Chinese Civil War

Sun Yixian = Sun Yat Sen

Manchu dynasty = Qing

1. Describe The Guomindang (GMD) and the three principles.
1. Formed by Sun Yat Sen
2. Three guiding principles 
1. Nationalism - to rid foreign influence and regain international respect
2. Democracy - educated the people so that they could rule themselves 
3.  People's livelihood - land reform and economic development 
2.  Explain why Sun Yat Sen would agree to Shikais rule?  
1. Shikai was a general in the dynasty and Sun unchanged Skikai being ruler for the end of the dynasty 
3. Explain Yuan Shikais downfall?
1. He failed to resolve this issues that cause the downfall of the dynasty
2. He abolished the regional assemblies created in the 1912 constitution p, which alienated the provincial powers
3. He tried to declare himself emperor in 1916 which lost him the support if the military and this forced him to step down. 

P 258

1. 
   
1. Sun Yixian
1. Sun was instrumental in the development of the GMD 
2. Yuan Shikai
1. Was the first president of China, but he did not manage to resolve the issues that had 
3. Warlords
1. The warlords rules china in independent provinces between 1916-1928 in which the been present in China during the dynasty and he was forced to abdicate in 1916 after proclaiming himself for emperor peasants lived under harsh conditions while the warlords fought each other. The warlords were concurred during the Northern Expedition led by the First United Front which was created by the GMD and the CCP 
4. May Fourth Movement 
1. Began in 1919. Students led a mass demonstration in Beijing against the 
1. Warlords
2. Traditional Chinese culture
3. The Japanese
2. Regionalism and the fact that no real democracy had been introduced after the revolution 
3. The Chinese felt humiliated by their presence in the country, which created tension when government did not remove the foreign influence 

P 259

1. Primarily due to the CCP's promise of land to the peasants 
2. Because they were to popular and because the CCP support groups (peasants and workers) were against the support groups of the GMD (landlords and middle class)

