The War Against the Warlords to the Start of Civil War

The War Against the Warlords to the Start of Civil War

In 1911 the last Chinese emperor (who was only six years old) was overthrown in a revolution by the Chinese Nationalists who were led by Sun Yat-sen. This ended centuries long rule of China by an imperial dynasty. However, it was virtually impossible for the new government based in Peking to control such a huge country. The population was almost 400 million (about a quarter of the world’s population) but with many living at only subsistence level and culturally there was a general resistance to western ideas. China basically descended into local areas as warlords divided up the country into local, independent kingdoms with locally recruited peasants acting as private armies to control these separate areas.

In 1917 the Nationalists (or Kuomintang/GMD) established their own government in Canton in southern China, with the main aim of unifying China. Sun Yat-sen was impressed with what the Communists had achieved in Russia since the 1917 Revolution and in 1921 he allied with the new Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP had used Russian Communists to help train their soldiers and Mao Tse-tung was one of the first important members of the Chinese Communist Party. Unlike those in the communist party that followed Marxist ideas (that a revolution would be lead in urban areas by the industrial proletariat) he argued that in China a communist revolution would be lead by the peasantry. In 1924 Sun Yat-sen’s three principles were endorsed: Nationalism, Democracy, Socialism.

In 1925 Sun Yat-sen died and the leadership of the Kuomintang passed to Chiang Kai-shek. In 1926 Chiang-Kai-shek led a Northern March to overthrow the warlords which was successful within two years when Peking was taken. He started modernising central China with new railways, roads and factories. However, he did not share out the land, which had been a major aim of Sun Yat-sen’s and his ruling style was dictatorial.

But Chiang Kai-shek was also less supportive of communism compared to Sun Yat-sen. Many Kuomintang officers were landlords or came from the business classes and they were scared that Communism would take away their wealth and status. By 1927 many warlords had been defeated and Chiang now turned his attention against the Communists. Chiang Kai-shek got rid of communists in the Kuomintang and several of their leaders were killed. Mao Tse-tunghimself was imprisoned. This began a critical and increasingly hostile relationship between the Nationalists and Communists which lasted for over twenty years in a bitter Civil War for the majority of that time.

1.Which of Sun Yat-sen’s “Three Principles” match the policies below?

a.people voting for their government and an elected Parliament

b.land shared out among the peasants

c.no foreign influence in Chinese affairs and China ruling itself

2.What were some of the reasons why many of the Kuomintang officers were against the Communists?

Changing Relations Between the Communists and Nationalists

Mao Tse-tunghad been imprisoned but he escaped, rebuilt the Communist Party and organised its support – especially in rural areas. In 1929 Mao and Chou En-lai formed a ChineseSovietRepublic in southern China. Japan invaded China in 1931 but Chiang Kai-shek was more concerned about the communist threat and he began a major military campaign against the Communists. He agreed to a truce with the Japanese (whereas the Communists were to declare war on the Japanese in 1932) and his forces tried to drive the Communist forces out of their bases. Chiang Kai-shek’s forces also received military aid and advice from Nazi Germany as part of Hitler’s anti-communist beliefs. By 1934 the Communists had decided they should leave the Kiangsi area and head across the mountains of western China to another Communist area in the north. The Communists broke through Chiang’s lines and the Communist Red Army made their celebrated Long March to establish communist bases in the Yenan region.

The Long March was an extraordinary military event. For more than a year Mao marched around 100,000 Red Army soldiers over 9000 kilometres, fighting a guerrilla campaign against the Nationalists troops on the way. The route was through difficult mountainous country and many died on the march. In some ways it was a failure as the Red Army lost 80% of its men. On the other hand it was a huge propaganda success. During the march the Red Army spread Communist ideas among the peasants and Mao Tse-tung became well known.

1.Why could both the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang claim that the Long March was a success?

The Communists, Nationalists and Japanese at War

In 1937 Japan invaded more of China, taking advantage of the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Initially Chiang ignored the Japanese and concentrated on destroying the Communists. However Chiang’s officers forced him to join with the Communists to fight the Japanese. There was a truce and the Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communists ended as they both fought the Japanese together – an agreement which became known as the Second United Front.

