Flashcards
KQ1 - China
Cards in this deck (23)
- 1How was China governed before the Guomindang?China was ruled by dynasties, following the collapse of these, China became a very divided country. China had several provinces controlled by various warlords, often declaring war on each other.
- 2What was the United Front?Two groups sprung up in China; both against the warlords and imperialism. One was the Chinese Communist Party and the other was the Goumindang. The two parties joined forces, in 1923, to fight the common enemy (the warlords). The group was named the United front.
- 3What effects did the United Front have on relations between the CCP and GMD? Think before and after Sun-Yat senWhile Sun-Yat sen was alive, the two parties worked well together, however, following his death, tensions appeared.
- Within the CCP there were two groups, one that supported the Marxist ideology (which was about basing the organisation of urban workers), the others believed that the CCP should be based upon peasants, who made up 95% of the Chinese population.
- Some GMD members distrusted the CCP, they believed that it wanted to bring China under Soviet control. - 4What is the May 30th 1925 movement?- There were national protests and boycotts of foreign goods, in response many Chinese joined the GMD and the CCP. The CCP gained 150,000 new members in two weeks.
- 5What was the northern expedition?- In 1925, Chiang was appointed the command of the GMD army. He wanted to crush the warlords in northern China in order to unite the country.
- By 1927, all of China, south of the yangtze (a river) was in GMD control. - 6Why was the GMD successful? (In capturing land)- Chiang Kai-shek was trained in Russia.
- the GMD had a strong support of peasants (changes later in favour of the CCP)
- whom provided intelligence and support for the army.
- Some Warlords joined the GMD army and so where allowed to retain autonomy. - 7The second phase of the northern expedition.- In 1928, Chiang occupies Beijing, China appeared to be unified and the GMD party was recognised by foreign powers.
- 8What were the problems arising from the GMD's successes?- Support for the CCP grew with hundreds of thousands of new supporters mainly streaming in from Shanghai.
- Chiang was pressured by businesses to take action against the CCP. - 9Why did the CCP gain support in the 1920s?- Following the example of Soviet Russia, the CCP decided to concentrate on the peasants and workers of the country. The GMD tended to ignore them, they were more focussed on the wealthier class of society. The GMD were known for being corrupt and unjust.
- The CCP led by Mao offered land reform, taking land away from landlords and giving it to peasants. This was one of the Three Principles of Sun Yatsen, but Chiang was unwilling to enforce it because many landlords supported the GMD.
- 95 % of the Chinese people were peasants, the CCP represented peasants and 2,000,000 people joined CCP organisations in 1926-7.
- Mao supported a revolt by peasants in Hunan province in 1927. It failed, but many peasants turned to the CCP as a means of dealing with landlords.
- The GMD represented landlords and so did not attract many peasants. - 10What were the Shanghai Massacres?- April 1927, Chiang ordered the Shanghai Massacres in an effort to reduce the power of the CCP. The massacres spread to other cities, including Nanjing and Guangzhou.
- Several hundred thousand communists were shot in the streets of Chinese cities. - They were stopped, questioned and then searched to see if they had a red stain on their necks from a red neckerchief, the emblem of the CCP. Suspects were then shot through the neck or head. - 11Why was Chiang Kaishek unable to gain complete control of China from 1926 to 1935?- The Northern Campaign was not completely successful in defeating the warlords. Rebellions continued until the mid-1930s.
The Warlords also became involved in in-fighting in the GMD and there were rebellions in Hunan 1929 and in Fujian in 1933.
In 1931, the Japanese occupied Manchuria and deprived China of much of its iron and coal.
China also suffered from the effects of the Great Depression - 12What happened to the CCP following the Shanghai and other city massacres? What was the Jiangxi Soviet?- Some of the Communists who had survived the massacres in Shanghai and the other Chinese cities had gathered in Jiangxi, under the leader ship of Mao.
- Because the cities were dominated by the GMD and because the peasants were strong supporters of the CCP, Mao set up his own soviet in the countryside, which was against Marxist ideas.
- Mao encouraged peasants to seize land from landlords and redistribute it. Some landlords were arrested and executed.
- Mao was aided by bad famines and droughts in the years 1927 to 1930. Many peasants were unable to pay the high taxes of the GMD and turned to the CCP.
- In 1930, the Land Law of the Chinese Revolutionary Council said that cultivated land was to be distributed equally between all the population.
- Landlords were to have a smaller share than others. This attracted mass support from peasants. - 13When were the GMD campaigns against the Jiangxi soviet?1930
- 14Why were the first four campaigns ineffective?- Mao adopted Guerrilla tactics and avoided head on battles, instead attacking single units in ambushes.
- The GMD lacked the support of the peasants because they were treated very badly. Peasants were conscripted into the army and forced to pay high taxes as well as having to hand over food to the GMD army. - 15What were the downsides to Mao's tactics?- Mao's retreat and lure based tactics allowed the GMD army to capture several communist villages.
- As a result, in four years, 1,000,000 peasants were killed and starved.
- Many members of the communist party thought this morally wrong and cowardly. - 16Why did the Communists start the Long March?- In 1933, Chiang adopted a different tactic. He launched his largest campaign yet, using an army of 900,000 men, Chiang encircled the communists, building concrete blockhouses and slowly advancing.
- During this time, the CCP had adopted new tactics which meant that the communists engaged in head on battles with the GMD. 60,000 communist soldiers were killed and 1,000,000 peasants died as a result.
- In October 1934 Mao and about 100,000 communists attempted to break out of the soviet and head west.
- They marched an estimated 9,000 kilometres through the Guizhou and Sichuan provinces into northern Shensi and established a new base, out of the reach of the GMD, at Yanan.
- The main body was led by Mao and eventually numbered 8,000. Other groups had headed for different destinations but most joined Mao by 1936.
