With the start of having brief knowledge of events about the Chinese Civil War, through the useful sources available in libraries and such, it gave some in depth details of each significant event that happened during the war and thus, with some pages found in specifically focusing on the end of the war, reasons of the victory were as well analyzed. Therefore, the reasons of Mao’s victory could be clearly related to the outcome of the war; the Mao and the CCP defeated the KMT and established the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Towards the end of the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong was able to defeat the Nationalists Party (KMT) which was under Chiang Kai-Shriek. Several reasons have lied upon the triumph of the CCP. Mao and his party were capable of gaining support from the majority of the population through their restrained land policies; they were also able to take advantage of KMT weaknesses, in addition to their complete dedication during the years.
{408 words}
Body
Throughout the history of China, the civil strife in China had marked a significant event. With two parties established; the Nationalist known as Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), conflicts between them began to erupt due to their difference in beliefs when CCP began to question to morality of democracy and capitalism. This led to the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949). Although many see that, “early in the civil war it looked as though the Nationalists might prevail. They controlled key cities, their well-equipped troops far outnumbered Communist troops, and they had support from the United States,” (Tamura 180) the outcome of the war was not what everyone thought to be due to many reasons.
However, soon after the first year of fighting, KMT’s weaknesses began to provoke. Not only because “eight years of war with Japan had drained the strength and morale of the Nationalists forces” (Tamura 180) but it was also because of the CCP’s ability to identify and take advantage of KMT’s weaknesses. By this time, there was a widespread corruption in the military that led many soldiers to desert. It was said that “what finally undermined the Nationalist government was not war or politics but economics… the single most powerful reason for the failure of the KMT government was inflation.” (Lynch 59) The inflation rate increased from $2060 in 1937 to $374,762,200 in 1948. This led them to be in impossible positions to pay both domestic and foreign debts. Money became increasingly worthless due to a poor decision made by Chiang’s government; printing vast amounts of new money to finance its war against the communists. This not only led to its armies being poorly paid but also drove millions into abject poverty. By 1949, China’s monetary system had collapsed, the government was discredited, and the people of Nationalist China were demoralized and troops began to lean onto the communists.
There was a critic of Chiang and the Nationalists Party by General Joseph Stilwell, the American wartime liaison officer and he stated in 1943 when he was in a position to observe the situation in China at first hand. He stated: “I judge Kuomintang and Communist Party by what I saw: KMT: Corruption, neglect, chaos, economy, taxes, words and deeds. Hoarding, black market, trading with the enemy. Communist program… reduce taxes, rents, interest. Raise production and standard living. Participate in government. Practice what they preach.” (Lynch 58) With this quote giving the purpose of informing the public what the general observe, we could also tell the values of this source. Being a primary source, this source gave us a view of what did the outsider observe during the time. In addition, as this was said by an American general who observed the situation in China at first hand, this source could be reliable and this shows the American’s point of view of their stand. However, as this information was only given by a person, therefore we could not say that his saying has represented America as a whole. Furthermore, the quote may be bias in a sense that during that time the Americans sided with the CCP, therefore, in his saying, he stated only the negatives of the KMT and the positives of the CCP.
One of the crucial factors that led to the Communist’s triumph was the little or no effort the KMT has put into resisting the Japanese. During that time, the Japanese occupied Manchuria and was ready to bring the neighboring provinces under their control. However, Chiang Kai Shriek believed that it was “more important to destroy the communists than to resist the Japanese.” (Lowe 409) Therefore, he moved into the south to attack Mao and the communists instead. With this decision, many of his own troops turned against him and imprisoned him. He was then forced to agree to the formation of a fresh alliance with the CCP and a national front against the Japanese. This brought many advantages for the CCP. Firstly, the KMT extermination campaigns had to cease for the time being, while the CCP was secure in its Shensi base. When the war broke out with Japan, the KMT were quickly defeated and they retreated westwards while the Japanese took control most of the east. With the communists, undefeated in its base, they used their effective guerrilla tactics against Japanese troops and after the Japanese were defeated, they captured new territory. Along with the corruption in government and the poor decisions made by KMT’s government, it has undermined the support for the KMT throughout the nation.
Nevertheless, with KMT’s weaknesses, Mao Zedong and the communists were able to gain support through their land reform policies which benefited the mass majority of the populations, the fulfillment of the three Principles of the People, Mao’s leadership and the intense dedication within Mao and the CCP.
