Misplaced Pages

#767232

125-436: From the beginning, it functioned as a military fortress. From west to east, it measures 640 meters (2,100 ft), and from south to the north 320 meters (1,050 ft), making it a half-square shape. The fortress has two gates: the east gate, named Ever Prosperous Gate (永昌門, Yongchangmen ), then renamed as Majestic Gate (威嚴門, Weiyanmen ), and the west gate, named Favorably Govern Gate (順治門, Shunzhimen ). Wanping witnessed

250-504: A building or structure in China is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Second Sino-Japanese War [REDACTED] China [REDACTED]   Japan [REDACTED] 14,000,000 total [REDACTED] 4,100,000 total Second Sino-Japanese War Taishō period Shōwa period Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups The Second Sino-Japanese War

375-730: A full-scale battle in which Beijing and its port city of Tianjin fell to invading Japanese forces (July–August 1937). , On 11 July, in accordance with the Goso conference, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff authorized the deployment of an infantry division from the Chōsen Army , two combined brigades from the Kwantung Army and an air regiment composed of 18 squadrons as reinforcements to Northern China. By 20 July, total Japanese military strength in

500-525: A base area there. In a meeting to decide the army's direction, Zhou sided with Mao, making Braun "fly into a rage because he was overruled in the debate." At the meeting it was decided that the Red Army would travel towards Zunyi , in western Guizhou. On January 1, 1935, the Red Army reached the Wu River. Bo and Braun again insisted the Red Army move back to western Hunan to join other Communist troops in

625-738: A campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare . In November 1939, Chinese nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive , and in August 1940, communist forces launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive in central China. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. The US increased its aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act , becoming its main financial and military supporter. With Burma cut off,

750-540: A communist victory and the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In China, the war is most commonly known as the "War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression" ( simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ), and shortened to "Resistance against Japanese Aggression" ( Chinese : 抗日 ) or the "War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 抗戰 ). It

875-979: A daughter. Because of the harsh conditions, the infant was left with a local family. The Communist forces were harassed by both the Kuomintang and local warlords . To avoid a fatal confrontation, Zhou and Mao maneuvered the Red army south and west, through Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan, feigning attacks on Guiyang and Kunming to disguise their movements. The First Red Army crossed the Yangtze (the section of Jinsha River ) on May 9, 1935, finally escaping determined pursuit, but still had to deal with dangerous mountain passes at heights of up to 4,000 meters, rough climatic conditions, shortages of food, clothing, and equipment, and tribes of local ethnic groups hostile to Chinese encroachment. The Red Army had to capture river crossings defended by warlords and Nationalist troops. The most famous

1000-470: A decisive battle and drove deep into the heart of the Central Soviet Area. When Ruijin became exposed to KMT attack, Party leaders faced the choice of either remaining and perishing or of abandoning the base area and attempting to break through the enemy encirclement. In August 1934, with the Red Army depleted by the prolonged conflict, a spy, Mo Xiong , who had been placed by Zhou Enlai in

1125-719: A demilitarized zone between the Great Wall and Beijing-Tianjin region. Japan aimed to create another buffer zone between Manchukuo and the Chinese Nationalist government in Nanjing. Japan increasingly exploited China's internal conflicts to reduce the strength of its fractious opponents. Even years after the Northern Expedition, the political power of the Nationalist government was limited to just

1250-692: A founding member of the CCP, was never able to challenge Mao's authority. After an expedition of almost a year, the Second Red Army reached Bao'an (Shaanxi) on October 22, 1936, known in China as the "union of the three armies", and the end of the Long March. All along the way, the Communist Army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and

1375-432: A large section of Chiang's blockhouse lines that were manned by troops under General Chen Jitang , a Guangdong warlord who Zhou identified as being likely to prefer preserving the strength of his troops over fighting. Zhou sent Pan Hannian to negotiate for safe passage with General Chen, who subsequently allowed the Red Army to pass through the territory that he controlled without fighting. The Red army successfully crossed

SECTION 10

#1732764698768

1500-559: A plaza and park with numerous sculptures, occupies a large portion of the space inside the fortress' walls. To the west of the fortress are the Yongding River and the Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge, 蘆溝橋). It is served by Wanpingcheng station of Beijing Subway Line 16 39°51′00″N 116°13′12″E  /  39.85000001°N 116.22000001°E  / 39.85000001; 116.22000001 This article about

1625-510: A rear guard, to divert the main force of Nationalist troops from noticing, and preventing, the general withdrawal. The first movements to screen the retreat were undertaken by forces led by Fang Zhimin , breaking through Kuomintang lines in June 1934. Although Fang Zhimin's troops were soon destroyed, these movements surprised the Kuomintang, who were numerically superior to the Communists at

1750-453: A reshuffling of the Party politburo . Zhou intended the conference to draw lessons from the Red Army's past failures, and to develop strategies for the future. Much of the discussion revolved around whether the defeats of the Red Army were due to unavoidable circumstances, or inadequacies of leadership. Bo Gu, the first speaker, attributed the Red Army's losses to "objective" causes, particularly

1875-788: A result of Depression -era tariffs ), and a protective buffer state against the Soviet Union in Siberia . As a result, the Japanese Army was widely prevalent in Manchuria immediately following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, where Japan gained significant territory in Manchuria. As a result of their strengthened position, by 1915 Japan had negotiated a significant amount of economic privilege in

2000-536: A result of its victory at the end of the war. Japan had also attempted to annex the Liaodong Peninsula following the war, though was forced to return it to China following an intervention by France , Germany , and Russia . The Qing dynasty was on the brink of collapse due to internal revolts and the imposition of the unequal treaties , while Japan had emerged as a great power through its modernization measures. In 1905, Japan successfully defeated

