The Civil War

Question 1

How had the USA supported the GMD before the start of the civil war?

Answer 1

• Under a lend-lease scheme it had issued millions of dollars of equipment to the GMD.
• The USA had provided transport to move over half a million NRA troops to japanese-surrendered zones.
• 55,000 US marines had been sent as military advisors.

Question 2

By how much did the GMD outnumber the CCP at the start of the civil war?

Answer 2

5 million to one million

Question 3

What were the five major campaigns of the civil war?

Answer 3

1. The struggle for Manchuria 1946-47
2. The “strong point offensive” 1947.
3. The Liaoshen campaign, September-November 1948.
4. The Huaihai campaign, November 1948-January 1949.
5. The Pingjin campaign, November 1948-January 1949.

Question 4

Why did the GMD wish to take Manchuria?

Answer 4

An early knockout blow would be dealt to the communists and the war could be quickly ended.
Its recovery would return the most industrially advanced region of China to Nationalist control.

Question 5

How many troops did the NRA input into Manchuria in the first year of the civil war?

Answer 5

200,000

Question 6

How did the GMD run the parts of Manchuria that they held?

Answer 6

Chiang’s officials took little account of local people, so they gained little support. This way, the peasants often resisted the GMD’s control.

Question 7

How did the CCP sabotage the GMD’s transport?

Answer 7

Airstrips were ripped up to negate the GMD’s superior airpower.
By 1947 over 10,000 miles of railway in Manchuria had been ripped up, along with the destruction of telegraph and telephone lines. Much was done by local populations.

Question 8

How did the CCP make up for initial disadvantages?

Answer 8

They were able to live off the land and stay supported by the rural people, bypassing GMD strongholds and avoiding set battles. They also captured large stocks of weapons originally supplied by the USA to the GMD.

Question 9

What were the results of the PLA’s retaining of Manchuria?

Answer 9

It threw Chiang onto the defensive as the CCP was able to form strongholds to launch their own attacks.
His armies began to be weakened by desertion and moles among top-level commanders.
Mao saw that the GMD was weaker than it initially seemed, and increased his ambitions to the whole of China.

Question 10

What occurred in the GMD taking of Yan’an?

Answer 10

In 1947, after a mole informed the Communists of impending attack, they abandoned Yan’an, and the Nationalists took it. Chiang mistakenly saw this as a major victory and was encouraged to overstretch NRA lines in the “strong point offensive”.

Question 11

What was the result of the “strong point offensive”?

Answer 11

Initially, Mao had opted for mobile defence, believing he could not match the Nationalists’ military strength. However, Chiang’s failures in the “strong point offensive” led him wage direct war against the GMD and gain complete victory. He changed his tactics to an offensive strategy to destroy the GMD.

Question 12

What were the initial major two gains for the CCP in the Liaoshen campaign?

Answer 12

The CCP gained Jinzhou, a junction on the Beijing-Changchun-Shenyang railway. It was defended by 250,000 NRA troops, but were eventually overwhelmed.

Changchun then fell after a two month siege, where NRA deserters informed the PLA of the city’s weakest points which were subjected to shelling.

Question 13

How did Shenyang fall?

Answer 13

Many of Chiang’s commanders begged him to leave Shenyang and take a more defensible position, but he refused. His relief forces were outflanked and cut off by PLA units, and the city soon surrendered after little resistance.

Question 14

What were the results of the Liaoshen campaign?

Answer 14

-The GMD had suffered three major defeats.
-The GMD had lost 400,000 troops through casualties and desertions.
-It had irretrievably lost Manchuria.
Chiang approached the USA and USSR to ask if they could mediate an agreement between the CCP and GMD, neither responded, showing how the initiative had shifted.

Question 15

Why did the GMD lose Xuzhou in the Huaihai campaign?

Answer 15

+The PLA was extremely quick in attacking Xuzhou, not waiting for reinforcements and so not allowing the GMD time to regroup and set up.
+The PLA was able to use prisoners taken from the NRA as new PLA recruits, bolstering their own numbers.
-There was poor liaison between Nationalist commanders.
-Air cover had been lost.
-Xuzhou defenders had to rely on very small rations during the strong winter.

