Erick Romero 10/19/14 2A Explain the origin(s) of the Chinese Civil War, and to what extent was the Communist victory due to the use of guerrilla warfare In the early 20th century, China ran into political turmoil. With the revolution in 1911, in which the last dynasty, the Manchu dynasty was overthrown. The new Republic failed to set hold on China and warlord era would start. But China continued to be oppressed by many foreign powers because it lacked a strong central government. The Chinese Civil War was caused by two opposed political parties, the communists and the nationalists, to see who would be able to restore order and regain central power over China to bring it back to its glory.
During the beginning of the 1900s, there were plenty of revolutions and violence that took place. The Chinese revolution in 1911 and Russian Revolution in 1917 shared similar goals, they wanted to end the power of their current leader and establish a new one. For Russia, it was Tsar Nicholas II and for China it was the Qing Dynasty, Russia wanting a functioning communist government and Chinese revolutionaries wanted a democratic government. The first outcome is different in that China relied on agriculture to maintain its economy and Russia relied on industry to fuel its economy. The second outcome of the revolutions was that the countries were dramatically changed, two great powers were stopped and communist leaders eventually took over in the two countries.
When conquering China, the Mongols kicked the bureaucratic elite to the curb, hired new foreign rulers, and eliminated the civil service examinations. On the contrary, the Mongols in Russia weren’t as strict and direct. While Chinese traditions were eliminated, Russian princes were allowed to rule and a whole new dual system of regional administration was set up. Another contrast is centers of power for each state. In China, the main center of commerce was modern day Beijing.
This basic form of opposition was never truly effective as their actions were simply put down by the government partly due to their failure to unite and lack of ideology and political demands. This was, however, not the only internal opposition to Tsar Alexander II with the “Going to the People” movement emerging in 1874. Here young members of the Russia intelligentsia went to the peasants breaching to them about their ideas about how life should be lived. This proved unsuccessful, they failed to appeal to the peasantry and the regime managed to arrest members showing them to be ineffective at this point. However, the populist movement developed from here, eventually splitting into two groups; the Black Partition and the People’s Will.
One third of the total output was going to the military. It was economically impossible for the Soviet Union to increase the share of its output going to the military. The problems all consisted of poor housing, alcoholism, drug abuse, and pollution. All of these things eroded the communist party's social power base. The Gorbackev's attempts were not good enough to get the countries sluggish economy back on track.
Mao adapted Communist ideas to China and he followed in Joseph Stalin’s footsteps by abusing his power and crippling the Chinese in fear with his totalitarian rule. In this essay I will be exploring the factors contributing to one of the biggest disputes in historical knowledge. Was Mao Zedong’s role in achieving communism genuine or has it been exaggerated and morphed by the Asian populations living under absolute despotism. “Idealism is no panacea in a totalitarian regime.” 1 - Quoted by a 20th century philosopher. It wasn’t said about Mao however it adapts to his ideas and aspirations.
The top-down approach the rulers of Russia had in the period 1855-1964 were superficially different as the communists claimed to represent the people by giving power to the proletariat where as the Tsars were heavily elitist in their ideology. The communists’ efforts to represent the people is corroborated by the introduction of the soviet by the Provisional Government, which was organised as a grassroots effort to practice direct democracy. Although the presence of the Zemstva and Duma, introduced by Alexander II and Nicholas II respectively, presents some evidence the Tsars may have attempted to give Russia a sense of democracy, it was ran by the nobility so it was not representative of the people and thus heavily autocratic in their rule. Conversely, although the communists and the Tsars appear to have ruled differently in their top-down approach, they in fact did not because in practice the communists gave an extremely limited extent of power to the proletariat. The Provisional Government’s vacillating rule on the other hand, from heavily autocratic to democratic led to the governments demise.
Lastly, Russia's backward society is one of the main reasons Nicholas II survived after 1905. There were three main groups that opposed the Tsar up until 1905. The Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) was a Marxist political party for the industrial workers in Russia. They disliked the Tsar the most, and wanted to wrest control from him and have Russia become the first communist state in the world. However, there was a dispute on how the party should be run.
In Japan the Meiji restoration had to stop the warring factions and create a single ruler. From ether, the newly centralized government could dictate what had to be done to expand. This new centralization worked extremely well. A major difference is that Russia used foreign loans to build its infrastructure and assets, including railroads and heavy manufacturing. Ordinarily, this would be economic ruin as was the ruse for the Ottoman, but Russia nationalize those, or essentially stole then during the 1917 revolution.
Both the Chinese Triads and the Italian Mafia and Camorra have existed at least since the early 1800s. Triads had their origin in anti-Manchu resistance in China, the term "triad" coming from the three dots which form part of the Chinese character for the Ming Emperor Hung Wu. Triads began as "Men of Hung." They were both part of the political resistance of the Han Chinese to the Manchu dynasty, as well as outlaws who "Ta fu — chih p'in" (Hit the Rich and help the poor). Triads spread all over the world and control much of the illegal and informal economy in overseas Chinese communities.