2125-779: A term used mainly in foreign and Chinese narratives. The origins of the Second Sino-Japanese War can be traced back to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, in which China, then under the rule of the Qing dynasty, was defeated by Japan and forced to cede Taiwan and recognize the full and complete independence of Korea in the Treaty of Shimonoseki . Japan also annexed the Senkaku Islands , which Japan claims were uninhabited, in early 1895 as

2250-648: A testing zone for advanced biplane and new-generation monoplane combat-aircraft designs. The introduction of the advanced A5M "Claude" fighters into the Shanghai-Nanjing theater of operations, beginning on 18 September 1937, helped the Japanese achieve a certain level of air superiority . However the few experienced Chinese veteran pilots, as well as several Chinese-American volunteer fighter pilots, including Maj. Art Chin , Maj. John Wong Pan-yang , and Capt. Chan Kee-Wong, even in their older and slower biplanes, proved more than able to hold their own against

2375-520: Is a period of "total" war. This view of a fourteen-year war has political significance because it provides more recognition for the role of northeast China in the War of Resistance. On the night of 7 July 1937, Chinese and Japanese troops exchanged fire in the vicinity of the Marco Polo (or Lugou) Bridge , a crucial access-route to Beijing. What began as confused, sporadic skirmishing soon escalated into

2500-843: Is known in China as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression ( simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ). On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident , a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo . This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong , had fought each other in

2625-621: Is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. When the invasion of China proper began in earnest in July 1937 near Beijing , the government of Japan used "The North China Incident" (Japanese: 北支事變/華北事變 , romanized:  Hokushi Jihen/Kahoku Jihen ), and with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai the following month, it was changed to "The China Incident" (Japanese: 支那事變 , romanized:  Shina Jihen ). The word "incident" (Japanese: 事變 , romanized:  jihen )

SECTION 20

#1732764698768

2750-598: The Central Plains War broke out across China, involving regional commanders who had fought in alliance with the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition, and the Nanjing government under Chiang. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) previously fought openly against the Nanjing government after the Shanghai massacre of 1927 , and they continued to expand during this protracted civil war. The Kuomintang government in Nanjing decided to focus their efforts on suppressing

2875-608: The Chinese Civil War since 1927. In late 1933, Chiang Kai-shek encircled the Chinese Communists in an attempt to finally destroy them, forcing the Communists into the Long March , resulting in the Communists losing around 90% of their men. As a Japanese invasion became imminent, Chiang still refused to form a united front before he was placed under house arrest by his subordinates who forced him to form

3000-818: The German Empire 's sphere of influence in Shandong province, leading to nationwide anti-Japanese protests and mass demonstrations in China. The country remained fragmented under the Beiyang Government and was unable to resist foreign incursions. For the purpose of unifying China and defeating the regional warlords, the Kuomintang (KMT) in Guangzhou launched the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928 with limited assistance from

3125-676: The Jiangxi Soviet and other bases to a new headquarters in Yan'an , Shaanxi , traversing some 6,000 miles (10,000 km). About 8,000 troops ultimately survived the Long March. After the defeat of the Red Army in Chiang Kai-shek 's Fifth Encirclement Campaign , on 10 October 1934 the CCP decided to abandon its Jiangxi Soviet and headquarters in Ruijin , Fujian . The First Front Red Army of some 86,000 troops headed west, traveling over

3250-855: The Mukden incident in September 1931. Japanese soldiers set off a bomb on the Southern Manchurian Railroad in order to provoke an opportunity to act in "self defense" and invade outright. Japan charged that its rights in Manchuria, which had been established as a result of its victory in 1905 at the end of the Russo-Japanese War , had been systematically violated and there were "more than 120 cases of infringement of rights and interests, interference with business, boycott of Japanese goods, unreasonable taxation, detention of individuals, confiscation of properties, eviction, demand for cessation of business, assault and battery, and

3375-807: The National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War , which nominally integrated the Communist forces into the NRA, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army . The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 by Chen Duxiu with Soviet support. The CCP initially collaborated with the nationalist Kuomintang, founded by the revolutionary republican Sun Yat-sen . However, after

3500-578: The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s . In addition, due to China's fractured political status, Japan often claimed that China was no longer a recognizable political entity on which war could be declared. In Japanese propaganda , the invasion of China became a crusade (Japanese: 聖戦 , romanized:  seisen ), the first step of the "eight corners of the world under one roof" slogan (Japanese: 八紘一宇 , romanized:  Hakkō ichiu ). In 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe launched

3625-531: The Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War , gaining Tailen and southern Sakhalin and establishing a protectorate over Korea. In 1911, factions of the Qing Army uprose against the government, staging a revolution that swept across China's southern provinces. The Qing responded by appointing Yuan Shikai , commander of the loyalist Beiyang Army , as temporary prime minister in order to subdue

3750-647: The Second United Front in late 1936 in order to resist the Japanese invasion together. The full-scale war began on 7 July 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident near Beijing , which prompted a full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. The Japanese captured the capital of Nanjing in 1937 and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre . After failing to stop the Japanese capture of Wuhan in 1938, then China's de facto capital at

3875-668: The Shanghai French Concession , areas which were outside of China's control due to the treaty port system. Japan moved into these areas after its 1941 declaration of war against the United States and the United Kingdom. Building on the hard-won victory in Shanghai, the IJA advanced on and captured the KMT capital city of Nanjing (December 1937) and Northern Shanxi (September – November 1937). Upon

Wanping Fortress - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-603: The Soviet Union . The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) formed by the Kuomintang swept through southern and central China until it was checked in Shandong, where confrontations with the Japanese garrison escalated into armed conflict. The conflicts were collectively known as the Jinan incident of 1928, during which time the Japanese military killed several Chinese officials and fired artillery shells into Jinan. According to

