On March 10, 1959, Tibetans banded together in revolt, surrounding
the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese
occupation forces.
China’s occupation of Tibet began nearly a decade before, in October 1950, when troops from its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) invaded
the country, barely one year after the Communists gained full control
of mainland China. The Tibetan government gave into Chinese
pressure the following year, signing a treaty that ensured the power
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the country’s spiritual leader, over
Tibet’s domestic affairs. Resistance to the Chinese occupation built steadily over the next several years, including a revolt in several
areas of eastern Tibet in 1956. By December 1958, rebellion was simmering in Lhasa, the capital, and the PLA command threatened
to bomb the city if order was not maintained.
