China

By simonsalvin
  • Period: to

    Northern Expedition

    • GMD campaign to defeat warlords
    • Worked with CCP in First United Front
    • GMD established control , but many warlords still maintained control of local areas
  • Period: to

    Golden Decade

    Period of political stability, reform, economic growth
    Political violence, military campaigns

  • Blue shirts

    Loyal to Jiang, violent

  • New Life Movement

    Jiang wanted to modernise China, improve public health and bring order
  • Period: to

    Sino-Japanese War

  • Long March

    Retreat of CCP forces who were being attacked in their base.
    About a 10th survived the journey
    Military disaster, but Mao used it to grow support
    Played a key role in communist propaganda, portrayed like an epic struggle

  • Xian Incident

    • Jiang taken prisoner on a visit to Xian, by Zhang Xueliang (the Young Marshal)
    • Communists initially suggested to execute Jiang, but modified their stance under the pressure from Stalin.
    • They demanded that he had to agree to a United Front
    • He verbally accepted and was released
    • Final offensive against the communists was called off

  • The Marco Polo Bridge Incident

    Start of Sino Japanese War

  • The Second United Front

    In immediate aftermath of Marco Polo
    - CCP accepted Jiang's leadership
    - GMD was to cease operations against Communists in Yan'an etc.
    - GMD would end political repression of CCP
    - Financial support from central government to CCP
    - Establishment of National Political Consultative Council (NPCC)
    - It would have 200 members (120 CCP)
    - Had limited power and Jiang remained the autocratic leader
    During the War, CCP too suspicious of Jiang for it to work effectively.
    - Became uncoordinated

  • Rape of Nanjing

    Dec 1937 - Jan 1938
    Japanese Army - mass murder, torture against civilians and prisoners and war
    200,000-300,000 deaths

  • Yellow River Flood

    GMD secretly detonated the dykes of the river
    - Only remaining defence against the Japanese
    - China was struggling up until this point
    - Allowed Chinese forces to retreat to Chongqing
    - GMD never admitted to it
    - 54,000 square km destroyed
    - roughly half a million dead, and 5 million refugees
    - 'sacrifice for a greater victory'
    - Successful in short term (5 months) but didn't solve the fundamental problem

  • Hundred Regiments Offensive 1940

    Launched by communist officers Peng Dehuai and Zhu De
    - Launched against the Japanese in Hebei and Shandong provinces of northern China
    - 22,000 CCP soldiers were killed compared to japanese 3-4,000
    -Lasted until December
    - Last time the CCP would launch an all out attack on the Japanese during the War
    Japanese launched the 'Three-All' in response
    - kill all, burn all, loot all
    - against communists in Shaanxi base area
    - Forced CCP to give up a large part of territory

  • On New Democracy Essay

    Mao's vision for a new socialist China

  • Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour

    Signified war in China becoming part of a larger global conflict
    -US made an alliance with China and Britain
    -US aid was vital in sustaining the GMD's war effort
    -US airbases were set up in China, and weapons and equipment were provided

  • Break of Second United Front

    • Jiang broke it, when he ordered his forces to attack the Communist New Fourth Army in S. China
    • This was because the NFA commander refused to move his forces north like Jiang ordered
    • Communists lost 7000 out of 9000 and were forced to regroup in the North
    • Jiang set up defensive positions around the CCP base area in Yan'an
    • Broken but not completely abandoned
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    Rectification Movement

    • Mao's political campaign in Yan'an to strengthen control
    • Thought reform, purges, established Mao Zedong Thought

  • Ichigo Offensive

    Japanese launched their largest offensive of WW2 (over 500,000 men) to attack American air bases in China
    - Brought major cities in Hunan, Henan and Guangxi under Japanese occupation
    Jiang refused the American request to move NRA forces from the north, where they were blockading the CCP base, to the south, where the Japanese were advancing
    - Signified US becoming annoyed with GMD strategy - US then established direct contact with CCP in 1944.

