Introduction
The war between the Soviet Union, now Russia and the United States goes well beyond the documented era of the cold war. The desire to control the world economy was the main drive for the war. The two superpowers had differing ideas on what the world nations should adopt as their economic ideologies. While the Soviet Union advocated for communism, the United States supported capitalism. These two superpowers more than any other continent fought to control Asia. This was because of the economic benefits that would accrue with this control.
Immediately after the end of the Second World War China was involved in a civil war that lasted for four years. This civil war was mainly a conflict between the nationalists and the communists and led to the formation of the People’s Republic of China. With the close of the pacific war the relationship between the Chinese government led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the main supporter the United States had somewhat become strained. This was against the belief by Franklin D. Roosevelt who was then the President of America. His dream was to use China as the epitome of bringing peace and stability in Asia (Duiker and Spielvopgel 568). At this time China was in deep problems of Japanese aggression and all the government concern was directed towards finding a solution to fighting off this aggression. On the other hand the Chinese communists were centralizing their strength in the north of China. The communist’s administrators won the hearts of the Chinese masses through a policy that they dubbed from ‘the masses to the masses’ (Duiker and Spielvopgel 568). Duiker et al. 568). Through this policy the communist propagators annexed the lands of the wealthy landlords and divided the land among the poor. They also substantially reduced the tax charged on the peasants lands and these actions won the hearts of close to thirty million Chinese with their military movement the People Liberation Army having recruited close to a million volunteer militants.
The United States of America felt threatened by the mileage that the communist movement had already achieved by the end of the Second World War. Though it was imminent that China would enter in to war, America was very reluctant to intervene. Some quarters of the American government urged the American government then under President Harry Truman to support the Chinese government or remain neutral to the cause of the war. However to ensure that they had full control of the situation the Truman administration tried to forge an alliance of all political parties in China but this did not bear any fruits (Duiker and Spielvogel 568).
Reasons for the Chinese civil war
The years leading to the Chinese civil war, Kuomintang or the China’s Nationalist Party under Chiang Kai- Shek was in power. This was one regime that was marred with all mannerisms of corruption and appeared unfavorable in the eyes of the Chinese community (Pepper 199). This led to the mass exodus of the Chinese Kuomintang supporters who joined the China Communist Party. According to them this was the only light they could see at the end of the tunnel.
This public displeasure with the Kuomintang administration was evidenced through the numerous student riots, industrial unrests and peasants uprising. All the government policies were met with a public outcry and open criticism by the students, peasants and businessmen as they were labeled unfavourable for personal growth whether socially or economically by the people of China (Pepper 199).
To maintain peace in China the United States administration appointed General Marshall to head a coalition between the Kuomintang and the China’s Communist Party. This lasted for a while before the policies introduced by Stalin disrupted this short lived peace. According to Westad (35) the Soviet Union did not introduce these policies to intentionally spark off the war. The main drive for Stalin was to drive the Kuomintang administration to make economic compromise blocking the united China from partnering with the United States. However this was not to be as this policy set off a civil war that would last for four years from 1945 to 1949. As part of the unification the Jiang Jieshi’s regime was devoted to taking full control of Manchuria which was formerly a Japanese held territory and which the communists had a strong control over.
To achieve this, the Jiang Jieshi’s regime envisioned the retreat of the Soviet Union. This withdrawal would also help Jiang annex himself from the political straitjacket that had been imposed on him by the Americans through the General Marshall Peace initiative (Westad 35). Jiang’s idea was that the communists would give in to his government demands. When this did not happen, Jiang felt aggravated and resolved to use military power to try and annex Manchuria from the communists. Finally the soviet forces withdrew from Manchuria on 13th March 1946, but the line had already been drawn and the two parties no longer trusted each other. On 31st March of the same year Kuomintang forces attacked the communists occupying the Siping and Jilin province with the aim to break through to the Manchurian capital of Changchun. The communist leader Mao did not take this lying down but instead ordered his troops to hit back (Westad 36).
The initial victory by the communist party encouraged the leader Mao that there was no need for peace talks. On the contrary Mao and his military commandant Lin Bao laid out new strategies on how to keep off the Kuomintang troops from capturing Manchuria and any other city in the north. The timing of this war and the subsequent withdrawal of the Soviet Union troops from the north had given the communists an advantage over their opponents since they had control of all the entry points to Manchuria. More so their supply routes were far much developed than anything the Kuomintang would ever come up with during the invasion. However these were not the only reasons as to why the communist party won over the nationalist party. The interference by international powers namely the Soviet Union and the United States had a great contribution in the course this war took.
