The Chinese Civil War - Summary History Special Subject PDF

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2012/13

Mr. O’Sullivan: IB History

The Chinese Civil War Glossary of Terms CCP – Chinese Communist Party PLA - People’s Liberation Army (army of Communist Party) KMT – Kuomintang (Chinese nationalist government) NRA – National Revolutionary Army (Chinese nationalist army)

When the Communists came to power in China it was the culmination of more than thirty years of warfare. For centuries China had been subjected to the subjugation of foreign powers. By the end of the 19 th century there was a strong nationalist mood in China, directed against foreign powers who were exploiting their commercial privileges.

The Fall of the Qing Dynasty and the rise of the generals After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 China was governed by a general, Yuan Shikai until his death in 1916. By 1919 China was being fought over by rival warlords. The Kuomintang (KMT), a nationalist party led by Sun Yat Sen, was determined to restore China’s self respect as a nation. The Chinese Communist Party Founded in 1921 under the influence of Russian Communists. In the early 1920s it co-operated with the KMT of Sun Yat Sen. However, by the early 1930s the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) was determined to seize power for itself. Anti-Japanese feeling One of the most powerful currents in Chinese political thought was anti-Japanese sentiment. Long before the 1931 invasion of Manchuria, Japan had been asserting its increasing power in the region. In 1925 Sun Yat Sen died, and the leadership of the KMT was taken over by Chiang Kai-Shek. The National Revolutionary Army(National Front) This was launched in July 1926 in Guangdong province. It included elements of both the CCP and the KMT. One of the CCP leaders, Mao Tse-Tung, wanted a peasant-based revolutionary movement to take power from below. However the KMT suspected this strategy, fearing excessive Russian influence, and emphasised nationalism over class revolution. The break between the CCP and the KMT In March 1927 the KMT captured Nanjing and Shanghai, breaking with the Communists. On 1 August 1927 Communists retaliated by capturing the town of Nanchang. This was later celebrated by the Communists as the founding date of the PLA (Peoples’ Liberation Army.) The KMT take-over In June 1928 Beijing fell to the KMT, which proclaimed a new national government based on Nanjing. By 1930 the KMT controlled the eastern seaboard of China, and some of the major cities and lines of transportation. But, the KMT’s power was very weak in the countryside.

2012/13

Mr. O’Sullivan: IB History The KMT’s attempt to destroy the CCP (1930-1)

Chiang Kai-Shek realised that war with Japan over Manchuria was looming, and so wanted to destroy the Communists as soon as possible.  In October 1930 the KMT sent an army to root out the CCP in Oyuwan and Jangxi provinces. However, this expedition failed. The CCP showed itself to be determined and capable of subsisting on the land in extreme conditions. The Japanese invasion In 1931 Japanese forces invaded Manchuria, ostensibly to protect the Japanese leas-hold of the Liaotung Peninsula, where the South Manchurian Railway was located. This decision was taken by the Japanese army, which wanted its government to take a more expansionist foreign policy. Japanese forces were able to exploit the divisions between the Chinese, and took over Manhuria within a matter of weeks. May 1932 – Chinese-Japanese truce arranged, which gave Japan de fact control of Manchuria. This enabled Chiang Kai Shek to renew his military efforts against the Communists. The renewal of war between the KMT and the CCP October 1932 – Chang Kai-Shek sends an army of 750,000 to destroy the Communists in the south of China. Different tactics: 

The CCP was a light guerilla army.



The KMT decided to flood Jiangxi province with soldiers and build fixed fortifications to control the area.

The “Long March” Summer 1934: Russian military advisers urged the PLA to leave a rearguard in place, and pull the majority of its forces out of Jiangxi. Thousands of PLA soldiers died holding the line, including Mao’s brother and two of his sons. 100,000 followers broke out of Jiangxi, led by Mao and his followers. This became known as “The Long March”. During the march to the south and west, 70,000 of Mao’s army was lost. Of the remaining 30,000, two-thirds perished during the great retreat into western China. This was a disastrous retreat for Mao, which the PLA later portrayed as a heroic recruitment drive and a return to the movement’s peasant base. In actual fact the peasants did not flock to Mao’s cause. The consequences of “The Long March” for the CCP and the PLA 1. Negative  

Mao had lost much of his military resources, tens of thousands of soldiers and equipment. The CCP had also lost its entire urban base.

