In 1925, after Sun Yat-sen’s death, Chiang Kai-shek took over the nationalist and realized the communist were getting stronger. He thought with his followers that the communist would take their power and wealth. In 1927, the warlord era ended, and Chiang turned his back on the communist. Many communist leaders were killed and imprisoned. Mao Zedong escaped imprisonment and helps rebuild a stronger communist party in China.
During these years, which mark the first in Mao’s reign as leader in China, there were a number of key features of Communist rule in China, notably land reform, economic policies, as well as violence. In this essay, I intend to argue that violence was a key feature, but that there are other factors that could be described as being ‘key’ also. Mao’s immediate aim upon coming to power was to gain control of the cities, where the GMD had been at its strongest. He was determined to stamp out any remaining support for the GMD and ordered massacres of suspects. 65,000 people were killed in Guangzhou and 28,000 in Shanghai.
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 Japanese attacked China when it was weak. They invaded Manchuria on September 18th, 1931. China was going through a depression, like the United States, so they were an easy target for the Japanese. During this time, Russia is a strong alley with China and so they are outraged at the attacks against China. The United States was an alley with Russia so therefore, they wanted to protect China as well.
On October 16th 1934 Mao, Lin Biao, Zhu De, and 80,000 communist headed towards the west through mountainous areas. The march These marchers travelled under severe conditions and marched about 8,000 miles in total and according to the Geoff Stewart’s works, only 5,000-6,000 of the original 80.000 survived. Despite the losses, this event was seen as heroic for the Chinese, and was later used by Mao for propaganda to boost communism in China. The Japanese Army invaded China in 1937. This weakened the position of Chiang and the GMD, as they were fighting two fights at the same time.
Why did the communists win the Chinese civil war? On October 1st, 1949, Mao Zedong declared The People’s Republic of China from Tiananmen, the gate to the Forbidden City, thus announcing the victory of the Chinese Communist Party over the Guómíndǎng, the Nationalists. The violence between the two parties had began in 1927, and had included short periods of strained collaboration, before the conflict became critical between 1925 and 1929. Due to the initial military and political dominance of the ruling GMD, Communist victory was not a foregone conclusion. In spite of this, the CCP managed to secure victory due to a combination of their strengths and their opposition’s shortcomings.
How successful was the Nationalist Party (GMD) in solving China’s domestic problems 1925-37? In 1928, after the defeat of the Warlords the Guomindang announced that they were the new legitimate government of China. Chiang the leader of the GMD, started to solve domestic problems by trying to get resolve the main issues: removing foreign influence, gaining central control, improving the economy and increasing people’s welfare. He introduced a series of reforms based on accomplishing ‘the three principles of the people.’ As well as creating the ‘New Life Movement’ in 1934 which was aimed at improving the living conditions of the Chinese people. However, Chiang and the GMD failed to gain population which was due to the lack of help and improvement towards the living standards of the millions of peasants in China, showing the GMD was only representative of minority groups and never fully solved all domestic problems in the country.
Another key impact of the Long March was that Moa Zedong was re-established as the unchallenged leader of the CCP. The cowardliness of his guerrilla tactics during the extermination campaigns had meant that he was replaced for a short time by Otto Braun. However Braun allowed the communists to carry too much equipment, and led the retreat in a straight line, making them slower and easier to attack. He was blamed for their huge losses, and leadership was soon handed back to Mao. After the success of the march, his tactics were forgotten and he was hailed as a great hero.
In the 19th and 20th century, China was often oppressed by imperialism, national weakness, and civil war. In 1949, Mao Zhedong, founded the People's Republic of China. After that “The Great Leap Forward” and “Cultural Revolution,” were two movements that brought China into extreme poverty and turmoil. Until the eighties, China adopted its policies of reform and expanded to guarantee the steady development of society. Today, China doesn’t join any wars in the world and makes efforts to improve relationships with neighboring countries.
Her use of Naval funds to build her summer palace affected China's naval strength and helped to cause her defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). However, Cixi herself declared reforms after the Boxer Rebellion (1900). But her purpose was to strengthen the Manchu regime in the face of growing discontent and an approaching revolution rather than from any ideological intentions to modernise China. Because of her ignorant and blindly anti-foreign persuasions, she believed in the magic power of the Boxers and encouraged their anti-foreign activities. This led to the Eight Power Expedition (1900) to Beijing and the harsh terms of the subsequent Boxer Protocol.