Chinese Civil War Flashcards
1
Q
GMD
A
- Guomindang, also known and KMT
- Chinese Nationalist Party
- Dominated by Jiang Jieshi from 1920s
2
Q
CCP
A
- Chinese Communist Party
- led by Mao Zedong
3
Q
History of US involvement with Jiang Jieshi and China
A
- US attempted to halt Japanese attacks on China with economic sanctions on Japan and secret military and economic aid for Jiang
- Sanctions major reason for Pearl Harbor attack, bring US into WWII and making Jiang and US allies
4
Q
State of US-Chinese relations pre civil war
A
- US found Jiang an irritating ally - GMD-CCP hostility weakened China against Japan
- Chinese aid low on US priorities, meant Jiang complained about insufficient aid
- US mistreatment seen by Roosevelt’s willingness to hand over Chinese territories to Stalin at Yalta without consulting Jiang
5
Q
Initial US response to Chinese Civil War
A
- 2 months after Japanese surrender, Truman gave Jiang $450 million and 50,000 US Marines to prevent CCP gains in northern China
- Over 400,000 GMD troops transported to north China in American ships and planes
6
Q
Why did US aid for Jiang end?
A
- Late 1945 - Truman admin. seemed on the brink of large-scale military intervention but it was strongly opposed by the State Department and the American public wanted the continued demobilisation of troops
- Republican criticism of Truman’s China policy caused him to send highly respected General George Marshall to China in Dec. 1945 whose CCP-GMD truce collapsed in April 1946 and the State Department advocated totally abandoning Jiang - arms shipments were halted
- China Aid Act of April 1948 - granted Jiang $125 million but all aid was cancelled by Dec. 1948 - thought Jiang could never defeat the communists
7
Q
Reasons for the fall of China to Communism in 1949
A
- the Japanese invasion
- the Communist appeal to the peasantry
- Jiang’s loss of middle-class support
- differing military strategies and performances of GMD and CCP
- the leadership of Mao Zedong
8
Q
How did the Japanese invasion contribute to the fall of China to communism?
A
- Prior to the major Japanese offensive of 1937, Jiang and the GMD were dominant
- the Japanese distracted Jiang : cost him his best troops and lots of money, enabled CCP to develop in the countryside
- damaged Jiang’s reputation as a nationalist leader who could defend China
- Jiang’s refusal to cooperate with CCP when China was under threat made him seem less patriotic that Mao
9
Q
How did the communist appeal to the peasantry contribute to the fall of China to communism?
A
- Mao’s peasant background meant he better understood the peasantry
- Landlords and richer peasants = 10% of the population from 1900-50 but owned 70% of the land, many poorer peasants had to give 50-80% of their crops as rent leaving them in chronic debt - meant Communist emphasis on equally distributed wealth was appealing
- Importance of peasant support seen in final crucial battle of Xuzhou (1949) - CCP aided by 2 million peasant labourers
10
Q
How did Jiang’s loss of middle-class support contribute to the fall of China to communism?
A
- GMD firstly became popular due to middle + upper class exasperation at poor government but once in power the GMD proved similarly corrupt
- GMD secret police were repressive and Jiang went back on promises of a democratic government
- Supporters were angry when he refused to cooperate with CCP against Japan
- Printing of banknotes caused hyperinflation - prices during Japanese war era = 6000 x 1937 levels, Jiang made no attempt to stabilise currency - responded by raising taxes, particularly for peasantry = more peasant allegiance to CCP
11
Q
How did the GMD army contribute to the fall of China to communism?
A
- riddled with corruption, provoking rebellion in Taiwan in 1947 - Jiang’s officers sold food on the black market, leaving ordinary soldiers underfed
- hundreds of thousands of men lost to death and desertion after years of war, desertion rates often = 70%
- Jiang’s conscription policies hit peasantry hardest encouraging their allegiance to CCP
- low morale by final phase in 1949 - generals surrendered Beijing to CCP general Lin Biao without a fight
12
Q
How did Jiang’s strategy and generals contribute to the fall of China to communism?
A
- concentrated too many troops in battle for Manchuria without first gaining control of the parts of north + central China between Manchuria + GMD southern China - Jiang refused to listen to generals warnings about this
- always deeply suspicious of successful generals but insufficiently suspicious about Communist spies e.g. Assistant Chief of Staff General Liu Fei
13
Q
How did the Communist military performance contribute to the fall of China to Communism?
A
- Mao’s ‘Eight Rules of Conduct’ meant Communist soldiers had better relations with peasantry than GMD e.g. told to help villagers, pay for what they damaged, not molest women, not dig latrines near homes
- better at using whole population - peasants who couldn’t fight distributed propaganda
- knew better than to resist Japanese with head-on warfare, used mostly guerrilla tactics = lost fewer men than GMD, repeatedly used withdrawal = enticing enemy to over-extend
- Mao able to delegate e.g veteran commander Zhu De employed excellent tactics in battle of Xuzhou, unlike Jiang who interfered from 200 miles away as he distrusted his generals, resulting in failure
14
Q
How did Mao’s leadership contribute to the fall of China to Communism?
A
- likely to be main reason of fall to communism
- won more supporters than Jiang through social and economic policies
- more flexible than Jiang e.g altered land reform policies to maximise support
- played more effectively upon Chinese nationalism than Jiang
- had superior military strategy and able to delegate
- seemed more democratic than Jiang - willing to participate in coalitions + listen to the people
15
Q
For what reasons was full US military intervention in the Chinese Civil War not feasible?
A
- American public demanded speedy demobilisation of American troops after defeat of Japan
- containment of USSR in Europe was priority from 1945-49
- too many American observers considered Jiang a hopeless case
