A fun and not very well-known little border war was the Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929. Basically the Soviets controlled the railways of northern Manchuria, and the Chinese wanted them out. Simple idea, difficult to execute in practice, and the way it was handled opened the door for the Red Army to humiliate the warlord forces of Manchuria. Which would in turn get other parties thinking about how easy it would be to go on an adventure of their own in the region.

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Walker, Michael M. The 1929 Sino-Soviet War: The War Nobody Knew University Press of Kansas 2017
2. Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Waiting for Hitler 1929-1941 Penguin Press 2017

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