4125-731: The Taisei Yokusankai . When both sides formally declared war in December 1941, the name was replaced by " Greater East Asia War " (Japanese: 大東亞戰爭 , romanized:  Daitōa Sensō ). Although the Japanese government still uses the term "China Incident" in formal documents, the word Shina is considered derogatory by China and therefore the media in Japan often paraphrase with other expressions like "The Japan–China Incident" (Japanese: 日華事變/日支事變 , romanized:  Nikka Jiken/Nisshi Jiken ), which were used by media as early as

4250-904: The United States Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas . In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go , the invasion of Henan and Changsha . In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China and repulsed a failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan and recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi . Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945, following

4375-557: The Xinfeng River and marched through the province of Guangdong and into Hunan before encountering the last of Chiang's fortifications at the Xiang River . After passing through three of the four blockhouse fortifications needed to escape Chiang's encirclement, the Red Army was finally intercepted by regular Nationalist troops, and suffered heavy casualties. Of the 86,000 Communists who attempted to break out of Jiangxi with

4500-442: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Soviet declaration of war and subsequent invasions of Manchukuo and Korea . The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly Chinese civilians. China was recognized as one of the Big Four Allies , regained all territories lost, and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with

4625-472: The "Front Red Armies", correspondingly numbered. The First Red Army under the command of Bo Gu and Otto Braun formed from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Army Corps in southern Jiangxi. When several units formed the Fourth Red Army under Zhang Guotao in the Sichuan – Shaanxi border area, no standard naming system yet existed, in part lending to limited central control by the CCP over separate Communist-controlled enclaves. After these first two forces were organized,

4750-430: The 18 September 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria marks the start of the War of Resistance. Although not the conventional Western view, British historian Rana Mitter describes this Chinese trend of historical analysis as "perfectly reasonable". In 2017, the Chinese government officially announced that it would adopt this view. Under this interpretation, the 1931–1937 period is viewed as the "partial" war, while 1937–1945

4875-417: The 1921 and 1927 Imperial Eastern Region Conferences reconfirmed Japan's commitment to be the dominant power in the Northeast. The 1929 Red Army victory shook that policy to the core and reopened the Manchurian problem. By 1930, the Kwantung Army realized they faced a Red Army that was only growing stronger. The time to act was drawing near and Japanese plans to conquer the Northeast were accelerated. In 1930,

5000-401: The 1930s. The name "Second Sino-Japanese War" is not commonly used in Japan as the China it fought a war against in 1894 to 1895 was led by the Qing dynasty , and thus is called the Qing-Japanese War (Japanese: 日清戦争 , romanized:  Nisshin–Sensō ), rather than the First Sino-Japanese War . Another term for the second war between Japan and China is the "Japanese invasion of China",

5125-454: The 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria . According to historian Rana Mitter , historians in China are unhappy with the blanket revision, and (despite sustained tensions) the Republic of China did not consider itself to be in an ongoing war with Japan over these six years. It is also referred to as part of the "Global Anti-Fascist War". In Japan, nowadays, the name "Japan–China War" ( Japanese : 日中戦争 , romanized :  Nitchū Sensō )

Wanping Fortress - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-399: The 1937 " Sword March ", which—with slightly reworked lyrics—became the National Revolutionary Army's standard marching cadence and popularized the racial epithet guizi to describe the Japanese invaders. The Imperial General Headquarters (GHQ) in Tokyo, content with the gains acquired in northern China following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, initially showed reluctance to escalate

5375-422: The Beijing-Tianjin area exceeded 180,000 personnel. The Japanese gave Sung and his troops "free passage" before moving in to pacify resistance in areas surrounding Beijing (then Beiping) and Tianjin. After 24 days of combat, the Chinese 29th Army was forced to withdraw. The Japanese captured Beijing and the Taku Forts at Tianjin on 29 and 30 July respectively, thus concluding the Beijing-Tianjin campaign. However,

5500-425: The CCP. In 1932 he established a soviet in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area, and in August 1934 received command of the Second Red Army, establishing a base in Hubei. An advance party of the First Red Army, called the Sixth Corps, commanded by Xiao Ke, was sent towards the Second Red Army two months before the beginning of the Long March. Xiao Ke's force would link up with He Long and his army, but lost communication with

5625-501: The CCP. The initial period of cooperation to unify China and end the unequal treaties broke up in April 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek struck out against the Communists . Unsuccessful urban insurrections (in Nanchang , Wuhan and Guangzhou ) and the suppression of the CCP in Shanghai and other cities drove many party supporters to rural strongholds such as the Jiangxi Soviet, which was organized by Mao Zedong. By 1928, deserters and defecting Kuomintang army units, supplemented by peasants from

5750-400: The Chinese Communists through the Encirclement Campaigns , following the policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" (Chinese: 攘外必先安內 ). The internecine warfare in China provided excellent opportunities for Japan, which saw Manchuria as a limitless supply of raw materials, a market for its manufactured goods (now excluded from the markets of many Western countries as

5875-469: The Chinese to deploy troops in their own city. In Manchukuo there was an ongoing campaign to pacify the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies that arose from widespread outrage over the policy of non-resistance to Japan. On 15 April 1932, the Chinese Soviet Republic led by the Communists declared war on Japan. In 1933, the Japanese attacked the Great Wall region. The Tanggu Truce established in its aftermath, gave Japan control of Rehe Province , as well as

6000-399: The Communist rural soviets, formed the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The ideological confrontation between the CCP and the KMT soon evolved into the first phase of the Chinese Civil War. By 1930, the Red Army had established the Chinese Soviet Republic in the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian around the city of Ruijin , including industrial facilities. After the establishment of