2. Positive

2012/13

Mr. O’Sullivan: IB History  

Mao was able to stamp his authority over the CCP. Those who survived were dedicated to him. His political rivals, who had advocated an urban-based strategy, were killed in the fighting against the KMT. The recovery of the PLA and CCP

The three-phase revolutionary war: After the Long March, Mao formulated a new strategy for re-asserting CCP and PLA power. The basic principles were that war was a political instrument, and that education of local populations was essential to their support and protection. In Mao’s theory, peasant support was the pre-requisite of all grassroots action. High moral standards were expected from revolutionary soldiers: no murder, rape or theft. First Phase: Indoctrination of the civilian population, and the development of local party cadres, capable of launching independent, local attacks, such as sabotage and assassination. Objective: to reduce the credibility of the regime and destabilise the countryside. Second Phase: The establishment of fixed guerilla bases, to enable organised forces to attack enemy soldiers. Attacks are always to be made by superior numbers against smaller enemy forces. Objective: to make enemy forces unsafe, to create no-go areas and to provide secure areas from which to launch further attacks. The regime to be demoralised by repeated attacks and the loss of soldiers. Third Phase: Full national revolution. The rebel force is sufficiently strong and well organised, with enough popular support, to launch a full-scale war against the government. Objective: military victory leading to national revolution. Reasons for the survival of the CCP/PLA By 1936 Mao’s forces were confined to their mountain strongholds on the Mongolian border. The KMT was prevented from achieving a final victory by the resurgence of conflict with Japan. 

A clash between Chinese and Japanese troops in the demilitarised zone near Beijing resulted in an outbreak of full scale war. By August more than 2 million Chinese and Japanese soldiers were fighting for control of Shanghai.

Nationalist and Communist coalition against Japan From 1936 the rivalries between the KMT and the CCP were sublimated into the national resistance against Japan. The two main periods of fighting in China were in 1937-9, when Japan took over much of northern and eastern China, and from May 1944, when it advanced into Southern China to attempt to take control of the rail connections. During the Chinese-Japanese war, the CCP succeeded in taking over much of central China, based on its own base in Yenan. The CCP was helped by the fact that Japan concentrated on the defence of Manchuria against possible Soviet attack, and the maintenance of its authority on the eastern seaboard against the nationalists. The KMT bore the brunt of the war effort against Japan, and suffered the loss of its authority on the eastern seaboard. Economic collapse: During WW II China endured a grave economic collapse. By 1945 China’s currency had lost 98% of its pre-war value relative to the $US.

2012/13

Mr. O’Sullivan: IB History Japanese surrender

In 1945, following Japan’s surrender, the KMT became the internationally recognised government of China. The KMT had the largest army, and its tenure of power seemed to be secure. August 1945 – USSR invades Manchuria, in accordance with the Yalta Treaty agreement that it would attack Japan three months after the defeat of Nazi Germany. Stalin’s objective was to gain control of the industrial plant of Manchuria. Although the US command in the pacific wanted the Japanese forces to surrender only Chinese nationalists, many in fact surrendered to the Communists, who were able to take over their weapons. In November 1945 the Soviet forces withdrew from Manchuria, further strengthening the grip of the KMT government. The renewal of Civil War 

Whereas Mao had hoped that the Soviet invasion would be the precursor to major Soviet support for the Communists, he was seriously disappointed. Whereas the Soviets were unwilling to intervene directly in favour of the CCP, the Americans openly backed the KMT.



May 1946 – Truman persuades the KMT to halt its attacks on the Communists in Manchuria



Some critics of Truman and Chai-Shek argued that they should have taken the opportunity to destroy the CCP in Manchuria when they had the chance. Certainly, Manchuria did form the base of the CCP operations, but whether the KMT could have destroyed it is a matter of speculation.

The final phase of the war, 1946-9 In 1946 Chiang Kai-Shek ordered a massive assault on the Communist forces in Manchuria. 5 million men were sent into the region. The KMT forces were very well equipped with US weaponry.  

165 Communist held towns fell to the KMT in 1946. Yenan, the communist capital, fell in March 1946.

Why did the tide of the war change?    

The KMT government was corrupt and highly unpopular. China’s economy was falling apart. The areas on which the KMT had relied had suffered devastation by the Japanese army. The CCP and PLA were able to mobilise the peasants in a war of liberation. The Communists launched a series of highly effective counter-offensives.

The Communist counter-offensives

2012/13

Mr. O’Sullivan: IB History

In December 1947 600,000 men attacked KMT positions in Manchuria, in a series of well planned and well co-ordinated offensives. The PLA was able to concentrate large numbers of men – as many as 500,000 – in a single attack. By the beginning of 1949 the Communists controlled most of China north of the Yantze river.

October 1949: Creation of the People’s Republic of China. Chiang Kai-Shek and the nationalist forces fled to Taiwan, along with the KMT army, air force and gold reserves.

1. Reasons for Communist success in 1949:    

high morale among the Communists mobilisation of the peasantry through indoctrination of Communist thought. a clear political and military strategy determination to achieve a final military victory

2. Reasons for nationalist failure   

The KMT was a disunited force, crippled by serious rivalry between its commanders. The KMT was corrupt and widely disliked by the masses of Chinese. The long years of war against the Japanese had crippled the industrial economy of China’s urban areas and eastern seaboard, on which the nationalists had relied for their war effort.

Models for Understanding the Chinese Revolutionary War

1. War of Liberation Throughout much of the 1930s and 1940s both the KMT and the CCP turned their attention against the Japanese. 2. Civil War During the final phase of the war (1946-9) the main axis of conflict was between two massive armies, involving millions of Chinese. 3. Revolutionary War Chinese communist victory in 1949. An ideological triumph for Communism against the capitalist-nationalist forces of the KMT.

Timeline of the Chinese Civil War...