[12][13], In 1923, Sun sent Chiang Kai-shek, one of his lieutenants, for several months of military and political study in Moscow. Current Moreover, the Soviet Union turned over all of its captured Japanese weapons and a substantial amount of their own supplies to the Communists, who received Northeastern China from the Soviets as well. [76], The third phase of the war is unlikely, due to the difficulty and the independence was never declared,[77] US expect the close moment will be the centenary of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), also 100 years anniversary of this civil war. Stanford University Press. Zedong, Mao. [2003] (2003). [71] The situation quickly changed after the sudden onset of the Korean War in June 1950. The Huaihai Campaign of late 1948 and early 1949 secured east-central China for the CCP. [1][23] On 4 August, the main forces of the Red Army left Nanchang and headed southwards for an assault on Guangdong. [58] The New 1st Army, regarded as the best KMT army, was forced to surrender after the CCP conducted a brutal six-month siege of Changchun that resulted in more than 150,000 civilian deaths from starvation. The first was through a rapid completion of the military takeover of the country, and through showing determination and strength against "foreign attempts at challenging the new regime along its borders." of the Secretaries of State, Travels of Thompson, Roger R. [1990] (1990). Later on, Zhou persuaded Zhang and Yang Hucheng, another warlord, to instigate the Xi'an Incident. [68] In December 1949, Chiang proclaimed Taipei the temporary capital of the Republic of China and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority in China. March, G. Patrick. This conflict led to the creation of the Red Army. In response to the aforementioned land reform campaign; the Kuomintang helped establish the "Huanxiang Tuan" (), or Homecoming Legion, which was composed of landlords who sought the return of their redistributed land and property from peasants and CCP guerrillas, as well as forcibly conscripted peasants and communist POWs. Koga, Yukiko (2016). Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations. [73] On 20 January 1955, the PLA took nearby Yijiangshan Island, with the entire ROC garrison of 720 troops killed or wounded defending the island. China's Republic. The KMT government announced, in conformity with Sun Yat-sen, the formula for the three stages of revolution: military unification, political tutelage, and constitutional democracy. Over the course of the march from Jiangxi the First Front Army, led by an inexperienced military commission, was on the brink of annihilation by Chiang Kai-Shek's troops as their stronghold was in Jiangxi. [12] After Sun's efforts to obtain aid from Western countries were ignored, he turned to the Soviet Union. Though China's Reforms and Reformers. Their leader, Li Mi, was paid a salary by the ROC government and given the nominal title of Governor of Yunnan. [49] Prior to giving control to Communist leaders, on 27 March Soviet diplomats requested a joint venture of industrial development with the Nationalist Party in Manchuria. turned on the Communists, killing them or purging them from the party. the triple threat of Japanese invasion, Communist uprising, and warlord Routledge. seemed more and more likely. This drew the massive number of landless and starving peasants in the countryside into the Communist cause. United Front with the Nationalist Party. The Consolatory Commission forces were used to battle the Red Army, but they were defeated when their religious leader was captured by the Communists.[31]. [33] In 1937, Japan launched its full-scale invasion of China and its well-equipped troops overran KMT defenders in northern and coastal China. Mao was accompanied by American ambassador Patrick J. Hurley, who was devoted to Chiang but also wanted to ensure Mao's safety in light of the past history between the two Chinese leaders. 