{"id":8906,"date":"2022-01-26T09:49:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T08:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=198712"},"modified":"2022-01-26T10:09:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T09:09:19","slug":"the-chinese-civil-war-a-guide-to-the-conflict-and-the-rise-of-mao-zedong","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/the-chinese-civil-war-a-guide-to-the-conflict-and-the-rise-of-mao-zedong\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chinese Civil War: a guide to the conflict and the rise of Mao Zedong"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Emma Slattery Williams\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 26 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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What was the Chinese Civil War?<\/h3>\n

The Chinese Civil War was a series of conflicts between the Communist Party of China and the country\u2019s Nationalist government. The war is regarded as having been fought in two distinct stages: between 1927 and 1937, and then again between 1946 and 1949 (the latter a phase often referred to as the Chinese Communist Revolution).<\/p>\n

Hostilities were largely halted between 1937 and 1945 as the two sides formed a begrudging alliance against Japan, which invaded China and then attempted to create a Pacific empire during WW2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What was the political situation in China before the outbreak of the war?<\/h3>\n

After more than 2,000 years of imperial rule, China\u2019s last dynasty \u2013 the Qing \u2013 was overthrown in 1912 and the country became a republic. The new president, Yuan Shikai, imposed a dictatorship and declared himself emperor, but his death in 1916 created a power vacuum that enabled local warlords to seize control of different regions.<\/p>\n

In 1924, the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which had aided the overthrow of the monarchy 12 years earlier, joined forces with the fledgling Communist Party of China (CPC). Together, they formed the First United Front in opposition to the warlords who were trying to take control of northern China. This would lead to the launch of an allied campaign in July 1926 known as the Northern Expedition, led by Chiang Kai-shek of the KMT and the newly formed National Revolutionary Army.<\/p>\n