Alexander CekalaWhat was the Chinese Civil War
Todays history post is going to deal with a part of history that I actually know very little about...the Chinese Civil War and the creation of the People's Republic of China.
The Start of Soviet Involvement:
The Chinese nationalists wanted to defeat warlords who had seized control of parts of Northern China and to do so they tried to enlist foreign aid.
When the West remained aloof they turned to the Soviet's, who decided to support both them and the communist party of China and accept whoever of the two was victorious.
At first the Soviet's aimed to unify the two groups and the Comintern (the body which aided foreign communists) adviced communist party members to join the nationalist party, as long as they maintained their party identity at the same time.
A United Front was formed.
The Split and Beginnings of Hostility:
This United Front began an expedition against the Northern warlords. CHiang, the nationalists leader then imposed restrictions on communists taking leader positions in the party. The Nationalists then began a full scale crack down on communists.
The comintern now called for armed insurrection against the Nationalists. An uprising took place, but failed and the Nationalist secured control of China.
A second uprising established Communist control of some areas of China and the Nationalists were unable to unseat them for some time, until finally they forced them into fully fledged retreat, where the nationalists pursued the communists across 6000 km.
The Second United Front and further hostilities:
When Japan invaded China the Nationalists and Communists formed another United Front, which lasted a while before disintegrating. The war against Japan was extremely costly, especially to the Nationalists.
The Communists were now provided arms by the Soviets and they trained masses of peasant troops.
With popular support behind them the Communists were able to take a strong position despite the amount of territory controlled by the Nationalists and the amount of international aid they were receiving.
The End
The People's Republic of China was declared and further campaigns forced the Nationalists to retreat to Taiwan. The war was now effectively over, although the Cold War did give it some continuing relevance.
Well, hopefully I've managed to enlighten someone else besides myself.
Adam
The Start of Soviet Involvement:
The Chinese nationalists wanted to defeat warlords who had seized control of parts of Northern China and to do so they tried to enlist foreign aid.
When the West remained aloof they turned to the Soviet's, who decided to support both them and the communist party of China and accept whoever of the two was victorious.
At first the Soviet's aimed to unify the two groups and the Comintern (the body which aided foreign communists) adviced communist party members to join the nationalist party, as long as they maintained their party identity at the same time.
A United Front was formed.
The Split and Beginnings of Hostility:
This United Front began an expedition against the Northern warlords. CHiang, the nationalists leader then imposed restrictions on communists taking leader positions in the party. The Nationalists then began a full scale crack down on communists.
The comintern now called for armed insurrection against the Nationalists. An uprising took place, but failed and the Nationalist secured control of China.
A second uprising established Communist control of some areas of China and the Nationalists were unable to unseat them for some time, until finally they forced them into fully fledged retreat, where the nationalists pursued the communists across 6000 km.
The Second United Front and further hostilities:
When Japan invaded China the Nationalists and Communists formed another United Front, which lasted a while before disintegrating. The war against Japan was extremely costly, especially to the Nationalists.
The Communists were now provided arms by the Soviets and they trained masses of peasant troops.
With popular support behind them the Communists were able to take a strong position despite the amount of territory controlled by the Nationalists and the amount of international aid they were receiving.
The End
The People's Republic of China was declared and further campaigns forced the Nationalists to retreat to Taiwan. The war was now effectively over, although the Cold War did give it some continuing relevance.
Well, hopefully I've managed to enlighten someone else besides myself.
Adam
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
The Communists would have later crushed the Nationalists but the Cold War (The fight between America - capitalist - and the Soviets - communist) meant that the American's stopped the Chinese from doing this (they supplied arms to Taiwan, stationed battle ships and at times threatened nuclear annihalation of the world to do so).
During the early parts of the Cold War China was much less powerful and to some degree relied on Soviet protection from America and later American fear of the Soviet's and at that stage maybe things could have changed. Now, though, while America still protects Taiwan I see it as extremely unlikely that small Taiwan could affect China, especially as America's involvement is not very likely at all considering CHina's near-superpower status and I don't believe a revolution would return the Nationalists to power.
Still, the whole Taiwan situation does have some relevance, especially as a lot of that is my opinions and my projections, as it is in the future and I have no way of knowing for sure.
Adam
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Adan