6125-401: The First Army that came behind. It was at this point that Li Zhen 's unit was assigned to He Long's command, having already served in the Sixth Corps. On November 19, 1935, the Second Red Army set out on its own Long March. He Long's force was driven further west than the First Red Army, all the way to Lijiang in Yunnan province, then across the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain massif and through

6250-567: The First Red Army, only 36,000 successfully escaped. Due to the low morale within the Red Army at the time, it is not possible to know what proportion of these losses were due to military casualties, and which proportion were due to desertion. The conditions of the Red Army's forced withdrawal demoralized some Communist leaders (particularly Bo Gu and Otto Braun), but Zhou remained calm and retained his command. Most Communist losses occurred over only two days of heavy fighting, from November 30 to December 1, 1934. After escaping Chiang's encirclement, it

6375-450: The Fourth Red Army. These changes had no long-term significance because Zhang and Mao disagreed with the direction of the army. Zhang insisted on going southwest, while Mao insisted on going northwards, towards Shaanxi. No agreement was reached, and the two armies eventually split, each going their separate ways. Zhang Guotao's Fourth Red Army took a different route than Mao, travelling south, then west, and finally north through China. On

SECTION 50

#1732764698768

6500-489: The Japanese Army had been given orders not to advance further than the Yongding River. In a sudden volte-face , the Konoe government's foreign minister opened negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing and stated: "Japan wants Chinese cooperation, not Chinese land." Nevertheless, negotiations failed to move further. The Ōyama Incident on 9 August escalated the skirmishes and battles into full scale warfare. The 29th Army's resistance (and poor equipment) inspired

6625-465: The Japanese intercepted most of the attack with A2N and A4N fighters from the aircraft carriers Hosho and Ryujo , shooting down several of the Chinese planes while losing a single A4N in the dogfight with Lt. Huang Xinrui in his P-26/281; the Japanese Army reinforcements succeeded in landing in northern Shanghai. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) ultimately committed over 300,000 troops, along with numerous naval vessels and aircraft, to capture

6750-468: The Japanese strongholds in Shanghai, leading to bitter street fighting. In an attack on the Japanese cruiser Izumo , Kuomintang planes accidentally bombed the Shanghai International Settlement , which led to more than 3,000 civilian deaths. In the three days from 14 August through 16, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) sent many sorties of the then-advanced long-ranged G3M medium-heavy land-based bombers and assorted carrier-based aircraft with

6875-415: The Japanese-backed East Hebei Autonomous Council and the Hebei–Chahar Political Council were established. There in the empty space of Chahar the Mongol military government was formed on 12 May 1936. Japan provided all the necessary military and economic aid. Afterwards Chinese volunteer forces continued to resist Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan . Some Chinese historians believe

7000-465: The Jiangxi Soviet, Mao's status within the Party declined. In 1930, Mao claimed a need to eliminate alleged KMT spies and Anti-Bolsheviks operating inside the Jiangxi Soviet and began an ideological campaign featuring torture and guilt by association, in order to eliminate his enemies. The campaign continued until the end of 1931, killing approximately 70,000 people and reducing the size of the Red Army from 40,000 to less than 10,000. The de facto leader of

7125-434: The KMT army headquarters in Nanchang, brought news that Chiang Kai-shek was preparing a major offensive against the Communist capital, Ruijin. The Communist leadership decided on a strategic retreat to regroup with other Communist units, and to avoid annihilation. The original plan was to link up with the Second Red Army commanded by He Long, thought to be in Hubei to the west and north. Communications between divided groups of

7250-406: The League of Nations. No country took action against Japan beyond tepid censure. From 1931 until summer 1937, the Nationalist Army under Chiang Kai-shek did little to oppose Japanese encroachment into China. Incessant fighting followed the Mukden Incident. In 1932, Chinese and Japanese troops fought the January 28 Incident battle. This resulted in the demilitarization of Shanghai , which forbade

7375-414: The March also went on to become prominent party leaders well into the 1990s, including Zhu De, Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , Dong Biwu , Ye Jianying , Li Xiannian , Yang Shangkun , Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. At the age of 9, Xiang Xuan , the nephew of He Long, was the youngest participant of the Long March. The last known survivor of the Long March, Tu Tongjin , a native of Changting, Fujian, died at

7500-424: The Nationalists and Chinese Communists formed a nominal alliance during the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 until 1945. During these years, the CCP persevered and strengthened its influence. The Red Army fought a disciplined and organized guerilla campaign against superior Japanese forces, allowing it to gain experience. Following the end of World War II , the resurgent Communist Eighth Route Army , later called

7625-444: The Party, and Mao's old comrade, Zhu De . Zhou's support was not enough, and Mao was demoted to being a figurehead in the Soviet government, until he regained his position later, during the Long March. In early 1933, Bo Gu arrived in Jiangxi with the German Comintern adviser Otto Braun and took control of Party affairs. Zhou at this time, apparently with strong support from Party and military colleagues, reorganized and standardized

SECTION 60

#1732764698768

7750-426: The People's Liberation Army, returned to drive the Kuomintang out of Mainland China to the island of Taiwan . Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Long March has been glorified as an example of the CCP's strength and resilience. The Long March solidified Mao's status as the undisputed leader of the CCP, though he did not officially become party chairman until 1943. Other survivors of

7875-431: The Red Army had been disrupted by the Kuomintang campaign. During the planning to evacuate Jiangxi, the First Red Army was unaware that these other Communist forces were also retreating westward. Since the Central Base Area could not be held, the Standing Committee appointed Bo (responsible for politics), Braun (responsible for military strategy), and Zhou (responsible for the implementation of military planning) to organize