Soviet Union Contribution
The Communism movement all over the world is largely associated with the Soviet Union. The cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States was based on the deferring ideologies of capitalism and communism. It is because of this that the contribution of the Soviet Union in the civil war in China and the subsequent victory of the communists must be critically analyzed.
Since the days of the Chinese communist’s wars with the Japanese the Soviet Union interference was very eminent. In 1923 the Soviet Union advised the communist party to seek alliance with the Kuomintang with the hope that the communist party would eventually manage to absorb the Kuomintang (Waldron par. 7). However the alliance was short-lived and in 1927 Chiang Kai- Shek, attacked the communist in Shanghai during the Northern Expedition.
Nonetheless another alliance was formed in 1937 with its main aim being to drive out the Japanese but after the mission was achieved the alliance split once again. However the soviet policies at times clashed with the ideologies of the communist party. For instance the Soviet Union had advised the communist party to carry out a revolution through a mass urban revolution but this was not acceptable to the communists considering only a small percentage of the Chinese population was concentrated in the urban regions. On the other hand all the big cities where the population was a bit high were the strong holds of the nationalist party. With the massive failure of the urban uprising the communist party migrated and concentrated its effect in the rural areas. This led to the Long March in 1934 whereby the communist party won the hearts of most of the peasant workers.
The interest of the Soviet Union in Manchuria can be interpreted to have been more of competition with the United States for control rather than as a supporter of the communist party. As a matter of fact the assistance that the communist party received from the Soviet Union was very limited (Waldron par. 5). Further the communist party almost lost the trust of the peasants who blamed them for allowing the soviets to dismantle the industrial plants in Manchuria. Perhaps the greatest assistance that the Chinese Communist Party received from the Soviet Union was the permission to collect whichever weapon the Japanese troops had left behind in Manchuria.
In addition the Kuomintang troops outnumbered the communist troops and the Soviet Union did not have any hopes that the communist would win the war. As allies of the communist party, the Soviet Union was not expected to befriend the nationalist party. Controversially the Soviet Union sustained perfect relations with the Nationalist Party during the civil war. Because of the above it can be safely deduced that the Soviet Union had its own rationale for engaging in the scuffle which was to advance the policies of the U.S.S.R., but not to assist the communist party.
America’s Contribution
The main reason for America’s involvement in the war between the communist party and the nationalist party was the fear that communism was gaining a strong hold in Asia and fiercely spreading all over Europe. As a matter of fact the Chinese civil war can be treated as the beginning of the cold war between America and Soviet Union (Waldron par. 8). The major fear grappling America at that time was the possibility of China being divided like Europe had. To avert the situation the American government sent General George Marshall to try and unify China by brokering a coalition type of government between the Nationalist Party and the China Communist Party.
However Marshall’s mission was a complete failure due to a number of reasons. In the event of brokering a truce between the nationalist and the communist parties, it was unethical for the American government to supply weapons to the nationalist troops. This was a clear indication that the American government was favoring one side. More so, over the years of being under control of the British and the American powers the Chinese people had lost trust in the American system and wished for this to be brought to and end. It is for this reason that it can be argued that the Chinese people refused to honor the treaty and a civil war was nonetheless inevitable.
Nevertheless, the Kuomintang troops received support from the American administration during the Chinese civil war. A year before the war came to an end the nationalist movement received some funding from the Chinese government. On the other hand the nationalist movement complained that the funding was not enough and alleged negligence by the American government. This was a basis used by the communist to accuse the nationalists of being American imperialist messengers. The Kuomintang was not just supplied with financial assistance by the United States as aircrafts and trucks were also provided. Controversially, this assistance worked against the nationalist because their advanced means of transport allowed them to deploy their troops far beyond reach and this worked against the nationalists more that it worked for them.
Reasons Why the Communist Won Over the Nationalists
By the time of going to war with the Chinese ruling party the nationalist party was already facing so many problems. In the rural areas, the peasants had been attracted to the communist party due to the promise of land and social justice that had been denied them for many years. More so the business people in the city were devastated by the ever rising rate of inflation and immense corruption that rocked China (Duiker et al. 729). Millions of nationalist patriots changed course and joined the communists’ troops which later fought to defeat the nationalist movement. The reasons for the victory are discussed into detail.
