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Chinese Civil War 1946-49 (Why the Communists won) (Weaknesses of GMD cont…
Chinese Civil War 1946-49 (Why the Communists won)
Red Army attack tactics
They avoided major battles with the GMD
Made guerrilla attacks (e.g. night raids, blowing up railway lines, ambush)
Managed to get GMD into defensive as the Red Army got more land
Peasants flocked to join the Red Army
Weaknesses of the Nationalist
Conscripted army, with soldiers badly clothed and fed
Corrupt government
Lacked peasants support (they did very little for peasants)
Lost control of major cities
Reluctant to fight Japan
Problems caused with Civil War
Civillians held in the GMD areas were suffering badly
Inflation was happening and money lost its value
People turned to robbery and riots. Public order collapsed
They stopped supporting the GMD and went over to the Communists
Blueshirts (GMD men) used brutal force to keep order, Chiang also said that the army had become corrupt and disunited
Communists Mobile Warfare
Communists isolated Nationalists held areas and consolidating their hold over their former major bases
They also captured important railways in the North
Able to recapture Yanan
In the end, they overran most parts of Manchuria and North China
Campaigns
Tactics of surprise, rapid movement and concentrated firepower allowed the Red Army to seize 3 Nationalist cities in Manchuria
with
US weapons
Last area was captured and Manchuria was basically the Communists's
Communists moved to Beijing areas and forced once of GMD's most able commanders to surrender. His troops of 200000 men joined the CCP
Hua Hai campaign
Both forces had 1/2 million men each
Communists had support of locals at the fighting ground, so they were welcomed and well-taken care of
Nationalists were at great disadvantage due to their weaknesses
One particular winter was so bad, that it worsened the army's mood. They decided to join the Communists, who were more disciplined and better off
Due to the isolated GMD, they surrendered
Other reasons why the Communists won
Peasants
Pro-peasant policies
Land was equally distributed
Did not engage in brutal abuse
Peasant Committees established and they could vote and have a say
Committee was well trained and educated
Nationalism - Mao took on the role of the defenders of the nations while GMD did not. CCP also had access to the United Front
High morale - Mao's followers were confident of the support of the peasants. Soldiers were keen to fight unlike the GMD
Mao's leadership
He had accuracy of perception and judgement as he lived as a peasant too
Let landlords do what they wanted, but always kept them in check
Applied Marxism
Mao was ruthless
Superior strategy
America also cut off their aid to the GMD when they saw that Chiang wasn't making any improvement, which further weakened Chiang's stance. His party was also corrupt.
Weaknesses of GMD cont.
Corruption - offices were bought and sold. CCP used this to show that the GMD was not sincere with the Chinese people
Wrong focus - they used the aid wrongly. Most of the expenditure went to military instead of development
Did not fulfil the 3 promises of his party
No rural population involved
Too caught up in the CCP conquering
Too dependent on Foreign Aid
Economic failure - since China was bankrupt, the GMD heavily taxed people. Money essentially became worthless
Military failure
Soldiers had low morale as they were treated badly by own officers
Chiang did not listen to the US, which resulted in the GMD losing 400000 of their men and a lot of American weapons
Failed to use air force
Not well coordinated
Factionalism - GMD was split as some were against the GMD itself
Brutality - protesters were arrested and executed on the streets