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... arty. The aid that the Chinese Communists received was limited. It may be argued that to Soviets most important aid to the Chinese Communists was delaying the arrival of the Nationalists to Manchuria for six weeks.
The Soviets had their own goals in Manchuria, the most industrially developed area of China. The Soviets dismantled industrial plants and shipped them back into the Soviet Union. The Soviet seizure of industrial materials in Manchuria hindered the progress of the Chinese Communists, since the lack of industrial materials would prove to be one of the Chinese Communist Partys shortcomings in the battle against the Kuomintang. Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party was criticised by the public for allowing the Soviets to plunder Manchuria.
What exactly did the Russian army's aid amount to? Marshal Malinovsky, the commander of the Soviet occupying army in Manchuria, let the Chinese Communists spread through the countryside and seize whatever Japanese weapons they could find. 3 Also, there is reason to believe that the Soviets were not confident that the Chinese Communists would succeed. The Kuomintang outnumbered the Communist forces four fold. During the Civil War, the Soviets maintained proper relations with the Nationalists. Instead of promoting world wide communist revolution, the Soviets followed policy that was in the best interests of the U. S.
S. R. Thus, it appears that the Soviets alienated the Chinese Communist Party and left the Communists to fight against the Kuomintang without any foreign aid. Chapter III. The American Attitude Towards the Chinese Civil War As previously mentioned, the U.
S. attitude towards China was directed by the U. S. governments policy towards the Soviet Union. In some respects, one may interpret the international context of the Chinese Civil War part of the beginning of the Cold War. It was previously mentioned that the U.
S. believed that the Soviet Union would try to dominate North East Asia. The U. S.
argued that if the Soviet Union was allowed to dominate North East Asia, it would be a direct threat to Chinas ability to become an independent nation. The U. S. could not allow this to happen. From the U. S.
War Departments Report of July, 1945, In order to prevent the separation of Manchuria and North China from China, it is essential that, if Soviet Russia participates in the war, China not be divided (like Europe) into American-British and Russian zones of military operations. 4 To achieve its goal, the United States attempted to mediate talks between the Kuomintang and the Communists in hopes of unifying China without a war. In December 1945, the United States sent General George Marshall to accomplish this task. 1. Marshalls mission to China Despite negotiating a truce between to Communists and the Kuomintang, Marshalls mission to China was a failure; no final agreement between the two factions could be made. It may be argued that, considering the policies and circumstances of Marshalls mission, failure was inevitable. For example, even though Marshall tried to maintain neutrality throughout the negotiations, one may argue that it was contradictory for the U.
S. to be supplying weapons and supplies to the Kuomintang at the same time. The Communists brought this to attention and condemned the Americans for intruding in Chinese affairs. Perhaps, the most important reason for Marshalls failure was the Chinese peoples general mistrust for the Americans. China had been under the control of foreign powers, including Britain and the U. S. , for centuries and the people wanted this to end.
To some extent, the failure of the Marshall mission can be attributed to a sense of nationalism within the Chinese people. If the two sides had come to an agreement under mediation, it would have appeared to the Chinese people that they had done so due to American pressure. Since Mao had gained support because the public viewed him as the one who had fought the Japanese, he would have to take a similar stance against any other imperialist power, including the U. S. Both the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang knew that, if public opinion were to be satisfied, an agreement could not be made during Marshalls mission. One might argue that Civil War was inevitable. 2.
American aid to the Kuomintang during the war After the end of World War II, the United States gradually withdrew its troops from China. American military advisers remanded in China after the end of the second World War, however their advice was often ignored by Chiang Kai Shek. During the Chinese Civil War, the United States helped finance the Kuomintang's military campaign. However, it appears that the U. S. was more concerned with the reconstruction of Western Europe and consequently spent more of its resources in Europe.
The Chinese Nationalists received funding from both the United States government and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. In April 1948, the China Aid Act offered 460 million dollars for the year to the Nationalists. However, the Kuomintang had requested more funding and found the amount specified in the China Aid Act to be inadequate. The Kuomintang felt that they had been betrayed by the United States. The Communists used the assistance from the United States against the Kuomintang and accused the nationalists of being American imperialist lackeys.
In addition to financial aid, the United States provided to the Kuomintang weapons and the means, trucks and aircraft, to transport their troops. Yet, the American aid hindered the Kuomintang; the transportation equipment provided by the United States allowed the Nationalists to move their troops more easily and ultimately extend the troops beyond serviceable capacity. To some extent, one may argue that the Kuomintang alliance with the United States impeded the Nationalists more than it helped them. Chapter IV. The Kuomintang and the Civil War 1. Occupation of former Japanese territories At then end of World War II, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai Shek was the officially recognised government, by both the United States and the U.
S. S. R. By 1949, just four years after the end of World War II, the Nationalist government collapsed and was forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan. The Kuomintang's first task after World War II was to successfully gain control over the formerly Japanese occupied areas, namely Manchuria. The Nationalists handled the situation poorly.
The Chinese inhabitants of Manchuria were not treated as victims of war, but with contempt. Land in the former Japanese territories became property of the government; it was not returned to the original owners. Moreover, the puppet leaders that had been installed by the Japanese often kept their positions or became members of the Kuomintang. The industrial areas that had been developed by the Japanese were also squandered.
Instead of being used for industrial production, often, machinery was broken down and sold as scrap. Moreover, the monetary assets of the puppet states were virtually eliminated, since the currency that had been issued in the puppet states went through extreme inflation. Puppet currency was redeemed at a rate of two hundred to one. 5 In Taiwan, another area that was previously under the mandate of imperialist Japan, a revolt against the Kuomintang was staged in Mach of 1947. The insurrection was forcefully vanquished by the Kuomintang.
The Kuomintang's action was criticised one the mainland, where the Chinese people were already growing weary of the Nationalist rule. It is evident that...
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