  • Official CCP history established

  • Hiroshima and Nagasaki

    • US and USSR ended the war with the atomic bomb

  • Friendship Treaty

    USSR recognised GMD as official Chinese government and promised not to intervene when Chinese forces moved to establish control over Tibet

  • China post War

    • Japan occupied some north and central China, cities waiting to surrender
    • GMD controlled S + W from Chongqing capital
    • CCP controlled most countryside in N + NE from Yan'an base
    • USSR Red Army in Manchuria 1945
    • GMD had rights to Japanese surrendered land
    • US transported GMD forces north to do so, into communist areas
    • US took control of Beijing and Tianjin
    • CCP moved into Manchuria

  • End of Wars - International Position

    Wartime alliance gave China more international recognition
    - 1942 - Roosevelt declared China was the US' main ally
    - 1943 - US + Britain gave up all rights of Chinese land. Jiang attended Allied Conference in Cairo with Roosevelt and Churchill. Agreed after defeat of Japan, Manchuria + Taiwan would go back to China
    Not invited to Yalta 1945 - Roosevelt agreed to Soviet Rights in Manchuria, if the USSR rejoined war
    in 1945, when USSR declared war on Japan, Soviet forces overran Manchuria

  • Attempts to avoid a Civil War

    • US and USSR wished to avoid one US ambassador Hurley escorted Mao to talk with Jiang in Chongqing
    • Vital for them to be seen to be peacekeeping
    • There was meant to be a ceasefire during this period, but it wasn't stuck to
    • By Oct they agreed to a democratic system - free elections, release of political prisoners, elections of a National Assembly, unified military force
    • Not easy to sort out, and fighting intensified

  • Outbreak of Civil War

    • Continuation of the fighting since 1927, with the break of the Second United Front
    • Stalin gave weaponry that was confiscated from the Japanese, to the CCP and delayed the withdrawal of Soviet Forces from Manchuria, until April 1946 in order to give the CCP time to establish a strong presence in the countryside

  • Mao Zedong Thought

    Officially established 1945
    Guiding ideology of CCP
    - Peasants as a revolutionary class
    - National self-reliance
    - Continuing revolution
    - Class struggle
    - Learning from the people
    - Mass mobilisation
    - National Revolution

  • Marshall Mission

    • Truman sent Marshall to mediate
    • He persuaded both sides to agree to a ceasefire in January 1946 and pressured Jiang into a conference, but the agreements made there fell apart soon after.
    • When Jiang tried to change the agreement and establish a more autocratic rule, the CCP withdrew their cooperation.
    • GMD continued anyway
    • By Spring, fighting intensified in Manchuria
    • June, Marshall got Jiang to agree to a ceasefire, lasted 15 days.
    • CCP regrouped, for GMD - vital mistake
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    CW phase 1

    • GMD initially forced CCP to defence
    • CCP lost Yan'an base
    • October 1946, GMD offensive against CCP in Manchuria failed to break PLA defences
    • By 1947 Spring, CCP had control of North Manchuria, Lin Biao (PLA commander in Manchuria) adopted a more offensive strategy
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    CW phase 2

    • May 1947 PLA launched full scale attacks on GMD
    • First attcks were unsuccessful, but reduced strength and morale of GMD 1948 - PLA moved from guerilla warfare to traditional battles of infantry and artillery
    • PLA captured Luoyang and Kaifeng (on Yellow River), and made gains in Shandong, threatening GMD positions
    • CCP victories in Manchuria Oct and Nov, isolating GMD from rest of China

  • c. 3,000,000% inflation

  • Period: to

    CW phase 3

    • Beijing captured with little resistance Jan 1949
    • Whole of N. China under CCP
    • Nanjing captured in April, Shanghai, Wuhan - May
    • Guangzhou - Oct, Chongqing and Guizhou taken in Nov
    • Sept, CCP had control of most of China, Mao called a Political Consultative Conference in Beijing
    • Elected new members of central govt of PRC
    • Jiang fled to Taiwan
    • 1st October - establishment of PRC

  • China post CW

    • Division in CCP controlled areas - old (where CCP had strong peasant support and control over local govt) and new (hostile to CCP, governed by Military Control Commissions in the early years of CCP rule) liberated areas
    • Low industrial production (44% of 1937)
    • Low food production (30% below 1937) - food shortages
    • Power shortages in cities
    • Trade declined