Chinese Civil War Flashcards
Foreign Influence as an outcome of the Chinese Civil War
- Nationalists USA gave them 2 billion between ’45 and ‘49
- US support less valuable in monetary terms + effectiveness 2 billion value of American assistance included all US supplies to China rather than just military aid, which actually constituted 798 million
- Freda Utley Further deductions to the figure should be made to take into account items and costs which were never of any effective military values
- She belives 360 million effective military supplies
- US secretary of State Dean Acheson USA provided enough for victory National incompetence
- “the reasons for the failures of the Chinese National Government do not stem from any inadequacy of American aid”
- “Its leaders had proved incapable of meeting the crisis in front of them”
- Many of the US supplies also arguably arrived too late to be useful
- USA imposed an embargo in 1946 and 1947 making it impossible for the Nationalists to obtain weaponry
FI on the outcome of the civil war 2
USSR 900 aircrafts and 82 tanks.
Furthermore, more than 1,500 Soviet military advisers and about 2,000 members of the air force were sent to China.
$250 million in aid from the Soviet Union.
This also gave the CCP forces a powerful military base from which to launch attacks.
On the other hand, some would say that the economic aid the CCP received alone was insufficient to determine the war’s outcome. This is because economic aid was provided to the KMT by the USA, where William Blum estimates that within less than two years the KMT received £4.43 billion.
This argument seems particularly convincing as it shows that the CCP and the KMT were evenly matched.
Nevertheless, there are other instances where foreign powers had an influence on the Civil War, particularly through diplomacy.
For example, the United States imposed their peace-seeking perspective on the GMD, resulting in the June 1946 cessation of hostilities. This was crucial in saving the CCP who were on the brink of defeat as the CCP were under heavy bombardment.
This argument seems unconvincing to me, however, as within the time that the CCP had, they successfully managed to transform their small guerrilla detachments into more professional, larger scale-units that could successfully use artillery and engage in large-scale battles of warfare.
Similarities between the Chinese and the Spanish Civil War?
Similarities: FI from USA came from a fear of communism
US tried to be the ‘middle man’
