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Frustration with the Qing Dynasty
Frustrated by the Qing court's resistance to reform and by China's weakness, young officials, military officers, and students began to advocate the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the creation of a republic. They were inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-sen. This allowed him to gain ahold of some of the Chinese people. -
WuChang Uprising
Having carved out their individual spheres of influence, countries such as the United Kingdom and France built numerous railways over the Qing government's protests. In May 1911 the Qing government ordered the nationalization of railway lines, previously paid for by local private investors, in order to pay for the indemnities imposed by the Boxer Protocol. -
Mutiny by the New Army
The modernized New Army in Wuchang staged a mutiny. While the New Army belonged to the Qing government, it had already been infiltrated by the then exiled Sun Yat-sen's anti-Qing allegiance. -
Last Emperor falls from Power
The Xinhai Revolution, or the Hsin-hai Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and established the Republic of China. -
Mao Zedong's communist party gains power
Thus increasing Japanese power in China, in 1919 Chinese protesters began calling for a stronger more independent China. Some impressed by the result of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Mao Zedong was the led of Communists. He gained support for Communists cause in southeastern China by redistributing land to the peasants and offering them schooling and health care. -
May Fourth Movement
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement began as a response to the terms imposed on China by the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I, but quickly became a protest movement about the domestic situation in China. The discrediting of liberal Western philosophy amongst Chinese intellectuals was followed by the adoption of more radical lines of thought. This in turn planted the seeds for the irreconcilable conflict between the left and right in China that would dominate Chinese history for the rest of t -
Setting the Stage for War
In the 1920s, Sun Yat-sen established a revolutionary base in south China, and set out to unite the fragmented nation. With assistance from the Soviet Union (themselves fresh from a socialist uprising), he entered into an alliance with the fledgling Communist Party of China. After Sun's death from cancer in 1925, one of his protégés, Chiang Kai-shek, seized control of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party or KMT) and succeeded in bringing most of south and central China together. -
The Long March
The Long March was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) army.The Long March began Mao Zedong's ascent to power, whose leadership during the retreat gained him the support of the members of the party. -
Japan Invades China suspending the Civil War
Both parties suspended fighting to form a Second United Front to focus their energies and fighting against the Japanese.In 1944 Japan launched its last major offensive, Operation Ichi-Go, against the KMT that severely weakened Chiang Kai-shek's forces. -
Communists seize China
The Chinese Civil War (1927–1950) was a civil war in China fought between forces loyal to the government of the Republic of China led by the Kuomintang (KMT) and forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The communists won and seized Chinese government.