- Out of the 100,000 who started the march only about 20,000 survived - 17How far was the Long March a success?- The Long March became part of Chinese Communist mythology. Many paintings were produced showing Mao marching at the head of the column over the mountains of western China. Many Chinese looked up to Mao as a great hero.
- During the march communist ideas were spread in new areas and many new supporters were found because of this.
- The behaviour of the communists was much better than that of the GMD soldiers, which also attracted support.
- Mao emerged as the undisputed leader of the CCP and the influence of Soviet Russia declined during this time.
- The CCP became more nationalist and less international.
- The new base was remote enough for the GMD to be unable to attack it. It was also safe from attack by the Japanese. This helped to increase the CCP's standing in China even further.
- In fact few details of the actual march can be confirmed, but it is certain that without the escape from the GMD, communism in China would probably have been destroyed. - 18What other reasons were there for the increasing support for the CCP?- Mao and the communists had declared war against the Japanese in 1931. Chiang only began to fight the Japanese when he was forced to by other GMD leaders in 1937. The peasants were in favour of this as they greatly disliked the Japanese, since they were foreign invaders, whom preformed mass slaughterings in Shanghai and other cities.
- Mao ordered his soldiers to always be courteous to the local population and told them to follow eight strict rules:
Speak politely
Pay fairly for what you buy
Return anything you borrow
Pay for anything you damage
Don't hit or swear at people
Don't damage crops
Don't take liberties with women
Don't ill-treat captives
- When the Japanese occupied Manchuria, Mao called for a United Front of the CCP and the GMD against the invaders. This increased support for the CCP as Mao again prioritised being rid of the Japanese rather than the nationalists. - 19How far did the Second World War weaken the Nationalist government and strengthen the Communists? 1- The impact of the Japanese invasion- In 1931, the Japanese invaded Manchuria. At first Chiang ignored the Japanese, because he did not regard them as a serious problem, instead he concentrated on trying to eliminate the Communists.
- In 1936, Chiang ordered the forces of the Warlord Zhang Xueliang (Chang Hsueh-liang) to attack the CCP in Yanan, but Zhang refused. Chiang flew to Xi'an, but was arrested and held prisoner.
- Chiang was only released when Zhou Enlai stated that a United Front was essential for the fight against the Japanese Chiang agreed and was released. - 202- How did the Second United Front, 1937 to 1945, change relations between the GMD and the CCP?- The Communists accepted direction from the GMD government in Nanjing.
- The Chinese Soviet republic was abolished.
- The Red Army was merged with the GMD, becoming the Eighth Route Army.
- As the Japanese occupied much of eastern China and began mass slaughters of Chinese in Shanghai and other cities, resistance to the Japanese grew and became more and more important.
- The CCP agreed to stop its attacks on landowners. From 1937 landlords were encouraged to sell their land to peasants.
- Land belonging to collaborators with the Japanese was confiscated.
- Peasants were given a voice in political decisions
The war with Japan lasted from 1937 to 1945, when the Japanese left China the stage was set for a civil war between the Communists and the GMD. - 213- The impact of the war upon the CCP and the GMD- Chiang retreated before the Japanese invasion and gave up the capital of Nanjing. He moved the government to Sichuan province.
- In Sichuan, Chiang was cut off from the industrialised westernised areas of China, which were his main power base. Consequently the GMD could do little to fight back against Japan. The GMD appeared to be unwilling to attack the Japanese.
- The GMD government became more corrupt as officials competed for personal power and influence. Inflation grew rapidly and the power of Warlords increased.
- The Japanese concentrated upon the GMD and left the CCP alone. The CCP advanced into the areas vacated by the GMD and soon controlled most of northern China.
- The CCP made clear that its policy was to drive out the Japanese.
- The Eighth Route Army acted independently, often behind Japanese lines. It set up a network of command posts in villages across China. Its behaviour won increasing support for the CCP.
- In these areas the CCP carried on with land reform, lowering rents from 37.5% to 20%. - 22Why did the Communists win the Civil War? Part 1 This is after WW2- From 1945 both the CCP and the GMD tried to take control of as much territory as possible. The GMD occupied most of southern China, but the CCP took the north.
- Manchuria was occupied by Soviet troops at the end of the war and they allowed the CCP to move in.
- In early 1946, the CCP and the GMD signed a truce, but attacks began in the spring and full-scale hostilities broke out in November 1946.
- The GMD soon controlled the railways and the major cities and captured the CCP headquarters at Yanan, but the CCP held the countryside and continued with land reform.
- The GMD forces became overstretched and often re-imposed landlords and dealt brutally with opposition.
- In the south, Chiang's government was corrupt and inflation rose quickly. The CCP appeared to be honest and disciplined.
- The Red Army had grown to 1,000,000 men by 1945 because of peasant support.
- By 1949, the CCP claimed that it was 4,000,000. At the same time the GMD forces had fallen to 1,500,000. - 23Why did the Communists win the Civil War? Part 2- The Communists had developed guerrilla warfare in the war against the Japanese.
- From autumn 1947, the tide began to turn against the GMD. Its forces in the cities of the north were increasingly isolated and, with no way of escape, began to desert to the CCP. This put vast stores of equipment in the hands of the CCP.
- The final collapse of the GMD came in October and November 1948.
- As many of his soldiers deserted to Mao, Chiang resigned as president in January 1949 and fled to Formosa and set up the country of Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army (as it had been known since 1946) entered Beijing in January 1949 and the People's Republic of China was proclaimed in October 1949, by which time almost all resistance from the GMD was ended. The GMD evacuated to the island of Taiwan.
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- Year 11 History (China) Flashcards on KQ1 - China, created by max bresges on 21/12/2017.
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