During Mao’s time, the peasants made up the majority of the populations. However, there was a series of droughts and bad harvests which caused widespread famine in rural areas. Therefore with this fact, Mao cultivated their loyalty through the establishment of the land reform policy. The land reform policy reads to seized the estates of rich landlords and redistribute them among the peasants. Mao relieved that “the peasants were vanguards of the revolution” (Tamura 182). He also stated that “all the practical problems in the masses’ everyday life should claim our attention. If we attend to these problems, solve them and satisfy the needs of the masses... They will truly rally round us and give us their warm support…I earnestly suggest… that we pay close attention to …the problems of land and labor to those of fuel, rice, cooking oil and salt... We communists are like seeds and the people are like soil. Whenever we go, we must unite with the people… must build good relations with the masses, be concerned for them and help them overcome their difficulties… the more of the masses we unite, the better.. we must go all out to mobilize the masses, expand the people’s forces and, under the leadership of our Party, defeat the aggressor and build a new China…” (Tamura 182). This being said by Mao that was from “On the Chungking Negotiations” October 17, 1945, it was not released until 1961 in the Peking: Foreign Language Press. The values of this source included that as this is a speech developed by Mao, it is contemporary to the time period. It also showed Mao’s belief on his polices, and his ideas and thoughts which demonstrated his leadership and superiority during that time. On the other hand, there are some limitations to this speech developed by Mao as well. Although this source may be reliable, however, as this was a speech said by Mao, it could be viewed as propaganda and this source only showed one point of view which was from the communists.
In addition, Mao and CCP were able to fulfill the Three Principles of the People; they had united a large part of the nation in resistance to the Japanese. In their “liberated areas”, they had created political structures, which, “though rudimentary by Western standards provided for the first time effective administration in the countryside.” (Lynch 52) Lastly, the local population had been encouraged through their peasant associations and co-operatives to participate in the organization of their own affairs.
With all of these, the CCP’s military strengthened with more peasants joining and towards the end the Communists’ troop strength surpassed the Nationalists’. “As the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began winning large-scale battles in northern China, Communists started picking strong support in urban areas. More and more city dwellers, fed up with the deepening economic crisis and Kuomintang corruption, turned to the Communists as China’s only hope of reuniting the country and solving its pressing problems.” (Tamura 183) Lastly, Mao and the Communists’ complete dedication had led to the triumph of the CCP in 1949 as the CCP leaders had prepared their armies “carefully and were more competent tactically than their KMT counterparts.” (Lowe 412)
{1,341 words}
Conclusion
After having to evaluate the reasons for the success of Mao and the communists gaining support during the Chinese Civil War, it has come up with the conclusion that the key factors to the success of the CCP included the ability to gain support from the majority of the population, the ability to take advantage of KMT weaknesses and along with their complete dedication during the years. Even though in the beginning, it was thought that the Nationalists Party, KMT who would win the victory in the Chinese Civil War as they had well equipped troops that outnumber the CCP’s and during that time, the KMT had controlled all the major cities.
However, it was not until when the CCP began to question to morality of democracy and capitalism that led to the Chinese Civil War that erupted in 1945. Furthermore, the KMT’s weaknesses began to reveal after the war started such as corruption, the increase of inflation rate and poverty. The poor decisions made by KMT were also one of the crucial factors that led to the triumph of the CCP such as instead of resisting the Japanese, they spent their time going against the CCP. This turned everyone against the KMT. Lastly, with Mao and CCP’s intelligence of gaining the support from the majority of the population; peasants, they were able to win the Chinese Civil War.
To say that the stated factors were all the reasons that led to the communist’s party would be rather farfetched. However, it is evident to say that these factors have played a part in the reasons for the CCP’s triumph. Others factors that could be considered would be the world economic situations and other events that were happening at the same time worldwide which may have made an impact on the result of the Chinese Civil War.
In conclusion, with all of these aspects and other factors that led to the triumph of the CCP, the Nationalists and Chang Kai Shriek was forced to flee to Taiwan. The Nationalists collapsed while the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) marched victoriously into Beijing in January 1949. Mao Zedong then stood atop the main gate to the Qing imperial palace and formally declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Even though, the CCP gained victory at last and under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the People’s Republic of China was established, it did not specify on how did the nationalists react to the strategies that the communists used to gain support? such as with the use of the nationalist’s weaknesses. This question remained unresolved, thus may make up another basis of another investigation.
{440 words}
Citations
Benson, Linda. "China under the Communist Party." China since 1949. London: Longman, 2002.
Brooman, Josh. China since 1900. New York: Longman, 1998.
Lynch, Michael. China: From Empire to People's Republic 1900-49. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996. 19-60.
Lowe, Norman. Mastering Modern World History (Palgrave Master). 4th ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. 409-412.