Why Did The Communists Win The Chinese Civil War Case Study

Why did the Communists win the Chinese Civil War in 1949 ?

The Chinese civil war was one of the major conflicts in 20th century Asia. This conflict cost China approximately 6 million casualties (including civilians). Most fierce battles were fought after the Second Sino-Japanese War, which comprises the last 3 years of the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949). In this essay, we will focus on this period, by contrasting two rival sides, CPC (Communist Party of China) and forces loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China. We will try to see the Communist’s strengths, as well as Kuomintang’s weaknesses to make a good analysis of the topic. We will discuss about the armies, foreign interventions and support made by people for
It was better equipped, and the number of regular troops almost tripled the number of CPC’s troops (2.800.000 to 800.000). Furthermore, KMT had and air force experienced in conventional fighting, able to take initiative in the early stages , and experienced in terms of war leaders like Chiang Kai-shek . On the other hand, CPC forces had no aircrafts and soldiers were poorly equipped. However, it is important to mention that CPC forces had a great advantage of guerilla warfare, with over two million militias engaging in an active warfare by the end of 1946 . In terms of morale of the soldiers, CPC had an advantage as a result of pledges of the Communist leader, Mao Zedong, to the peasant and poor people (especially about the private land holding), which he would realize if CPC won the civil war. As time went on, by the end of 1947, with the great help of guerilla warfare tactics, CPC wiped out 1.2 million KMT troops, while their strength grew to about two million men. Eventually, by the June 1949, CPC had around two million active soldiers compared to some 1.5 million KMT
Soviet Union and the USA were most prominent countries aiding sides they support. For example USA gave more than $3 billion in aid to the Nationalist government, it also tried to make sure that the surrender of Japanese soldiers which were in Manchuria at the end of the Second Word War was received by KMT soldiers, to prevent CPC from taking all the artillery and guns into their hands. This is an extract from the speech of the contemporary American president Harry S. Truman which conveys that message : “It was perfectly clear to us that if we told the Japanese to lay down their arms immediately and march to the seaboard, the entire country would be taken over by the Communists. We therefore had to take the unusual step of using the enemy as a garrison until we could airlift Chinese National troops to South China and send Marines to guard the seaports . Soviet Union was skeptical about both sides, although generally helped CPC government. Soviet troops in Manchuria gave Communist forces training (e.g. as pilots), and equipment at the outset (after the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria), the bulk of Japanese equipment and a substantial amount of their own machinery . In my point of view, it is fair to say that the support of both sides balanced each other and it is possible to exclude its effects on the civil