The well-equipped Japanese army moved through the Chinese Nationalists and forced them into the mountains of Sichuan. As the Kuomintang retreated they destroyed crops, villages and equipment. This policy brought poverty and hardship to millions of Chinese peasants, but it failed to stop the Japanese who also had good supply links by rail and sea. During the Second World War, Chiang began to get support from Japan’s enemies to help him in the war against Japan. The British sent millions of tons of supplies up the Burma Road and when the Japanese cut off this supply route, the USA sent in supplies by air. However Chiang stored up some of these supplies to use against the Communists for when the Japanese had been defeated. Chiang even used his troops to block supply routes to the Communists instead of attacking the Japanese. The Chinese suffered brutally harsh treatment in areas under Japanese control. Many starved and many were used for slave labour to produce materials for the Japanese war effort. There were harsh and brutal punishments even for minor crimes. Furthermore, those living in Chiang’s areas also suffered harsh conditions. The Kuomintang also suffered from weaker officers and less disciplined forces.

However the Communists seemed more determined to fight the Japanese. Their forces had become increasingly effective under Lin Biao’s leadership with good leaders. Although they had less equipment they had a good knowledge of the countryside. Their methods included cutting telegraph wires, destroying railway lines and taking the Japanese army by surprise with ambushes. Mao also believed that a communist revolution would only occur if they had the support of the peasants. The peasants increasingly supported the Communists. The Red Army lived in villages with the peasants and taught children to spy on the Japanese. The villagers also hid food, equipment and animals from the Japanese, as well as laying mines. As well as fighting, the communists taught them Communist ideas. The Japanese however retaliated to these guerrilla tactics ruthlessly by destroying whole villages and their crops, and over a million peasants were killed.

By 1945 Mao’s forces had succeeded in driving the Japanese out of the countryside and they were restricted to their army bases and the main cities. Suddenly in August 1945 the dropping of two atomic bombs by the USA on Nagasaki and Hiroshima meant a sudden and dramatic end to Japan’s role in World War Two. Chiang’s forces remained mainly in the mountain areas and Mao’s in the countryside.

1.What support did the Allies give China during World War Two?
2.In what ways did the World War Two weaken the influence of the Nationalists?
3.In what ways did the World War Two increase the influence of the Communists?

The Communist Victory

At the end of World War Two both the USA and the USSR wanted to prevent the outbreak of further civil war in China. The Allies, including the USSR wanted Chiang as China’s leader, whilst cooperating and working constructively with Mao’s forces (the Red Army however resented Stalin for not supporting them). However, this strategy was a failure and a brutal civil war started again. Chiang’s eventual failure was to be a severe blow to US foreign policy.

At first Chiang was confident with more men, significant supplies from the USA and control of major urban areas. To the wider world it seemed that the Nationalists would inevitably succeed. However, Mao’s forces continued to adopt the same guerrilla tactics that had been successfully used against the Japanese, and he had the support of the peasants as well as increasingly gaining support from the middle classes and intellectuals who felt that Chiang and his forces were corrupt. The Red Army now took the name “The People’s Liberation Army” (PLA) and by 1947 the Communists made significant progress. Many Nationalist troops and officers began to desert Chiang’s forces for the PLA which became increasingly well equipped. At the same time, the Nationalists made some poor military strategic decisions and US aid stopped in 1947. By mid 1948 all of the important eastern provinces were in Communist hands. By the end of 1949 Shanghai was controlled by the Communists and the Nationalists had been driven out of China altogether.

Chiang escaped to Formosa, what is now Taiwan, (which he ruled until he died in 1975) and in October 1949 Mao declared China a communist republic. To many, this eventual outcome was a major surprise – much of the wider world, including the USSR, had not believed that communism would eventually come to power in China. Stalin, for example, had felt that a successful revolution in China needed to come from the urban areas (as in Russia in 1917), and instead Mao had gained most of his support from the peasants. The USA argued that Mao’s victory was dependent on Soviet support and was concerned that communist governments would now be set up in other parts of south-east Asia. The USA refused to accept the Communists as the rightful Chinese government and in 1950 banned all trade and travel links between the USA and China. The USSR however, saw the establishment of a Chinese communist government as a significant step towards eventual “world revolution”. A “Treaty of Friendship” was agreed whereby the USSR agreed to support China’s development with financial, military and industrial aid. However, this relationship between the USSR and China was not to prove long lasting.

1.Why did the USA support Chiang Kai-shek?
2.Was the USA wrong to view Mao as Stalin’s puppet?
3.Why did the USSR want to support China in the immediate years from 1949?

The Great Leap Forward

When the next Five-Year Plan was started in 1957, Mao stated that it would be “The Great Leap Forward.” One of the main problems still facing China was that although food production had risen, it was still not growing fast enough. Mao believed that a new revolution was improved to inspire the people and improve China at a faster rate. The Great Leap Forward aimed to increase the rate of industrialisation as well as improve agriculture. The central part of this policy was the establishment of People’s Communes.