8000-409: The Red Army out of encirclements by local warlords. The First Front Army met the Fourth Front Army, led by Zhang Guotao , in Sichuan ; they disagreed on the route to take to Yan'an and split up. The First Front Army arrived in Yan'an on 19 October 1935 with about 8,000 survivors, ending the Long March. The Fourth Front Army was largely destroyed by Chiang and Ma clique attacks, and its remnants joined

8125-404: The Red Army. Under Zhou, Bo, and Braun, the Red Army defeated four attacks by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops. Chiang's fifth campaign was much more difficult to contain. In September 1933, the National Revolutionary Army under Chiang Kai-shek eventually completely encircled Jiangxi, with the advice and tactical assistance of his German adviser, Hans von Seeckt . A fortified perimeter

8250-615: The Second Front Army led by He Long . All three armies met on 22 October 1936. Mao's leadership during the retreat brought him immense prestige and support among many within the otherwise-shattered Communist Party. It marked the beginning of his long ascent to primacy, and would be featured heavily in his public image, through the founding of the People's Republic . The divisions of the Red Army ( Chinese : 中國工農紅軍 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó gōngnóng hóngjūn ; lit. 'Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army') were named according to historical circumstances, not strictly according to

8375-425: The Second Red Army was formed in eastern Guizhou by unifying the 2nd Army Corps under Xiao Ke with the 6th Army Corps under He Long . A Third Red Army was briefly led by He in the area straddling the Hunan–Hubei border, but its defeat in 1932 led to its merger with the 6th Army Corps in October 1934. These three armies would maintain their historical designations until the formation of the Second United Front with

8500-466: The Tibetan highlands of western Sichuan. He Long and Xiao Ke were married to sisters who also accompanied the army. He Long's wife, Jian Xianren, carried the baby daughter she had given birth to three weeks before the retreat began. Jian Xianfo gave birth to a son in the desolate swamps of northern Sichuan. Forces of the Second Army detained two European missionaries, Rudolf Bosshardt and Arnolis Hayman, for 16 months. Bosshardt later related his account of

8625-400: The age of 108 on April 3rd, 2023. The Chinese government produced a movie in 2006, My Long March , relating personal experiences of a fictional participant in the Long March. The movie, released in celebration of the 71st year since the end of the March, was the second of three movies in the Axis of War movie series, retelling the events stretching from the Battle of the Xiang River up to

8750-502: The area of the Yangtze River Delta . Other sections of China were essentially in the hands of local Chinese warlords. Japan sought various Chinese collaborators and helped them establish governments friendly to Japan. This policy was called the Specialization of North China ( 華北特殊化 ; huáběitèshūhùa ), more commonly known as the North China Autonomous Movement. The northern provinces affected by this policy were Chahar , Suiyuan , Hebei , Shanxi , and Shandong. This Japanese policy

8875-404: The area, but their prestige had considerably declined by that point, and their suggestion was rejected. Even Zhou had become impatient, and proposed a new rule which was put into effect immediately: that all military plans had to be submitted to the Politburo for approval. The movement passed, clearly depriving Braun of the right to direct military affairs. On January 15 the Red Army captured Zunyi,

9000-543: The border of Hunan and Guizhou, was convened to discuss the direction of the Red Army on December 12, 1934. Zhou endorsed Mao's proposal, encouraging other leaders to overrule the objections of Bo and Braun. Another dispute of the direction of the Red Army occurred soon after, once the Red Army reached Liping , in the mountains of southeast Guizhou. Braun believed that they should travel to eastern Guizhou, but Mao wanted to go to western Guizhou, where he expected KMT forces to be lighter and which borders Sichuan , and to establish

9125-627: The breakout; the remainder, largely wounded or ill soldiers, continued to fight a delaying action after the main force had left, and then dispersed into the countryside. Several prominent members of the Chinese Soviet who remained behind were captured and executed by the Kuomintang after the fall of Ruijin in November 1934, including Qu Qiubai and the youngest brother of Mao Zedong, Mao Zetan . The withdrawal began in early October 1934. Zhou's intelligence agents were successful in identifying

9250-488: The buildings. Long March [REDACTED] Nationalist China The Long March ( Chinese : 长征 ; pinyin : Chángzhēng ; lit. 'Long Expedition') was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War , occurring between October 1934 and October 1935. About 100,000 troops retreated from

9375-538: The campaigns gradually subsided. In December, of 1931 Zhou replaced Mao Zedong as Secretary of the First Front Army and political commissar of the Red Army. Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai all criticized Mao's tactics at the August 1932 Ningdu Conference. The most senior leaders to support Mao in 1932 were Zhou Enlai, who had become disillusioned with the strategic leadership of other senior leaders in

9500-404: The capture of Nanjing, Japanese committed massive war atrocities including mass murder and rape of Chinese civilians after 13 December 1937, which has been referred to as the Nanjing Massacre . Over the next several weeks, Japanese troops perpetrated numerous mass executions and tens of thousands of rapes. The army looted and burned the surrounding towns and the city, destroying more than a third of

9625-588: The chronological order of their formation. Indeed, early Communist units would often form by defection from existing Kuomintang forces, and they kept their original designations. By the time of the Long March, numerous small units had been organized into three unified Armies: the First, the Second, and the Fourth. To distinguish them from earlier organizational divisions, some translations opt to refer to these same units as

9750-464: The city's large foreign community and increase China's foreign support. On 13 August 1937, Kuomintang soldiers attacked Japanese Marine positions in Shanghai, with Japanese army troops and marines in turn crossing into the city with naval gunfire support at Zhabei , leading to the Battle of Shanghai. On 14 August, Chinese forces under the command of Zhang Zhizhong were ordered to capture or destroy

