chinese communist revolution

History

2022

We explain what the Chinese Communist Revolution was, its causes, stages and consequences. Also, its main leaders.

The Chinese Communist Revolution established the People's Republic of China in 1949.

What was the Chinese Communist Revolution?

It is known as the Chinese Revolution of 1949, the Chinese Communist Revolution at the end of the Chinese Civil War. This conflict, which began in 1927, pitted the Chinese nationalists of the Kuomintang or KMT, led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, with supporters of the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong.

The revolution is considered to have started in 1946, after the end of the WWII and the Japanese invasion of China, which is why the two sides, the nationalist and the communist, had been forced to agree to a truce and form a common front against the invading army. But when this purpose was achieved, the tensions between the two reignited.

Negotiations, which attempted to prevent the civil war from resuming, failed. After several years of fighting, the communist forces took control of the country, exiling the nationalists to the island of Taiwan. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, whose existence and socialist regime of government they endure to this day.

Stages of the Chinese Communist Revolution

The Chinese Communist Revolution can be divided into the following chronological stages:

  • The end of the negotiations peace in 1946. At this stage the Chinese Civil War resumed despite the efforts of the United States and the Soviet Union for mediating between the parties and achieving a mixed government that would prevent them from having to confront each other, since the Soviets had openly supported the Chinese revolutionaries. The bipolar winds of the Cold War could already be breathed in the region, as both the US and the USSR disputed the area of ​​Chinese influence.
  • The nationalist offensive (1946-1947). The first movement after the breakdown of the negotiations was of the nationalists, who invaded Manchuria and the Chinese north, seizing 165 cities, despite US protests that even suspended the sale of arms to the Chinese government for 10 months. At the end of the same year, the Chinese National Assembly proclaimed a democratic Constitution, without any representation of the Communists participating. The military superiority of the Nationalists lasted until April 1947, when attempts to crush the adversary failed and their offensive finally came to a halt.
  • The communist counterattack (1947-1948). In mid-1947 there was a turnaround in the fate of the war, and the first effective counterattacks of Mao Zedong's Red Army took place, which reconquered cities and plunged the morale of their enemy, unleashing mass defections and desertions.
  • The decisive communist victories (1948-1949). The onslaught of the communist army reverses the course of the war and they recover Manchuria, causing their adversaries almost half a million military casualties, and taking over the entire northwest of the country towards the end of 1948. Their ability to reinforce their positions and morale has been weakened by the soilsThe Nationalists suffered a series of particularly significant defeats, such as the Battle of Huai-Huai, Liao-Shen, and especially the Battle of Xuzhou. Towards the end of 1948 the situation openly favored the communists and the nationalist general Chiang Kai-shek requested to resume the negotiations, requesting the support of the great European powers, the USSR and the USA. They all refused his call.
  • The final offensive. After taking Beijing, the imperial capital of China, the communists had already served the plate. After a brief and fruitless period of negotiations with the nationalists, they entered Nanking, the former capital of the ROC, in April and took full control of the country. On October 1, they proclaimed the new communist republic and their enemies took refuge on the island of Taiwan, waiting for years for a communist attack.

Causes of the Chinese Communist Revolution

Mao Zedong led the Chinese Communists with the support of the Soviet Union.

The causes of the Chinese Communist Revolution must be sought in the complex web of relationships that have existed since the fall of the Ching dynasty at the beginning of the 20th century.

The country was divided between the republican supporters of a democratic and capitalist China, with strong European influences and that dragged the colonialist relationship that China had lived through for centuries; and the followers of communism Soviet Union of Mao Zedong, who aspired to vindicate the Chinese peasantry and abolish the society of lessons.

Seen this way, the Chinese Civil War itself led to the Communist Revolution, especially when the world powers of the twentieth century began to interfere, wanting to guarantee an ally in China: we are referring to the USSR and the United States, who openly or secretly favored diplomatically, economically and militarily to their preferred sides.

Thus, the deterioration of relations between the ROC and the United States was a significant factor in tilting the military balance towards the Communists.

If we add to this the Soviet support and the delivery to the communists of the weapons seized in Manchuria from the Japanese army during the Second World War, we will understand that there was a great international responsibility in the communist victory that occurred in 1949.

Consequences of the Communist Revolution

The communist victory in the Chinese conflict had the consequence of eradicating the existing Republic and forcing its representatives into exile. For their part, Mao's troops seized political power and announced the creation of the People's Republic of China.

This new state was of communist and authoritarian affiliation, where Mao acted as Leader political and spiritual. This also put an end to the Chinese Civil War and laid the foundations for the coming Chinese Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong himself.

Importance of the Chinese Communist Revolution

The Chinese Revolution of 1949 is the explanation of why China is the only great communist power of the late twentieth century, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Furthermore, it was a singular historical event that marked the destiny of international politics for decades. to come.

As Communist China became more and more influential internationally, it became a model apart from that prevailing in the Soviet Union. From then on it was called "Maoism" and was replicated in other neighboring nations such as Cambodia, with catastrophic results.

Leaders of the Chinese Communist Revolution

Chiang Kai-shek ruled Taiwan until his death.

The main leaders of each faction during the Chinese Communist Revolution were:

  • Mao Zedong / Mao Tsé-Tung (1893-1976). Chinese leader of the communist faction and top leader of the Chinese Communist Party after the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. From family A peasant girl, she fought from a young age against the Japanese invaders and then against the nationalists, once convinced that only communism would save her country. He promulgated his own version of the Marxism-leninism, adapted to the particularities of the society China, which resulted in brutal authoritarianism and a model of development behind closed doors, which played an important role in making China the power it is today.
  • Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Military and political leader of Chinese nationalists opposed to Mao Zedong, successor to Sun Yat-sen who was the founder of the Kuomintang party. After being defeated by the communists in the civil war, he took refuge in Taiwan and ruled until his death, waiting for the fall of communism and the opportunity to rebuild a republican China.
  • George Marshall (1880-1959). US military officer who was Chief of the Army General Staff during World War II and author of the economic plan that bears his surname (the “Marshall Plan”) for the Reconstruction of 18 countries of Europe after the end of the war.This earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. He was the United States emissary to China to mediate between the opposing factions, but he withdrew in 1947 when he realized that none of them appreciated his presence and preferred to end the conflict by means of the weapons.
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