Summary

Before 1900, China – which had once been the world’s greatest civilisation – seemed in terminal decline … the biggest humiliation having been the Opium Wars, when Britain forced the Chinese government to allow the import of the drug opium. In 1911, a revolution overthrew the emperor, but did not reform the country, which just dissolved into anarchy, when China was controlled by many, quarrelling, local warlords.

Two groups fought to control the warlords and restore a strong centralised government – the Guomindang (GMD or KMT), and the communists (CCP). At first, they co-operated … but when the warlords were defeated, the GMD turned on the Communists and tried to destroy them too. They failed – 18pt ly as a result of the Communists’ heroic, year-long, 6,000-mile ‘Long March’ from Jianxi in the south to Yenan in the north. The Communists were reduced from 100,000 to 20,000 … but they survived, and began to rebuild their forces.

The GMD and the Communists co-operated again, when the Japanese invaded … but it was inevitable that, when the Second World War ended, they would clash again.

Links:

The following websites will help you complete the task:

The Long March:
• The History Learning Site

• gcsehistory.org.uk

• History Today

• wikipedia

• A 10-part US docu-drama (scroll down to the Long March)

GMD leader Chiang Kai-shek began his Extermination and Annihilation Campaigns against the Communists

After the defeat of the warlords, 1921-28, GMD leader Chiang Kai-shek passed the Organic Law, which gave him dictatorial power as Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China

Facing defeat, and trapped in the Jiangxi Soviet, the Communists broke out and (with massive losses) transferred to Yenan

Having successfully annexed Manchuria in 1931, the Japanese invaded China in 1937 (with many atrocities – e.g. the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, Dec 1937); once again, the GMD and the Communists co-operated to face China’s common enemy

The GMD (Guomindang – sometimes KMT: Kuomintang) was formed as a nationalist movement to end the anarchy after 1911

After the death of Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-shek took over leadership of the GMD

At first, the GMD allied with the CCP to destroy the power of the local warlords who had seized power in the anarchy after 1911

The GMD wanted the unity of China under a centralised government, without an emperor

The GMD was supported mainly by the middle class

Rejecting Soviet Communism, which said that the Revolution would be made by the proletariat in the towns, the CCP set up the Jiangxi Soviet in the countryside in 1931

Trapped by GMD forces, the CCP accepted the advice of German military adviser Otto Braun, and broke out and (with massive losses) transferred to Yenan

At the Zunyi Conference, 1935, the CCP rejected the Soviet advisers, who returned home. At this conference, Mao Zedong established himself as leader of the CCP

The CCP wanted a communist government that would drive out China’s invaders

Unlike Soviet communism, which said that the Revolution would be made by the proletariat in the towns, the CCP looked to the peasants in the countryside

After his first four annihilation campaigns failed, Chiang Kai-shek – on the advice of GMD General Leu Wei-yuan – instead encircled the Communists in Jiangxi, seeking to starve them rather than defeat them in battle

A German general advising Chiang Kai-shek, Seeckt advanced slowly, building trenches and blockhouses as he went; by contrast, the Communists preferred frontal assault - in a year, they lost 50% of their territory and 60,000 soldiers dead

Facing defeat, Otto Braun, the German-born Russian agent advising the Communists, advised a breakout to go and join the Communist Second army in Hunan

In August 1934, Mo Xiong, a Communist spy in Chiang Kai-shek’s HQ, sent word that the GMD were planning a major attack on Ruijin, the Communist’s HQ in Jiangxi, making a breakout essential

Chen was a warlord, an ally of the GMD, who was guarding the south-west border of the GMD cordon. However, he did not want to lose his army in a battle, and the Communists negotiated safe passage and broke out

The CCP successfully broke out in October 1934, with 86,000 troops and 11,000 officials, but were attacked by the GMD; 40-50,000 Communists were killed or deserted (leading to the fall of Braun at the Zunyi Conference)

The heroic crossing, led by a suicide mission of 22 soldiers, of a burning suspension bridge across the Dadu river; many historians believe this incident was exaggerated (or even completely made up) for propaganda purposes

Mao’s 1st army joined up with Zhang’s 4th Army, which had advanced from Sichuan; the 4th Army was 18pt r, and Zhang tried to take control. However, he quarrelled with Mao, left and went south, where his army was destroyed

Mao marched north over the mountains; the army was caught in ‘a terrible hailstorm’ and many solders died of the ‘dreadful cold’

A vast grasslands area; the Communists were led by a local guide, many still sank and died in the ‘bottomless pools of mud’

Although the army had been reduced from 100,000 to 20,000, the communists survived and, safe in the north, were able to rebuild and strengthen their forces

At the Zunyi Conference, 1935, the CCP rejected the Soviet advisers, who returned home. During the March, Mao Zedong established himself as unquestioned leader of the CCP – he became ‘a living legend’

In Dec 1935 Mao declared that the Long March was a ‘manifesto’ (proving the heroism of the Red Army), a ‘propaganda force’ (showing the communism was the road to freedom) and a ‘seeding-machine’ (spreading the idea of communism)

Mao won the support of the peasants by issuing rules that the army had to treat civilians with respect; although this was 18pt ly propaganda, and there is evidence that the communists blackmailed, stole from and the people

The experience battle-hardened the Red Army, increased its morale, and helped Mao to develop the guerrilla tactics which would eventually defeat the Japanese and the GMD (and the American in Vietnam)