Land reforms
This is probably the main reason as to why the communist party won the civil war. Their accommodative socialist ideologies were quite conducive for the poor peasants who for a long time had been alienated by the nationalist government. The land reforms were geared towards annexing land from the landlords and subdividing the same to the peasants in a bid to achieve an equitable society. There were many methods that were applied to recover this land. The process involved holding village meetings in which the peasants narrated all the atrocities committed against them by their land lord. Later they demanded compensation for this atrocities and when the landlords could not pay their land was taken from them as payments.
This acted as an enticement for the rural dwellers who prescribed into the communist army in great numbers. Perhaps the main drive for the Chinese communist movement can be interpreted as wanting to prove to the poor peasants that they could also exercise their power as well as actively participate in the Chinese revolution. This close relationship with the rural peasants greatly contributed to the victory of the communist party during the Chinese civil war.
Military Strategy
Though the great numbers of the Kuomintang should have put them at an advantage against their opponents the communist’s strategy was much better than the nationalists which put them on the winning edge. The communist party had visionary leaders who were not interested in personal gain or pleasing their leaders (Waldron par.10). On the other hand the nationalist leaders were more interested in outdoing each other and this led to their failure.
During their regular military training the communist war leaders were reminded of the goals of the war which were to ensure total land reforms as well as oust all foreign political powers from China. To achieve their goals the Chinese communist army adopted the guerilla warfare tactics. The most urgent goal was to immensely reduce the number of the Kuomintang troops as this was the only advantage that they had over the communists. Some of the tactics used to achieve this was the transformation of the nationalist’s army who were held as prisoners by the communist troops to ensure they defected loyally to communism. To ensure that the guerilla tactics worked effectively, the communists’ leaders ensured that their army was constantly supplied with medical services and food. This was in contrast to the nationalists troops who due to their advanced means of transport had been deployed to some regions which were later inaccessible. This led to the massive death of the troops due to curable ailments and hunger. Their guerilla tactics worked well especially due to the support they received from the Chinese people who regarded the nationalists as American stooges. In addition the communists would not confront the nationalist troops unless they were sure of a probability to win the battle. The unity and visionary leadership of the communist’s troops was the main reason as to why the Mao Tse Tung troops trounced the nationalist troops.
Urban Reforms
As earlier indicated the middle class urban dwellers who were mostly business men were unhappy with the leadership of Chiang Kai Shek. The regime was marred with kleptocracy and the ever rising inflation threatened to destabilize the Chinese economy (Duiker et al. 729). To clean the cities the communist’s troops endeavored to sweep away all the twilight girls, beggars, burglars and most importantly do away with all the drug barons.
To entice the urban dwellers who as stated were mostly businessmen, the communist’s party introduced labor unions which were mandated to look into the compensation and reward schemes of all organizations to ensure that workers received what they truly deserved. This helped to improve the productive capacity of all the workers and the economy experienced a boost. To alleviate inflation the communist party introduced its currency which was different from that of the nationalist movement. Through these urban reforms the communists had gained significant support from the urban dwellers.
Conclusion
With the victory of the communist movement, China became one of the largest communist’s countries. Despite not receiving adequate support from either the United States or the Soviet Union, the communist won the war through the political, social and economic reforms they implemented in China. It had become evident that the people of China had become tired of the nationalist regime as they had no respect for humanity. The assassinations of political activists had marred the regime that the populace no longer held any regard for.
With the defeat of the nationalist government the nationalist loyalists were forced to retreat to Taiwan where they remain up to date. After the war the Mao Tse Tung regime returned to the urban region where the youth were given jobs and the classification of the Chinese people abolished. The communist movement in China has really been productive. Currently the Chinese economy is doing extremely well threatening to oust America as the world economic superpower.
Works Cited
Duiker, William and Spielvopgel, Jackson. “World History “. California: Cengage Learning, 2006. Print.
Pepper, Suzanne. “Civil War in China: the political struggle, 1945-1949”. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 1990. Print.
Waldron, Arthur. “Reader’s Companion to Military History: Chinese Civil War”. California: Cengage Learning, 2005. Web.
Westad, Odd, Arne. “Decisive Encounters: the Chinese civil war, 1946-1950”. California: Stanford University Press, 2003. Print.