Causes of the Civil War

• Long term causes
• Topic sentence
• The foreign influence and the divisions in society weakened the governments created tension which led to the Chinese Civil War
• Socio-economic factors
• Ruled by the imperial Manchu dynasty 
• Majority of people peasant who worked hard and loved in extreme poverty whose taxes went to pay for the great imperial court
• Peasant faced starvation during floods and droughts due to their poor farming techniques 
• Also contributing the the starvation was the fact that the size of land cultivated did not follow with the growth of the population 
• Due to the inequalities and hardships of peasant life, many of them was driven to the cities despite them being poverty ridden due to high unemployment caused by improved technology and cheap western imports 
• Political weakness and the influence of foreign powers
• 1840s to 1949 - "century of humiliation"
• China's ruling was destabilised due to the influence of the foreign powers in china
• China was defeated by Britain in the Opium wars in mid 19th century
• China was subsequently divided into spheres of influence by the Europeans, Americans and the Japanese
• China was forced to sign unequal treaties that gave the foreign powers extraordinary control over Chinese trade, territory and sovereignty
• The foreign people refused to abide Chinese law and set up their own extra-territorial courts
• Missionaries imposing Christianity
• The financial position of the dynasty was weakened by inflation and corruption
• Due to corruption among local and provincial officials a large portion of tax revenues never reached the central government 
• Taiping Revolution (1850-1864)
• Spread through southern china
• Part religious movement and part political movement
• It was out down after the regional armies caused the death of millions of Chinese
• This led to the start of the move sear from the centralized control
• There had been attempts to resist western control by sections of the educated elite in china but it failed
• The self-strengthening movement was divided on how to modernize china and the Manchu was not coherently supportive if reforms 
• China lost even more territory to Japan after the Russo-Japanese year in 1904-1905
• The anti-western felling turned into widespread violent rebellion against westerns in the boxer rebellion in 1899, but it failed due to the westerns superior modern weaponry
• The overthrow of the Manchu dynasty 
• In the start of 20th century there was  a feeling that the dynasty should be overthrown in order to introduce a more westernized and democratic china 
• The dynasty failed to address the issues and it was overthrown in October 1911 in a revolution that came to be known as the Wuchang uprising or the Double Tenth revolution, and a republic was established 
• The revolution began when the government lost control of the military. This led to most provinces declaring themselves independent of Beijing 
•  "The double tenth was a triumph of regionalism. It represented a particular phase in the long running contest between central autocracy and local autonomy, a contest that was to shape much if China's history during the following forty years" -- Michael Lynch
• The key issues that led to the revolution were the impact of imperialism, anti-foreign sentiment and political weakness.  
• In November 1911 delegates from the independent provinces gathered in Nanjing to declare the the creation of a Chinese Republic
• Dr Sun Yixian was initially invited to be China's first president, however, Sun made a deal with the former influential general of the northern army, Yuan Shikai, being that Yuan became the president in exchange for the end of the Manchu Reign
• The revolution however was incomplete as there was no real introduction of democracy and most former imperial officials kept their positions 
• The rule of Yuan Shikai 
• Yuan ruled china as a military dictator from 1912 to 1915 
• The key issues that led to the revolt remained unresolved
• Regionalism contributed under his rule and was an obstacle to a united china
• Sun's party reformed as Guomindang (GMD) in 1912 and declared itself a parliamentary party
• Not communist but willing to work with them. Also saw the need for a GMD army
• Three guiding principles of Sun
• Nationalism - to rid foreign influence and regain international respect
• Democracy - educated the people so that they could rule themselves 
• People's livelihood - land reform and economic development 
• Sun's party was still too weak to take on Yuan, but tried to undermine his power by moving him from his base in Beijing to Nanjing to set up the new government, but Yuan refused
• A 'second revolution' failed and Sun fled to Japan in 1913
• Yuan however destroyed his own rule by a range of ill-conceived acts 
• 1912 constitution had created regional assemblies, but he abolished these to try an centralize power. This alienated the provincial powers
• He also tried to declared himself Emperor in 1916 which results in the loss of support from the military and he was forced to step down. 
• This is the start of the Warlord area
• Short term causes
• Political weakness: regionalism - the warlords 1916-1928
• A cause of the civil war was the increasing lack of unity in the country
• After the abdication of Yuan China was broken into small states and provinces that each was controlled by a warlord and his own army
• The warlord rules with his own laws and currencies 
• The warlords battled with each other for land and people and the peasant where the ones who suffered from this
• Non of the warlords were willing to give in to the central government 
• The warlord period increased the sense of humiliation felt by the chinese which led to an increase in nationalism during the period.
• The May Fourth Movement
• Began in 1919
• Students led a mass demonstration in Beijing against the 
• warlords
• traditional Chinese culture
• the Japanese
• Hostility ignited after the Japanese were awarded he former Germany concessions in Shandong province in the treaty of Versailles
• aim was to rebuild China as a proud and independent nation
• Some of them were inspired by the Bolshevik revolution of 1917
• Bolshevik gov had also denounced the imperialists which agreed with the May Fourth Movement 
• Others were inspired by the GMD
• The communists and the nationalists entered into an alliance in 1922. 
• Communists and nationalists
• After Sun's death in 1925, General Jiang Jieshi took over the leadership 
• Jiang had had military training in Japan before WWI and in USSR afterwards
• The USSR had also begun in investing in the GMD providing aid and assistance 
• The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was formed in 192, but due to its military weakness and some shared aims it began to work with the GMD, encouraged by the USSR
• Attempt to unify China: the First United Front
• GMD and CCP both wanted to unify China and wanted to start with stopping the warlords
• First United Front was formed in 1922 to do so
• They also wanted to rid China of foreign influence 
• Third Principle of Sun - 'the People's Livelihood' - was often called 'socialism' which led to the approval from Comitern, along with the credentials of Jiang 
• Jiang however was not a communist and even removed the communists from the top positions in GMD, but stopped from breaking the alliance with the CCP in order to stop the warlords
• In 1926 they set out on the 'Northern Expedition' to get rid of the warlords and by 1928 they had concurred the warlords and they announced the legitimate government of China, setting the capital and seat of government in Nanjing
• Immediate causes 
• Despite the victory over the warlords the country still wasn't unified
• The CCP was supported by the peasants and the industrial workers
• The GMD was supported by the landlords and the middle classes
• Areas under communist control had seen peasant attack landlords and seize land, 
• thus was not acceptable for Jiang and the GMD, and he came to believe that China would only be unified if the CCP was crushed
• GMD's 'purification movement'
• April 1927 'White Terror'
• Jiang turned on a powerful 'workers' army' which had been used under the Northern Expedition 
• 5000 communists were shot 
• it was a massacre of thousands of communists, trade unionists and peasant leaders
• about 1/4 of a million were killed
•  This was the beginning of the civil war

