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.
As many as 750,000 were killed and 1.5 million arrested in a wave of persecution. This undoubtedly demonstrates that violence was a key feature of Communist rule when Mao came to power; something he would justify by saying that it was necessary to secure control over China and eliminate opposition. Centralisation was a strong element in the consolidation of power: control of China was divided up between the main leaders. The country was split into six ‘bureaus’, or districts. The three most important were Manchuria in the north-east controlled Gao Gang; the south-west run by Deng Xiaoping; the south where Lin Biao was in charge.
Mao Zedong was one of the most infamous dictators of the 20th century. His life was twisted and moulded by hatred and disdain for the oppressive Nationalist government he lived under. He swiftly became one of the most evil men to have ruled over the East. His misanthropic ways and voracity for power led to the death of 60 million Chinese citizens from 1949 - 1976. 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.
Conflicting national interest caused relations between the two powers to deteriorate further, as shown in Russia’s decision to double its army along the Russian and Chinese border following the border disputes. Ideological differences however, were still a source of the conflict, as Mao was very critical of Khrushchev and his return to some capitalist ideas. This suggests that it is more likely that the Sino-Soviet split originate from a personal and mutual dislike between the two Communist leaders because of their difference in ideology. Therefore, although the Sino-Soviet split was not solely the result of ideological differences as national interests and the personalities of Mao and Khrushchev were also to blame, ideology was still a
Mao criticised Khrushchev for his policies such as de-Stalinisation and his secret speech. He was also very critical of the policy of Peaceful Coexistence as he believed it was a way of being friendly with the United States (the enemy) and also Mao saw it abandoning millions of comrades struggling to free themselves of capitalist and imperialist oppression. This, therefore, made the USSR an ‘enemy’. How could two countries work together if they had such differing beliefs about how to run their countries? This problem had a big contribution to the split as they couldn’t agree on anything, and if they did, it was because their national interests were at risk.
However, China's revolution differed because the initial democratic establishment led to opposition from the Communist party while the formation of the U.S.S.R faced minimal opposition. In China, the Qing dynasty was ineffective, instead of trying to modernized as early as possible, it squandered what remained of its wealth and in doing so led to heavy losses in influence and power. Similarly, in Russia, The Tsars became ineffective, the decision to enter World War I had brought Russia to its knees socially, politically and economically. The Tsars also faced many scandals that would deface their influence in Russian cities. It was due to these reasons that both China and Russia were seeking to replace the government in power with new ones that would appeal to the population's demands.
Shortly after he was relieved of command which caused a huge public outrage. Negotiation over POW's and stalemate- Negotiating POW's was tricky, each side had their own views however a document called “Terms of Reference” outlined the steps for POW's to be allowed to go free. Once the UN assisted the South Koreans they were able to route them back deep into North Korean territory until the Chinese got involved and pushed them back past Seoul and recaptured the capital a second time. The UN was able to regain the territory recently lost and pushed the North and Chinese forces back across the 38th parallel once
After losing the civil war to Communist Chinese and fleeing to Taiwan in 1949, the nationalist Kuomintang (Also called the KMT) leaders of the Republic of China regarded the Communist Chinese government as illegitimate, claiming the mainland as rightfully their own. (Steinfield) Beijing, in turn, regards Taiwan as a renegade province, and has tried repeatedly to persuade the island to negotiate a return to the idea(Taiwan). The KMT returned to power in 2008 after being in opposition for eight years. During this time President Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party had engaged in policy that widely departed from the KMT, invigorating efforts to seek Taiwan's sovereignty. Current President Ma Ying-jeou takes a decidedly more conciliatory approach; shortly after taking office he declared a "diplomatic truce" with China.
Account for Mao’s Rise to Power and evaluate his impact on Chinese Society Mao Zedong 1893-1976, is considered as a traditional Chinese emperor with Marxist ideas and was the founder of People’s Republic of China in 1949. He led the communist party of China against the GMD to victory, in the Chinese civil war and is considered as one of the most influential and important figure in modern history . However there are critics of his social political programs, such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. These programs caused severe damages on the Chinese Culture, society, economy and their foreign relations and the death of millions of Chinese civilians. After the death of Sun Yat Sen 12th March 1925, Chiang Kai-Shek emerged as the new leader of the GMD.
So instead they supported Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam. Diem was an unpopular leader because he was accused of corruption and torture and failed to win over the peasants. Instead, popular support went to the South Vietnamese Communists, called the Vietcong. They sent in aid and increased the number of military advisers. There were supported by Ho Chi Minh, who was backed by the Soviet Union and China.