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... iet trained officers whose conventional tactics failed miserably. The main goal of the Communist strategy was to reduce the numbers of the Kuomintang troops. They were not concerned with holding specific geographical areas. This strategy allowed the Communists the be more flexible in their attacks. Mao Tse Tung stated that the Americans and Nationalists would never be able to understand the guerrilla warfare tactics, since the only way guerrilla warfare can succeed is if the army has the support of the people, which the Communist Army did. 10 As previously mentioned, the support of the Chinese people was more or less on the side of the Communists, since the people saw the Nationalists as imperialist American supporters.
Moreover, the Communist troops were ordered to avoid large battles and to engage the enemy only when there was a high probability of victory. The Communists had the qualities that the Kuomintang lacked, responsible leadership and party unity. 2. Rural Land Reforms A very important factor in the Chinese Communist Partys victory was the support of the people from rural areas. In his On Coalition Government, Mao Tse Tung states that, peasants are the basic foundation of a democratic China. 11 The directives for land reform were announced by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on March 4, 1946. The main purpose of the reform was to transfer land from the landlords to the peasants. Many methods of reform were introduced.
Land was confiscated directly, land was sold to the tenants, and landlords voluntarily donated land. During the land reforms, village meetings were often held where peasants were permitted to recall all the exploitation conducted by their landlord. After, the peasants demanded repayments, which were often more than the landlord could afford. Also, in the villages, voluntary conscription in the Chinese Communist army was encouraged by party members. It may be argued that the Chinese Communist Party conducted the land reforms in order to show its commitment to the poorer rural areas of China.
Perhaps, it was not truly the Communist Partys intention to eliminate the economic power of the landlords, but instead to show the peasants that they could exercise their power locally and play an active role in the revolution. 3. Urban Reforms By 1948, the Communists had made significant gains in the war. The Communists forces moved out from their base rural areas into the cities. In the cities, the party made efforts to eliminate drug abusers, beggars, prostitutes, and thieves. Outside visitors looked highly upon these changes. However, the Communist Partys main goal in the urban areas was to increase the productive capacity.
The Communists created labour unions where workers were rewarded for efficiency and productivity. Also, to reduce the effects of inflation, which were very evident in the cities, the Chinese Communist Party introduced its own currency that was not associated with the Nationalist currencies. To some extent, the changes made by the Chinese Communists improved the situation in the previously Nationalist dominated cities. Through reforms the Communists had gained considerably support in both rural and urban areas by 1948. Chapter VI.
Brief Summary of the Course of the War To quickly summarise the course of the Chinese Civil War, starting from July 1946, the Chiang Kai Shek and the Kuomintang appeared to be making advances. They captured nearly all of Central and South China and, in March 1947, captured the Communist capital, Yanan. However, as previously mentioned, the Kuomintang troops were dispersed and unable to take control of transportation routes. The momentum of the war began to shift in April 1947 and by November 1948 the Communists had captured all of Manchuria. After battle, the Communists seized large amounts of Nationalist weapons and supplies.
Also in 1948, the Communists began to push south of the Yangzi river. In the decisive Xuzhou campaign, which lasted for two months starting in late 1948, over 500000 casualties were suffered by each side. On January 10, 1949, the Communists finally ended the campaign and took over 300000 Kuomintang troops prisoner. After this, the Communists moved into the South and West and easily captured cities, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Tse Tung proclaimed the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China. Chapter VII. Conclusion Through the victory of the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Communist Partys struggle for the creation of a unified Communist nation was completed. Numerous factors affected the course and outcome of the Chinese Civil War, which would lead to the creation of the Peoples Republic of China. At the time of the Chinese Civil, the late 1940 s, the Cold War pressures were just beginning to build between the Soviet Union. This affected how each of the nations reacted to the situation in China.
It appears that the Soviet Union was a greater competitor than ally during the Chinese Civil War. However, the United States did not see this, and foresaw the creation of a large Soviet sphere in North East Asia if the Chinese Communists won. The many weaknesses of the Kuomintang have been illustrated, but one must not neglect the military planning and extensive reforms carried out by the Chinese Communist Party. In spite of estrangement by the Soviet Union and opposition from the United States, the Chinese Communist Party was able to achieve victory over the Kuomintang because of, to a certain extent the military, economic, and political weaknesses of the Kuomintang, but to a greater degree, the Chinese Communist Partys superior military policies and its implementation of social, economic, and political reforms, which brought the party wide spread support from the Chinese people.
Footnotes 1 Richard T. Phillips, China Since 1911 (New York: St. Martins Press, 1996), 151. 2 Lyman P. Van Slyke, ed. , The Chinese Communist Movement: A Report or the U.
S. War Department, July 1945, rev. ed. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1968), 258. 3 Lucien Bianco, ed. , Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915 - 1949, rev. ed. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971) 173. 4 Van Slyke, 258. 5 Phillips, 158. 6 Chang Kia-Na, War and Inflation, in The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949, ed.
Pichon P. Y. Loh (Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1965), 23. 7 Phillips, 159. 8 Bianco, 180. 9 Phillips, 151. 10 Bianco, 184. 11 Conrad Brandt, A Documentary History of Chinese Communism, rev.
ed. (New York: Anthemum, 1967), 441. Bibliography Bianco, Lucien. (Ed. ). (1971). Origins of the Chinese Revolution (Rev. ed. ).
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Brandt, Conrad. (1967). A Documentary History of Chinese Communism. (Rev. ed. ). New York: Atheneum. Classic, Lionel M. (1965).
The Communist Conquest of China, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Boston, E. R. (1991). The Greatest Tumult. I London: Brussels. Liu, Alan P.
L. (1986). How China is Ruled. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Loh, Pichon P. Y. (Ed. ). (1965). The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949.
Boston: D. C. Heath and Company. Pepper, Suzanne. (1978). Civil War in China. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
Phillips, Richard T. (1996). China Since 1911. New York: St. Martins Press. Search, Tony. and van de Ven, Hans. (Ed. ). (1995).
New Perspectives on the Chinese Communist Revolution. New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc. Van Slyke, Lyman P. (Ed. ). (1968). The Chinese Communist Movement: A report of the United States War Department, July 1945 (Rev.
ed. ). Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
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