Mao wanted ordinary people to get involved in small-scale industry. Farmers’ co-operatives and collective farms were merged together to make huge communes of up to 30,000 people. Communes would have both industrial and farming targets to create a powerful industrial nation. The communes were sub-divided into smaller units called “brigades” which would be responsible for small-scale industry. There was more than just economic justification for this plan as family units were now replaced with people living in large barrack style accommodation and eating in large, communal canteens. The communes also included their own health and educational services. By the end of 1959, over 700 million people lived in over 25,000 communes.

However, it was soon clear that the commune system was not the way forward. Many of the goods produced were of low quality, a lot of land was not being harvested (although conditions were also made worse in 1959 with severe floods in some areas and serious droughts in others – leading to starvation in some areas) and there was little incentive for many to work hard or efficiently. Mao himself had to state the Great Leap Forward had been unsuccessful.

In 1960 Mao quarrelled with the new Soviet leader Khrushchev, and the USSR withdrew their advisers. Deng Xiao-ping and Liu Shao-qi moved Mao out of control. He remained Chairman of the Party, but Deng and Liu were now in control. They made the communes smaller and handed land back to peasant ownership. Now that peasants could sell surplus food, there was more incentive to improve food production.

1.Why did Mao introduce the Great Leap Forward?
2.Why was the Great Leap Forward unsuccessful?

The Cultural Revolution

This was launched by Mao to try and capture the momentum of the Communist Revolution. By the mid 1960s Mao was increasingly concerned at the increased wealth of the middle class in urban areas which he believed was at the expense of the peasantry. He also argued that the more moderate leaders were taking China down a capitalist path, rather than maintaining the communist revolution. In 1963 Mao published his famous “Little Red Book” and started a campaign called “Learn from the PLA”, which aimed to spread Maoist ideas from the armed forces. In 1966 posters were produced celebrating Mao’s achievements.

Mao called for the young to rid China of anti-Communist elements and began what he referred to as “The Cultural Revolution.” Deng Xiao-ping and Liu Shao-qi were removed, and for a period of three years the Cultural Revolution took place. Young people (mainly students) formed groups called Red Guards. They were encouraged to denounce parents, teachers and lecturers for being anti-communist, as well as criticising much that was traditional and western. They were given free travel so that they could reach many parts of the country. Factories, offices, schools and universities were attacked by the Red Guards and materials such as books and art that were considered anti-revolutionary were destroyed.

The whole process was out of control by 1967, as the Red Guards basically began taking the law into their own hands and almost one million people had been killed. During the process of the Cultural Revolution any opponents to Mao were imprisoned or completely sidelined. Mao’s “Little Red Book” acquired bible-like status and posters of Mao celebrated his leadership in public places.

However, the process gained so much of its own momentum there was the chance that China could descend into civil war again. Rival groups of Red Guards started in-fighting and Mao started taking measures to end their power and influence. In 1969 Mao officially declared that the Cultural Revolution was over. Afterwards there was a power struggle and Lin Biao plotted to kill Mao, but in 1971 Lin died in a plane crash that was very probably a plot against him. This split the leadership into factions between Deng Xiao-ping and En-lai against Mao and his “Gang of Four”. In 1976 Mao and Chou died and the “Gang of Four” was arrested.

1.Why did Mao introduce the “Cultural Revolution”?
2.What was the role of the Red Guards during the “Cultural Revolution”?
3.Why in 1969 did Mao have to declare that the “Cultural Revolution” was over?

Chinese Foreign Policy

The formation of a communist government in China in 1949 took place during a period of increasingly tense relations between the two Superpowers of the USA and USSR at the start of the Cold War. Although there had been Soviet aid into China in the years after the Second World War there was, for several reasons, an eventual split between the USSR and China.

The USSR:

In many ways the USSR saw China as another satellite, like those in Eastern Europe such as Poland and Hungary. Mao, however, was determined to take a more independent line. In 1956 Khrushchev made a famous speech against Stalin and Mao was against many of Khrushchev’s new ideas. Mao was suspicious of the USSR’s efforts to improve relations with the West and felt Khrushchev’s ideas on peaceful co-existence were wrong. Mao wanted a harder anti-US line, and he also felt insulted that Khrushchev saw the USA and USSR as the only “true superpowers”. The Soviet Union was also concerned at China developing its own nuclear weapons – China was eventually to test its first atomic bomb in 1964. This all led to the USSR and China ending their friendship treaty in 1960. Soviet military and technical aid ended and trade between the two countries was affected. This split was made public in 1963. For the 1960s and 1970s China developed its own foreign policy.