring all leaders to leave Beijing by October 20 given the high likelihood of an imminent Soviet nuclear attack.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":32" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=John Wilson |author-link=John Wilson Lewis |last2=Xue |first2=Litai |date=2010 |title=1969年中国安危系于千钧一发——苏联核袭击计划胎死腹中 |trans-title=In 1969, China's security was at a critical moment——Soviet nuclear attack plan aborted |url=http://www.cnd.org/cr/ZK10/cr604.gb.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241202202634/http://www.cnd.org/cr/ZK10/cr604.gb.html |archive-date=2024-12-02 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=China News Digest |publisher=领导者 |language=zh}}</ref> Mao travelled to Wuhan and Lin travelled to Suzhou, while Premier Zhou Enlai remaining in charge in Beijing.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":32" /><ref name=":10" /> On October 17, Lin Biao issued an emergency order to put all PLA personnel on alert; on the next day, Lin's followers including Huang Yongsheng released the order as "Order Number One" by Vice President Lin, and all PLA members henceforth entered the emergency state of combat readiness.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Li |first=Chenghong |date=2010 |title=Re-examining Lin Biao's Role in Sino-U.S. Initial Rapprochement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44288931 |journal=American Journal of Chinese Studies |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=119–130 |issn=2166-0042}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Uhalley |first=Stephen |last2=Qiu |first2=Jin |date=1993 |title=The Lin Biao Incident: More Than Twenty Years Later |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2759617 |journal=Pacific Affairs |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=386–398 |doi=10.2307/2759617 |issn=0030-851X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This was the first time in the history of the People's Republic of China (since 1949) that its nuclear force, the Second Artillery Corp, was on full alert.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":21">{{Cite web |last=Gerson |first=Michael S. |date=November 2010 |title=The Sino-Soviet Border Conflict—Deterrence, Escalation, and the Threat of Nuclear War in 1969 |url=https://www.cna.org/reports/2010/d0022974.a2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241218120231/https://www.cna.org/reports/2010/d0022974.a2.pdf |archive-date=2024-12-18 |website=Center for Naval Analyses}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Riqiang |first=Wu |date=2013-05-07 |title=Certainty of Uncertainty: Nuclear Strategy with Chinese Characteristics |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01402390.2013.772510 |journal=Journal of Strategic Studies |volume=36 |issue=4 |doi=10.1080/01402390.2013.772510#inline_frontnotes |issn=0140-2390|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Aftermath == After the Lin Biao Incident on September 14, 1971, his "Order Number One" in 1969 was viewed by some as an evidence of Lin's intention usurp Mao Zedong's leadership or even a coup.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> According to some sources, Lin only reported to Mao regarding "Order Number One" on October 19, 1969, after the order had been released to PLA, and upon hearing the report, Mao's immediate comment was that the order should be burned.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":10" />
== See also == * Sino-Soviet border conflict * Sino-Soviet split * Cultural Revolution
== References == {{reflist|2}}
Category:Lin Biao Category:1969 in China Category:1969 in military history Category:1969 in international relations