Essay outline: "What were the causes for the Chinese Civil War?"

• Introduction
•  One of the key causes of the Chinese Civil War was the disunity of the Chinese population
• 1st paragraph
• T.S
• The key long term causes of the war was the foreign influence, which caused divisions in the chinese society
• Evidence
• The Manchu did not do anything about the foreign influence, which the population did not like
• This caused the Self-strengthening movement which aimed to modernize China
• In the start of 20th century there was a feeling among the educated and the poorer that the dynasty should be overthrown in order to introduce a more westernized and democratic china
• This created a division between the supports and enemies of the dynasty
• Though this movement failed to modernize Chine, the double tenth uprising in 1911 was successful in overthrowing the dynasty
• The cause of the uprising was to part cause by the dynasty's failure to address the issues of the foreign influence
• Other key reasons why were the impact of imperialism, anti-foreign sentiment and political weakness.
• The new government, led by Shikai, however did not manage to succeed  in its aims and this eventually led to its demise and the beginning of the warlord era
• 2nd paragraph
• T.S.
• The key short term causes of the war was the role of the warlords and the effects of their rule
• Evidence
• Each warlord ruled their own province or state with their own law and they saw no mercy for the peasants when they tried to concur each other's land and people
• This led the the May Fourth movement, mass demonstrations led by students in Beijing whose aims were to get rid of the
• warlords
• traditional Chinese culture
• the Japanese
• This also led to the alliance between the GMD and the CCP and the creation of the First United Front
• Between 1926 and 1928 they set out on the Northern Expedition and concurred the warlords
• They then set up a central government in Nanjing, which also became China's new capital
• The country however was still not unified and there was tension between the allies GMD and CCP
• 3rd paragraph
• T.S.
• The key immediate cause for the war was the division of the GMD, led by Jiang, and the CCP
• Evidence
• The CCP was supported by the peasants and the industrial workers
• The GMD was supported bu the landlords and the middle classes
• Areas under communist control had seen peasant attack landlords and seize land,
• This led to the GMD believing that the CCP should be crushed in order for China to be truly unified which further led to the GMD's 'purification movement'
• April 1927 'White Terror'
• Jiang turned on a powerful 'workers' army' which had been used under the Northern
• 5000 communists were shot
• it was a massacre of thousands of communists, trade unionists and peasant leaders
• about 1/4 of a million were killed
• This was the beginning of the civil war
• Conclusion

Important issues during Sino-Japanese war

• GMD
• the GMD waiting for the is to win war

• The orbiting of money -> high inflation -> discontent within the middle class
• GMD bore heavy burden militarily (psychological and physically exhausted)
• CCP
• Egalitarian policies
• women's rights
• Remove 'classes' ( intellectuals working side by side with the peasants)
• Revolutionary warfare
• 70% expansion
• 20% GMD
• 10% Japanese
• The Rectification campaigns 41-44
• Mao's words ( ideological line) becomes law
• CCP perceived as the real nationalists

Second phase of the Civil War, 1946-49

• Different due to
• conventional fighting (not guerrilla warfare CCP)
• International intervention - becomes part of the Cold War

Why did the CCP win the war?

• Introduction
• CCP strengths
• Guerrilla tactics and revolutionary warfare
• Support of the people
• Spread of communists ideas
• Leadership of Mao
• GMD weaknesses
• Political error of Jiang Jieshi
• Economic error of Jiang Jieshi
• Military errors of Jiang Jieshi
• Military errors of GMD

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