9875-552: The city. After more than three months of intense fighting, their casualties far exceeded initial expectations. On 26 October, the IJA captured Dachang, a key strong-point within Shanghai, and on 5 November, additional reinforcements from Japan landed in Hangzhou Bay. Finally, on 9 November, the NRA began a general retreat. Japan did not immediately occupy the Shanghai International Settlement or

10000-689: The commission, and Wang Jiaxiang , whose support Mao had enlisted earlier. Within this group, Zhou was empowered to make the final decisions on military matters, while Mao was Zhou's assistant. Wang was in charge of Party affairs. When the army resumed its march northward, the direct route to Sichuan was blocked by Chiang's forces. Mao's forces spent the next several months maneuvering to avoid direct confrontation with hostile forces, but still attempting to move north to join Zhang Guotao 's Fourth Red Army. While Chiang's armies approached Mao in northern Guizhou from three directions, Mao maneuvered out of

10125-563: The conflict into a full-scale war. Following the shooting of two Japanese officers who were attempting to enter the Hongqiao military airport on 9 August 1937, the Japanese demanded that all Chinese forces withdraw from Shanghai; the Chinese outright refused to meet this demand. In response, both the Chinese and the Japanese marched reinforcements into the Shanghai area. Chiang concentrated his best troops north of Shanghai in an effort to impress

10250-516: The country. China was reduced to a fractured state. As a result, China's prosperity began to wither and its economy declined. This instability presented an opportunity for nationalistic politicians in Japan to press for territorial expansion. In 1915, Japan issued the Twenty-One Demands to extort further political and commercial privilege from China, which was accepted by the regime of Yuan Shikai. Following World War I , Japan acquired

10375-567: The country. Yuan's attempts at restoring the monarchy triggered the National Protection War , and Yuan Shikai was overthrown after only a few months. In the aftermath of Shikai's death in June 1916, control of China fell into the hands of the Beiyang Army leadership. The Beiyang government was a civilian government in name, but in practice it was a military dictatorship with a different warlord controlling each province of

10500-653: The details of daily life on the Long March in a book. Mao's First Red Army traversed several swamps and was attacked by Muslim Hui Ma clique forces under Generals Ma Bufang and Ma Buqing . Finally, in October 1935, Mao's army reached Shaanxi province and joined with local Communist forces there, led by Liu Zhidan , Gao Gang , and Xu Haidong , who had already established a Soviet base in northern Shaanxi. The remnants of Zhang's Fourth Red Army eventually rejoined Mao in Shaanxi, but with his army destroyed, Zhang, even as

10625-500: The effort of the central government of China to penetrate and destabilize the local Han warlords such as Liu Wenhui . The Chinese government sought to exercise full control over frontier areas against the warlords. Liu had refused to do battle with the Red Army, to save his own military from destruction. The Consolatory Commission forces were used to battle the Communist Red Army, but were defeated when their religious leader

10750-686: The encirclement by crossing the Chishui River four times . Then, Mao led the Red Army, crossing the Wu River and marching towards Guiyang . He feigned an attack to this city when Chiang was visiting. Chiang ordered his army in Kunming to move eastward to save Guiyang, but the Red Army turned towards Kunming immediately and entered Yunnan, where the Yangtze River was lightly guarded. In February 1935, Mao's wife, He Zizhen , gave birth to

10875-407: The enemy's overwhelming numerical superiority, and poor coordination of Communist forces. Braun's interpreter, Wu Xiuquan , later recalled that Bo's arguments did not impress his audience, and that Bo came across as someone attempting to avoid responsibility. Zhou Enlai was the next to speak. Zhou blamed the Red Army's failures on poor decisions at the leadership level, and blamed himself as one of

11000-540: The evacuation. Since the enemy was close, Zhou, in charge of logistics, made his plans in complete secrecy. It was not disclosed who was to leave or when: even senior leaders were only at the last moments told of the Army's movements. It is not known what criteria were used to determine who would stay and who would go, but 16,000 troops and some of the Communists' most notable commanders at the time (including Xiang Ying , Chen Yi , Tan Zhenlin , and Qu Qiubai ) were left to form

11125-545: The expectation of destroying the Chinese Air Force . However, the Imperial Japanese Navy encountered unexpected resistance from the defending Chinese Curtiss Hawk II / Hawk III and P-26/281 Peashooter fighter squadrons; suffering heavy (50%) losses from the defending Chinese pilots (14 August was subsequently commemorated by the KMT as China's Air Force Day ). The skies of China had become

11250-622: The failed leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun was denounced, Mao was not able to win the support of a sufficient number of Party leaders to gain outright power at the conference. A major shift in the Party's leadership occurred two months later, in March 1935. Mao was passed over for the position of General Secretary by Zhang Wentian , but gained enough influence to be elected one of three members of Military Affairs Commission. The other two members were Zhou Enlai, who retained his position as Director of

11375-582: The incident in July 1937 that is reckoned to mark the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War , with an exchange of fire over a minor case of a Japanese soldier missing from his post. For reasons unknown, this escalated into full-scale combat. It is known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident , and also the Lugou Bridge Incident. The Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression , surrounded by

11500-657: The investigation results of the Association of the Families of the Victims of the Jinan massacre, it showed that 6,123 Chinese civilians were killed and 1,701 injured. Relations between the Chinese Nationalist government and Japan severely worsened as a result of the Jinan incident. As the National Revolutionary Army approached Beijing, Zhang Zuolin decided to retreat back to Manchuria, before he

11625-615: The meeting. Seventeen of the meeting's twenty participants (the exceptions being Bo, Braun, and He Kequan ) argued in his favor. Of the three leaders who had controlled the Party before the Zunyi Conference, only Zhou Enlai's political career survived. Zhou was held partially responsible for the Red Army's defeat, but was retained at the top level of Party leadership because of his differences with Bo and Braun at Ningdu, his successful tactics in defeating Chiang's fourth Encirclement Campaign, and his resolute support of Mao. Although

