Second Kuomintang-Communist Civil War

Second stage of the Chinese Civil War

The Second Kuomintang-Communist Civil War, called the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion or Mobilization for the Suppression of Communist Rebellion by the Kuomintang (KMT) , and Chinese People's War of Liberation or simply, War of Liberation, by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was a conflict between the KMT and the CCP for the leadership of China. It was the second stage of the Chinese Civil War. The result of the civil war was that the CCP became victorious, leading to the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan, the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, and the two regimes between the mainland and Taiwan each declaring itself as the legitimate Chinese government at present.

Background

On August 15, 1945, the Empire of Japan, the common enemy of the Kuomintang and the CCP, announced its surrender, which marked the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The surrender of Japan intensified the rivalry between the KMT and the CCP which was previously weakened by the ongoing war against it. ^[4]: 1–2

On the eve of Japan's surrender, the major force of the KMT's army was concentrated in the home front, with almost no regular army present north of the Yangtze River and east of the Pinghan Road. The only army located to the South of the Yangtze River and to the east of the Guangzhou–Hankou railway and only troops from the Third War Area south of the Yangtze River and east of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway were the troops from the third military region. ^[5]

By April 1945, the CCP along with the Eighth Route Army which was under its leadership had controlled most of the rural areas of northern China, with a total population of around 95.5 million. The CCP had also built up an army that could compete with the KMT.^{[5][6]: 10–43} Socially, due to the devastation brought about by the Second Sino-Japanese War, the gentry, which used to be a group that could help stabilize the society, was disintegrated. As a result, the social instability led to an increasing number of the unemployed population, many of some became the supporters of the CCP. So, the size of the People's Liberation Army, the principle military force of the CCP, experienced a rapid expansion. ^[7]: 724

According to the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, the Nationalist Government had the legal status over northeastern China. The Article 5(b) of the treaty stipulated no restriction on the movement be imposed on the government troops from moving into or within northeastern China. ^[8] In addition, Article 2 stipulated that military mobilization within the territory of China (except for the Northeast) should cease. ^[8] However, the CCP believed it also had the right to take over the Northeast and refused to comply with this treaty. It continued to deploy troops from the China proper to the Northeast to take over the Soviet troops who were occupying it at the time. ^[8]

Outbreak of the war

Surrender and takeover

On August 15, the Japanese Emperor announced the surrender of the Empire of Japan. ^[9]: 32 The CCP-controlled Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army refused Chiang's order to wait the government forces to arrive and receive Japanese surrender, as stipulated in the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance. Instead, they launched an offensive on all fronts against the Japanese and collaborationists. In addition, the CCP ordered the Japanese to surrender to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army unless they were encircled by the government forces.^{[10]: 1–3 [11]: 185} On August 16, Mao Zedong, the chairman of the CCP, published the article "People's Enemy Chiang Kai-shek Sends Out a Signal for Civil War" in the CCP-owned Xinhua News Agency. In the article, Mao falsified the remarks made by Wu Kuo-chen, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government by slandering that Wu accused Chiang Kai-shek of "sending out a signal of civil war" by intending to deal with the opponents "with military justice". in fact, Mao was deliberately breaking with the KMT and preparing to launch a civil war to topple the government in the name of opposing the civil war. ^[12]: 169

Early negotiations

On August 14, 1945, Chiang Kai-Shek invited Mao Zedong to go to Chongqing, the wartime capital of China, to negotiate with each other and reduce the disagreements between the KMT and the CCP.^[13] On August 24, Mao agreed under the order made by Joseph Stalin in the name of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.^[13]: 721 After the negotiation, an agreement was reached on October 10. One of the few key policies reached in the agreement stipulated that the CCP recognize the Nationalist government as the sole legitimate Chinese government while the KMT recognize the CCP as a legal opposition party. In addition, the agreement scheduled a future meeting between the major political factions in China to discuss unsolved problems.^[14]

Showdown of the war

The Three Campaigns

The Yangtze River Crossing campaign

Sporadic conflict on the Taiwan Strait

Conclusion

Aftermath

See also

• Outline of the Chinese Civil War
• Timeline of the Chinese Civil War
• Aftermath of World War II
• 1947 Chinese National Assembly election
• Korean War
• First Indochina War

Notes

1. The exact beginning and end dates are debatable. See start and end dates for more details.

References

1. "Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth) to the Acting Secretary of State". Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, the Far East: China, Volume VIII. Office of the Historian.
2. 胡美; 任东来 (2007年). "1946~1947年美国对华军火禁运的几个问题". 《美國研究》 (第3期).
3. Lynch 2010, p. 91. sfn error: no target: CITEREFLynch2010 (help)
4. 汪朝光. 《中国近代通史》第10卷：中国命运的决战（1945-1949）.
5. 汪朝光. "〈国民政府对抗战胜利之初期因应〉". 《抗日战争研究》2003年第2期.
6. （美）胡素珊 (1997). 《中国的内战：1945—1949年的政治》. 王海良 等 译. 北京: 中国青年出版社. ISBN 978-7-5006-2519-3.
7. 張, 玉法 (1977). 中國現代史. 台北: 東華書局.
8. 國家發展委員會檔案管理局 (January 2014). "會議前的東北問題". 檔案支援教學網. Archived from the original on 2024-01-03. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
9. 刘晓岳：《中国抗日战争史丛书：日本投降与中国受降》,中国友谊出版公司, 2001年
10. 张宪文等, ed. (2006). 《中华民国史》第4卷 (2005 ed.). 南京大学出版社. ISBN 978-7-305-04242-3.
11. 张宪文 (2006). "朱德：〈命令冈村宁次投降〉（1945年8月15日），《朱德选集》，北京：人民出版社，1983年". 《中华民国史》第四卷. 南京: 南京大学出版社.
12. Cite error: The named reference 杨天石 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
13. 郭廷以 (1986). 《近代中國史綱》 (第三版 ed.). 香港: 中文大學出版社.
14. "Road to the second KMT-CCP civil war". End of Empire. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2021.

Further reading

• Bernstein, Richard. China 1945: Mao's Revolution and America's Fateful Choice. New York: Vintage Books, 2015.
• Fairbank, John King, and Albert Feuerwerker, eds. 1986. The Cambridge History of China. Volume 13, Republican China 1912-1949. Part 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kurtz-Phelan, Daniel. The China Mission: George Marshall's Unfinished War, 1945-1947. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.
• Lary, Diana. China's Civil War: A Social History, 1945-1949. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge university press, 2015.
• Pepper, Suzanne. Civil War in China: The Political Struggle, 1945-1949. Lanham, Ma.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999.
• Stuart, John Leighton. Fifty Years in China: the Memoirs of John Leighton Stuart, Missionary and Ambassador. New York: Random House, 1954.
• Westad, Odd Arne. Cold War and Revolution: Soviet-American Rivalry and the Origins of the Chinese Civil War, 1944-1946. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.