8 December 2005. p. 88. Guo, Xuezhi. After the Burmese government appealed to the United Nations in 1953, the US began pressuring the ROC to withdraw its loyalists. Mao. Sources of Chinese Tradition. It was launched by Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and Wang Jingwei. The University of North Carolina Press. [2001] (2001). [15], Communist members were allowed to join the KMT on an individual basis. continued to recognize the Republic of China, located on Taiwan, as Chinas true Ho, Alfred K. Ho, Alfred Kuo-liang. States. which pitted the PRC and the United States on opposite sides of an international On 23 April they captured the KMT's capital, Nanjing. Routledge. Historians such as Jay Taylor and Robert Cowley, argue that the nationalists failure was largely caused by external reasons outside of the KMTs control, most notably, the refusal of the Truman administration to support Chiang with the withdrawal of aid, the failed pursuit of a detente between the nationalists and the communists, and the USSRs consistent support of the CPC in the Chinese Civil War. The government was seeking to exert full control over frontier areas against the warlords. areas. These favorable conditions also facilitated many changes inside the Communist leadership: the more radical hard-line faction who wanted a complete military take-over of China finally gained the upper hand and defeated the careful opportunists. Throughout this time the Soviet Union sent money and spies to support the Chinese Communist Party. The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History. [60] Following a fierce battle, the CCP captured Jinan and Shandong province on 24 September 1948. [16] As of 1923, the KMT had 50,000 members.[16]. They hoped to use them against the Communist army. Zhang Guotao's army, which took a different route through northwest China, was largely destroyed by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Muslim allies, the Ma clique. occupied Manchuria and only pulled out when Chinese Communist forces were in and Mao Zedong, met for a series of talks on the formation of a post-war [41] Both sides stressed the importance of a peaceful reconstruction, but the conference did not produce any concrete results. Apart from that the CCP had mastered the manipulation of local politics to their benefit; this was also derived from their propaganda skills that had also been decentralised successfully. [2004] (2004). [2002] (2002). "'Deep changes in interpretive currents'? [9] Starting in the 1950s, a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has ensued, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of all China. In addition, the peasants only joined the communists en masse after the Japanese invaded, rather than cooperate with the invaders. China: A New History. They in turn killed, wounded or captured some 520,000 KMT during the campaign. equality for all Chinese political parties. Timeline, Biographies Zhao, Suisheng. administration from charges of having lost China. [13] Comintern agent Mikhail Borodin arrived in 1923 to aid in the reorganization and consolidation of both the CCP and the KMT along the lines of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. [2004] (2004). [13] The CCP itself was still small at the time, having a membership of 300 in 1922 and only 1,500 by 1925. Cambridge University Press. Soong A Register of His Papers in the Hoover Institution Archives, "China Without Tears: If Chiang Kai-Shek Hadn't Gambled in 1946", "Pomfret, John (October 2, 2009). By late 1949 the People's Liberation Army was pursuing remnants of KMT forces southwards in southern China, and only Tibet was left. The charismatic style of leadership of Mao Zedong created a "unity of purpose" and a "unity of command" which the KMT lacked.
[2003] (2003). During the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan, KMT troops, who couldn't retreat to Taiwan, were left behind and allied with local bandits to fight a guerrilla war against the Communists. However, the KMT had to defend the country against the main Japanese campaigns, since it was the legal Chinese government, a factor which proved costly to Chiang Kai-shek and his troops. Associated Press. The unfinished nature of the [109], At the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in 1946, Mao Zedong began to push for a return to radical policies to mobilize China against the landlord class, but protected the rights of middle peasants and specified that rich peasants were not landlords. The creation of the PRC also completed the long [48], By late 1948, the CCP eventually captured the northern cities of Shenyang and Changchun and seized control of the Northeast after suffering numerous setbacks while trying to take the cities, with the decisive Liaoshen Campaign. Exacerbating the divisions within China further was that a puppet government, sponsored by Japan and nominally led by Wang Jingwei, was set up to nominally govern the parts of China under Japanese occupation. These undemocratic polices combined with wartime corruption made the [73] Since mainland China's railroad network was underdeveloped, northsouth trade depended heavily on sea lanes. United States. The Seattle Times. [2002] (2002).