Question 16

What were the results of the Huaihai campaign?

Answer 16

• The GMD had lost 200,000 men.
• Vast quantities of equipment had fallen to the CCP.
• The communists now dominated the northern and central provinces.
• The USA would give the GMD no more aid.

Question 17

What occurred in the Pingjin campaign?

Answer 17

The PLA was aiming to take Beijing, which held great symbolic value if not strategic importance. First they fought at Zhangjiakou and Xinbaoan which were railway towns to the north. Then the PLA attacked the NRA troops in Tianjin which were meant to be a relief force for Beijing. In order to avoid the destruction of the cultural relics in Beijing, a surrender was negotiated from the 200,000 NRA troops in Beijing.

Question 18

When was the PRC established?

Answer 18

1st of October 1949

Question 19

How was the GMD fractured in the civil war?

Answer 19

Due to Chiang’s increasing reliance on executions to keep the people in line and seizing peoples property and expropriating money to fund the war, he alienated many supporters and party members. Many deserted or became moles for the Communists, with personal rivalries between generals, and two breakaway groups were formed: the guomindang revolutionary alliance and the democratic league.

Question 20

What were Chiang’s strategic errors in the civil war?

Answer 20

Mainly a lack of patience early in the war. At the start, instead of consolidating their position in Southern and Central China so they would have a better base to attack the Communists from, Chiang rushed in, ignoring his colleagues. Similarly, instead of securing his position, in the “Strong Point Offensive” Chiang overextended his troops into the north-eastern provinces, leaving them open to attack.

Question 21

The Nationalists lose the “struggle for the hearts of the people”?

Answer 21

Chiang’s regime was corrupt, fractured, reliant on American aid, and did not serve the needs of the majority of the population. Mao’s regime was much more sympathetic to the masses, and in many liberated areas set up effective administrative systems run by the peasantry. However, brutal methods were employed in regions that would not comply, as well as treating the landlords brutally, with 1 million murdered between 1945 and 1949. Since Chiang’s regime was equally oppressive he could not use this to his advantage.

Question 22

How had the GMD failed politically?

Answer 22

The GMD had had 10 years to rule and in that time had shown they were inefficient and corrupt, achieving little. By contrast, the CCP had shown they were prepared to work with the GMD despite the latter’s purge against them, exhibiting selflessness.

Question 23

Why was there extreme inflation in China during the civil war?

Answer 23

The costs of maintaining the NRA accounted for 80% of government expenditure, so to fund this the GMD imposed severe taxes, nationalised banks, borrowed large amounts from abroad, and increased printing of paper money.
This made the value of money plummet, and the government was unable to pay its debts with money that quickly became worthless. This demoralised the people and discredited the GMD.

Question 24

How was the GMD’s support base limited?

Answer 24

It relied on bankers and the rich for most of its funding, who had little interest in the lives of urban workers or peasants. This made the GMD a party that served a elite minority, undermining its claim to to be a party for the people, and tainting its image with underhand dealing and nepotism.

Question 25

How did Chiang fail to win the localities?

Answer 25

When Chiang retook areas after the Japanese occupation, he dismissed many of the local officials, replacing them with nationalist appointees who lacked understanding of local social and political conditions. This alienated local communities.

Question 26

What were the NRA’s conscription methods?

Answer 26

Armed recruitment squads would be sent off to the countryside and they would capture peasants and march them away. Many would die en route as there was no medicine and food and water supplies were extremely inadequate. They would then be treated extremely poorly, and so morale was very low.

Question 27

How was Mao’s leadership important in the CCP victory?

Answer 27

Mao’s self belief and conviction inspired his men, and was able to absolutely dominate the party, which allowed him to have the final word in all campaigns during the war. This way he was able to swiftly initiate changes of tactic that allowed the PLA to seize military opportunities, such as transitioning from a rural guerrilla force to a conventional modern army.

Question 28

How did Stalin not support the CCP during the civil war?

Answer 28

In 1945 the USSR signed a treaty of friendship with the GMD, nominally abandoning the CCP. In addition, even when the PLA was about to cross the Yangtze, Stalin urged them to come to terms with the GMD because he believed the Americans would intervene.