Why did the Chinese Communist Party defeat the Guomindang?

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Why did the Chinese Communist Party defeat the Guomindang

In 1945 the last phase of the civil war was fought out in China between the Guomindang (GMD) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); these two groups had, in the past worked together so why did the war break out? And how; four years later in 1949 did an out manned and out armed resistance group defeat a mighty army with the largest world power of the time behind them? Those are the questions I will answer.

        Years before, in 1911 China had a revolution. When a band of rebels overthrew the emperor and set up “The republic of China”. Although Sun Yat-Sen was key to the revolution an army commander called Yuan Shih-Kai was put in charge of China. China soon dissolved into Chaos, warlords were exploiting peasants and conditions were no better than under the emperor. The GMD had established themselves during this time and in 1919 the CCP was also formed. The two groups began to work to together to drive out the warlords. The group also worked together to drive out the Japanese who had invaded the Manchuria province in 1915. In 1925 Sun Yat-Sen died and his role was taken over by Chiang Kai-Shek. Chaing Kai-Shek turned against the communists in 1926 after the Shan high massacre of thousands of communists. That was the state of the civil war.

        One of the reasons for the communist victory was the Long March. After the 1926 massacre the CCP set up a strong base in the province of Jiangxi. Chiang Kai-Shek attempted to starve out the CCP; but in 1934 they broke free and began the Long March. The march took them a year to complete as they travelled over 6,000 miles and cost them over 95% of their followers. They ended up in the Yanan Shaanxi province. As they marched the CCP liberated any peasants they found being poorly treated. By the time they reached the Yanan Shaanxi the CCP had developed a strong leader Mao Ze-Dong an ex-nationalist army general and a strong believer in communism.

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        The Long March undermined the GMD’s anti-communist propaganda for example the GMD called the Long March the great retreat, but it proved the communists were strong, determined and courageous.

The Long March was an indirect cause for the communist victory because it spread the word of communism across China and made causes such as the army and leadership stronger. As Mao Ze-dong said, “The Long March is a message, propaganda and a seeding machine”

During the long march the CCP built up a good fighting force that called itself the “Red Army”. This army was mostly made up of poor ...

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