Meanwhile, the Communists targeted different groups, such as peasants, and brought them to their side. organization and morale, and large stocks of weapons seized from Japanese [2003] (2003). Japanese surrender set the stage for the resurgence of civil war in China. to the U.S. policy of protecting the Chiang Kai-shek government on Taiwan. A Nation-state by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism. This stage of war is referred to in mainland China and Communist historiography as the "War of Liberation" (Chinese: ; pinyin: Jifng Zhnzhng). In addition, the main KMT forces were preoccupied with annihilating Zhang Guotao's army, which was much larger than Mao's. Isolated Nationalist pockets of resistance remained in the area, but the majority of the resistance collapsed after the fall of Chengdu on 10 December 1949, with some resistance continuing in the far south.[67]. September also saw an unsuccessful armed rural insurrection, known as the Autumn Harvest Uprising, led by Mao Zedong. The fourth campaign (19321933) achieved some early successes, but Chiang's armies were badly mauled when they tried to penetrate into the heart of Mao's Soviet Chinese Republic. Japanese occupation (red) of eastern China near the end of the war, and Communist bases (striped), Under the terms of the Japanese unconditional surrender dictated by the Allies, Japanese troops were to surrender to KMT troops but not to the CCP, which was present in some of the occupied areas. Modern Chinese Warfare, 17951989. [90], Historian Odd Arne Westad says the Communists won the Civil War because they made fewer military mistakes than Chiang Kai-shek and also because in his search for a powerful centralized government, Chiang antagonized too many interest groups in China. process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution of 1911. ", Levine, Steven I. supplies in Manchuria. Knowing their disadvantages in manpower and equipment, the CCP executed a "passive defense" strategy. Clausen, Sren. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [66], On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China with its capital at Beiping, which was returned to the former name Beijing. [46], Chiang Kai-shek's forces pushed as far as Chinchow (Jinzhou) by 26 November 1945, meeting with little resistance. The march ended when the CCP reached the interior of Shaanxi. [61] The PLA suffered heavy casualties while securing Zhangjiakou, Tianjin along with its port and garrison at Dagu and Beiping. Both leaders knew that a deadly battle had begun between themselves.[36]. Beijing: People's Liberation Army Press. [113] [43] He therefore made a deal with the Soviets to delay their withdrawal until he had moved enough of his best-trained men and modern material into the region. [38] In Manchuria, however, where the KMT had no forces, the Japanese surrendered to the Soviet Union. In the Chinese Civil War after 1945, the economy in the ROC areas collapsed because of hyperinflation and the failure of price controls by the ROC government and financial reforms; the Gold Yuan devaluated sharply in late 1948[101] and resulted in the ROC government losing the support of the cities' middle classes. Because the work teams did not involve villagers in the process, however, rich and middle peasants quickly returned to power. Following the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the 1911 Revolution, Sun Yat-sen assumed the presidency of the newly formed Republic of China, and was shortly thereafter succeeded by Yuan Shikai. A Chinese Muslim Hui cavalry regiment, the 14th Tungan Cavalry, was sent by the Chinese government to attack Mongol and Soviet positions along the border during the Pei-ta-shan Incident. During these campaigns, KMT columns struck swiftly into Communist areas, but were easily engulfed by the vast countryside and were not able to consolidate their foothold. plan for their efforts to retake the mainland. Trade Unions in China: 1949 To the Present. place to claim that territory. Trumans desire to prevent the Korean conflict from spreading south led Chiang refused to ally with the CCP, preferring to unite China by eliminating the warlord and CCP forces first. [41] Battles between the two sides continued even as peace negotiations were in progress, until the agreement was reached in January 1946. Stevenson, John. China. Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, Inner Mongolian People's Republic (19451945), Proclamation of the People's Republic of China, the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan, Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (19501958), Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion, Chinese Land Reform Mass killings of landlords, List of wars involving the People's Republic of China, Campaign to suppress bandits in northeast China, Campaign to suppress bandits in southwestern China, Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Eastern China, "Milestones: 19451952 - Office of the Historian", "Harry S Truman, "Statement on Formosa," January 5, 1950", "Why China-Taiwan Relations Are So Tense", "Milley: China Wants Capability to Take Taiwan by 2027, Sees No Near-term Intent to Invade", "China able to take on Taiwan, allies by 2027: MND", "A Chinese invasion of Taiwan: Too costly to countenance? [44] The truce fell apart in June 1946 when full-scale war between CCP and KMT forces broke out on 26 June 1946. President Harry S. Truman was very clear about what he described as "using the Japanese to hold off the Communists." The Communists were able to gain popular legitimacy for their actions as long as they were carrying out resistance against Japan with greater aggressiveness than the KMT government, and this advantage was utilized by the Communists as seen in the New Fourth Army Incident.