Civil War Flashcards
When was the Civil War?
Late 1945 to October 1949
What does ‘generalissimo’ mean?
The commander of a combined military force consisting of army, navy and air force units.
- e.g. Jiang Jieshi was the Nationalist generalissimo
When were the peace talks and who attended?
Late August 1945 in Chongqing
- Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai attended peace talks with Jiang Jieshi and other Nationalist leaders
What was the problem with the Chongqing peace talks?
- insincere and unproductive
- both sides were manoeuvring behind the scenes and buying time for military forces to recover and regroup
- US promised to support a coalition government but was increasing military supply shipments to the Nationalists
Where did fighting first flare up after the peace talks?
Manchuria
- controlled by Soviet Red Army at the time
How did the Soviets help the CCP’s Red Army?
- offered them training, weapons and supplies
- transformed communist guerrilla fighters in Manchuria into a more conventional military force
Why were people dissatisfied with the Nationalist army?
- majority were poorly treated conscripts, mutinied or deserted in large numbers
- soldiers engaged in rape, looting and other acts of brutality
- lost the favour of the civilian/ peasant population
- Jiang ordered the diversion of the Yellow River to split enemy forces
- 500 villages flooded
- 400,000 people displaced
What were the 5 major battles of the Civil War?
- Struggle for Manchuria (1946-47)
- ‘Strong Point Offensive’ (1947)
- The Liaoshen Campaign (Sept - Nov 1948)
- The Huaihai Campaign (Nov 1948 - Jan 1949)
- The Pingjin Campaign (Nov 1948 - Jan 1949)
What was the human loss for the Civil War?
- 3 million Nationalist dead
- 1 million Communists dead
- estimate of 2 million civilian deaths
- estimate 6 million total
What happened during the struggle for Manchuria?
- 1946-47
- GMD wanted Manchuria as it was a strong CCP stronghold and very industrially developed area of China
- Local peasants supported CCP and helped uproot airfield and train tracks, disabling GMD ability to use air forces or resupply army
- GMD had treated locals badly where they did have control so didn’t have peasant support
- proof of how support for GMD shrunk as support for CCP grew
- CCP captured weapons and armoury from the NRA
- Capturing Manchuria was a main aim for Jiang, so the defeat was a large propaganda loss and lost support of own troops
- exposed how weak Nationalists were, encouraging Mao to be more aggressive
- Stalin urged Mao to accept partitioned China
- now controlling all of China seems possible
What happened during the ‘Strong Point Offensive’ 1947?
- Jiang took Yan’an in March 1947, demonstrating some strength in Northern China
- loss of Yan’an seems great, but it was hollow
- moles in NRA had warned PLA of impending attack, so Yan’an was already evacuated
- Mao let NRA take Yan’an as it gave Jiang false hope (used as a ‘pawn’)
- Jiang took it as a major victory and launched the ‘Strong Point Offensive’ to take Shandong and Shanxi
- Jiang overstretched himself
- PLA launched mobile gorilla style attacks and held North Eastern China by 1947
- Momentum now in favour of CCP and Mao
What happened during the Liaoshen Campaign 1948?
- Mao decided to decisively take control of Manchuria by attacking Changchun and Shenyang
- Oct 1948: PLA took the rail hun at Jingzhou despite massive defence from the NRA
- Late Oct: Changchun falls
- fierce fighting
- NRA officers defect to PLA giving key info on where NRA troops are
- Jiang refused to retreat from Shenyang, despite advice
- Shenyang fell to PLA on 2 Nov 1948
- defeat helped by more defections
- no trust in Jiang as food/ supplies ran out
What was the significance of Liaoshen?
- 3 defeats in one campaign
- 400,000 troops killed or deserted
- Manchuria lost
- North East China now in communist hands
- Jiang approached US and USSR for help in trying to resurrect compromise talks
- no interest from either country or Mao
- Proof that CCP in ascendance and GMD on the retreat
What happened during the Huaihai Campaign 1948-49?
- Jiang has to fight to hold the rest of China
- decides to defend provinces between Yellow and Yangzi Rivers
- to protect Nanjing and Shanghai, he chooses to fight at Xuzhou (key junction on the railway)
- Jiang thought PLA would need time to replenish after Liaoshen, but Mao decided to attack straight away
- PLA had many new recruits that were previously in the NRA
- Commanders wanted to withdrawn but Jiang refused as it would be another major defeat
- NRA was defeated by a major PLA offensive
- different to PLA’s past guerrilla attacks
What were the NRA weaknesses during Huaihai?
- continued defections or ‘moles’ leaking info
- no air cover
- no food supplies due to weather and bad flying conditions
- PLA advertised food and supplies to tempt NRA fighters to defect