11750-538: The military commission. Chiang's strategy of slowly constructing a series of interlinking blockhouses (resembling medieval castles) was successful, and Chiang's army was able to capture several major Communist strongholds within months. Between January and March 1934, the Nationalists advanced slowly. Bo and Braun continued to employ orthodox military tactics, resulting in a series of Kuomintang advances and heavy Communist casualties. In October 1934 KMT troops won

11875-570: The oppression of Korean residents". After five months of fighting, Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, and installed the last Emperor of China, Puyi , as its puppet ruler. Militarily too weak to challenge Japan directly, China appealed to the League of Nations for help. The League's investigation led to the publication of the Lytton Report , condemning Japan for its incursion into Manchuria, causing Japan to withdraw from

12000-504: The party at the time, Zhou Enlai , originally supported Mao's purges as necessary to eliminate KMT spies. After Zhou arrived in Jiangxi in December 1931, he criticized Mao's campaigns for being directed more against anti-Maoists than legitimate threats to the Party, for the campaign's general senselessness, and for the widespread use of torture to extract confessions. During 1932, following Zhou's efforts to end Mao's ideological persecutions,

12125-499: The party fell from 300,000 to around 40,000. In November 1935, shortly after settling in northern Shaanxi, Mao officially took over Zhou Enlai's leading position in the Red Army. Following a major reshuffling of official roles, Mao became the chairman of the Military Commission, with Zhou and Deng Xiaoping as vice-chairmen. (After Zhang Gutao reached Shaanxi, Deng was replaced by Zhang). This marked Mao's position as

12250-414: The poor. Nevertheless, only some 8,000 troops under Mao's command, the First Front Army, ultimately made it to the final destination of Yan'an in 1935. Of these, less than 7,000 were among the original 100,000 soldiers who had started the march. A variety of factors contributed to the losses including fatigue , hunger and cold, sickness, desertion, and military casualties. During the retreat, membership in

12375-535: The power to challenge the authority of Zhou and Mao, whose power was based largely on the Party's support. Zhang demanded that one of his own generals, Chen Changhao , take over Zhou's position as political commissar of the entire Red Army, and suggested that Zhang himself replace Zhu De on the Military Commission. Zhang argued that such a reorganization would create a more "equal" army organization. On July 18, Zhou relinquished his position as political commissar, and several leading positions were taken over by generals of

12500-409: The pre-eminent leader of the Party, with Zhou in a position second to Mao. Both Mao and Zhou would retain their positions until their deaths, in 1976. While costly, the Long March gave the CCP the isolation it needed, allowing its army to recuperate and rebuild in the north. It also was vital in helping the CCP to gain a positive reputation among the peasants due to the determination and dedication of

12625-477: The region by pressuring Yuan Shikai , the president of the Republic of China at the time. With a widened range of economic privileges in Manchuria, Japan began focusing on developing and protecting matters of economic interests. This included railroads, businesses, natural resources, and a general control of the territory. With its influence growing, the Japanese Army began to justify its presence by stating that it

12750-406: The revolution. Yuan, wanting to remain in power, compromised with the revolutionaries, and agreed to abolish the monarchy and establish a new republican government, under the condition he be appointed president of China. The new Beiyang government of China was proclaimed in March 1912, after which Yuan Shikai began to amass power for himself. In 1913, the parliamentary political leader Song Jiaoren

12875-475: The road of the Red Army is their only road to liberation. In addition, policies ordered by Mao for all soldiers to follow, the Eight Points of Attention , instructed the army to treat peasants respectfully and pay fairly for, rather than confiscate, any goods, in spite of the desperate need for food and supplies. This policy won support for the Communists among the rural peasants. Hostilities ceased while

13000-430: The rugged terrain of China's western provinces, including eastern Tibet . The Red Army broke several of Chiang’s blockades with heavy losses, and by the time it crossed the Xiang River on 1 December had only 36,000 men left. Its leaders, including Comintern military adviser Otto Braun and Moscow-trained Bo Gu , decided to take the troops through Hunan , but Chiang set up defenses to block their way. Mao Zedong , who

13125-613: The second largest city in Guizhou. As Mao had predicted, the city was weakly defended, and was too far from Nationalist forces to be under immediate threat of attack. By the time the Red Army occupied Zunyi, it was highly depleted, and counted little more than 10,000 men. Zhou used the peace afforded in Zunyi to call an enlarged Politburo meeting, in order to examine the causes of the Communists' repeated defeats. The Communists' Zunyi Conference lasted from January 15–17, 1935, and resulted in

13250-519: The sleek A5Ms in dogfights , and it also proved to be a battle of attrition against the Chinese Air Force. At the start of the battle, the local strength of the NRA was around five divisions, or about 70,000 troops, while local Japanese forces comprised about 6,300 marines. On 23 August, the Chinese Air Force attacked Japanese troop landings at Wusongkou in northern Shanghai with Hawk III fighter-attack planes and P-26/281 fighter escorts, and

13375-457: The surviving participants of the Long March. Mao wrote in 1935: The Long March is a manifesto. It has proclaimed to the world that the Red Army is an army of heroes, while the imperialists and their running dogs, Chiang Kai-shek and his like, are impotent. It has proclaimed their utter failure to encircle, pursue, obstruct and intercept us. The Long March is also a propaganda force. It has announced to some 200 million people in eleven provinces that

13500-608: The tensions in the Northeast that led to the Mukden Incident and eventually the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Soviet Red Army victory over Xueliang's forces not only reasserted Soviet control over the CER in Manchuria but revealed Chinese military weaknesses that Japanese Kwantung Army officers were quick to note. The Soviet Red Army performance also stunned the Japanese. Manchuria was central to Japan's East Asia policy. Both

