From 1945 both the CCP and the GMD tried to take of as much territory as possible. The GMD occupied most of southern China, but the CCP took the north of China and a Civil War became inevitable. Manchuria was occupied by soviet troops at the end of the war and they allowed the CCP to move in.
The Americans did not want the communists to win control of China. They organised a gigantic airlift to fly 80,000 of the best GMD troops to Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing. From these key cities of the GMD soon seized control of the eastern coastal area. The Americans did not, however want a civil war in China. They tried to persuade the GMD and CCP to reach an agreement, and early in 1946 a truce was signed, but by November a full scale Civil War had begun. The GMD soon controlled the railways and the major cities and captured the CCP headquarters at Yanan, but the CCP held the countryside and continued with land reform.
The GMD’s army was very strong and had good munitions, although it was now un-popular and had only a small percentage of support. They were also often seen by peasants as being brutal. Peasants made up 95% of the population, and this is whom the CCP aimed at getting their support from. They had a loyal and disciplined army and were thought of as being heroic after the Long March.
The Red Army had grown to 1,000,000 men by 1945 because of peasant support. By 1949 this amount had increased to 4,000,000 and the GMD had fallen to 1,500,000.
The CCP used guerrilla tactics, which were proven to work for them after ridding Japan. They said that when the enemy advances we retreat, when the enemy halts and makes up camp, we harass him. They also said that when the enemy seeks to avoid battle, we attack and when the enemy retreats we peruse. On the other hand, the GMD weren’t practiced in dealing with or using guerrilla tactics. The GMD acted as bullies to helpless peasants, which lost them support.
Another reason, to why the CCP won was that Manchuria, which contained much of China’s raw materials, was occupied by Russian troops but then taken over by the CCP during 1946. This meant that the GMD army garrisons in Manchuria became isolated and had to surrender to the CCP.
From autumn 1947 the tide began to turn against the GMD. Its cities had started to become isolated and many more troops began to surrender. This put vast stores of equipment in the hands of the CCP.
The final collapse of the GMD and victory for the communists came in 1948. Many of the soldiers from the GMD were leaving for Mao. Chiang eventually resigned as president of the GMD in January 1949, he fled to Formosa were he set up the country of Taiwan. The PLA entered Beijing and on the 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China.