13625-421: The three people most responsible. Zhou's willingness to accept responsibility was well received. Zhang Wentian , basing many of his conclusions on recent discussions with Mao, attacked Bo and Braun directly, criticizing them for numerous strategic and tactical errors. After Zhang, Mao gave a speech in which he analyzed the poor tactics and strategies of the two leaders. With Zhou's explicit backing, Mao won over

13750-442: The time and did not expect an attack on their fortified perimeter. The early troop movements were actually a diversion to allow the retreat of more important leaders from Jiangxi. On October 16, 1934, a force of about 130,000 soldiers and civilians under Bo Gu and Otto Braun attacked the line of Kuomintang positions near Yudu. More than 86,000 troops, 11,000 administrative personnel and thousands of civilian porters actually completed

13875-647: The time, the Nationalist government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. After the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact , Soviet aid bolstered the National Revolutionary Army and Air Force . By 1939, after Chinese victories at Changsha and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat Chinese Communist Party forces in Shaanxi , who waged

14000-537: The unexpected death of Sun in March 1925, a power struggle within the KMT led to the shift in the party's authority to Chiang Kai-shek, whose Northern Expedition forces succeeded in wresting control of large areas of China from local warlords and establishing a unified government in Nanjing in April 1927. Unlike other nationalist leaders, like Wang Jingwei , Chiang was opposed to the idea of continued collaboration with

14125-539: The way Zhang's forces were largely destroyed by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Muslim allies, the Ma clique . The remnants of Zhang's forces later rejoined elements of the Second Red Army before eventually linking up with Mao's forces in Shaanxi. The Second Red Army began its own withdrawal west from Hubei in November 1935, led by He Long , who commanded the KMT Twentieth Army in 1923 before joining

14250-525: Was Luding Bridge , extolled in official history as an heroic triumph, although many historians now believe that the difficulty of the battle was exaggerated or that the incident was fabricated for propaganda purposes. Warlords often refused to help out the Kuomintang against the Communist Red Army, preferring to save their own forces. 300 "Khampa bandits" were enlisted into the Kuomintang's Consolatory Commission military in Sichuan, where they were part of

14375-617: Was assassinated by the Kwantung Army in 1928. His son, Zhang Xueliang , took over as the leader of the Fengtian clique in Manchuria. Later in the same year, Zhang declared his allegiance to the Nationalist government in Nanjing under Chiang Kai-shek , and consequently, China was nominally reunified under one government. The July–November 1929 conflict over the Chinese Eastern Railroad (CER) further increased

14500-480: Was also called the "Eight Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 八年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 八年抗戰 ), but in 2017 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive stating that textbooks were to refer to the war as the "Fourteen Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 十四年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 十四年抗戰 ), reflecting a focus on the broader conflict with Japan going back to

14625-406: Was assassinated ; it is generally believed Yuan Shikai ordered the assassination. Yuan Shikai then forced the parliament to pass a bill to strengthen the power of the president and sought to restore the imperial system , becoming the new emperor of China. However, there was little support for an imperial restoration among the general population, and protests and demonstrations soon broke out across

14750-562: Was captured by Communist forces. Communist forces on the Long March clashed against Kham rebels in the 1934 Khamba Rebellion , who were fleeing from Tibetan government forces. In June–July 1935, the troops under Mao united with the Fourth Red Army, led by Zhang Guotao, which had retreated west from Henan . Zhang had taken a different route of evacuation, and arrived at Lianghekou with 84,000 troops in relatively good condition. The fact that he had control of superior forces gave him

14875-570: Was established by Chiang's forces, and Jiangxi was besieged in an attempt to destroy the Communist forces trapped within. In July 1934, the leaders of the Party, dominated by the " Twenty-Eight Bolsheviks ", a militant group formed in Moscow by Wang Ming and Bo Gu, forced Mao from the Politburo of the CCP in Ruijin and placed him briefly under house arrest. Mao was replaced by Zhou Enlai as leader of

15000-676: Was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II , and often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust ", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It

15125-575: Was most effective in the area of what is now Inner Mongolia and Hebei. In 1935, under Japanese pressure, China signed the He–Umezu Agreement , which forbade the KMT to conduct party operations in Hebei. In the same year, the Chin–Doihara Agreement was signed expelling the KMT from Chahar. Thus, by the end of 1935 the Chinese government had essentially abandoned northern China. In its place,

15250-539: Was not a member of the Politburo , suggested going through Guizhou instead, which was accepted. On New Year's Day 1935, the Red Army crossed the Wu River , and a week later held the Zunyi Conference , which reduced Soviet influence in the Politburo and established Mao's position as de facto leader. Employing guerrilla warfare , Mao maneuvered to avoid direct confrontation with Chiang's forces and led

15375-520: Was obvious to Party leaders that Chiang was intent on intercepting what remained of the Red Army in Hunan, and the direction of the Red Army's movements had to be reconsidered. The plan to rendezvous and join He Long's army in Hunan had become too risky. Mao suggested to Zhou that the Red Army change direction, towards Guizhou, where Mao expected enemy defenses to be weak. A meeting at Tongdao , close to

15500-453: Was simply protecting its own economic interests. However militarists in the Japanese Army began pushing for an expansion of influence, leading to the Japanese Army assassinating the warlord of Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin . This was done with hopes that it would start a crisis that would allow Japan to expand their power and influence in the region. When this was not as successful as they desired, Japan then decided to invade Manchuria outright after

15625-425: Was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war . From the Japanese perspective, localizing these conflicts was beneficial in preventing intervention from other countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which were its primary source of petroleum and steel respectively. A formal expression of these conflicts would potentially lead to an American embargo in accordance with

#767232