“Mao’s Leadership Was the Crucial Factor in Leading the Communists to Victory in the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949)”. Discuss the Validity of This Claim.

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“Mao’s Leadership Was the Crucial Factor in Leading the Communists to Victory in the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949)”. Discuss the Validity of This Claim.

“Mao’s leadership was the crucial factor in leading the communists to victory in the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949)”. Discuss the validity of this claim. The Japanese had begun to occupy China in 1931. Their primary insurgence began in Manchuria, in the northern part of China. This sudden invasion meant the two stronghold political parties at that time in China had to form the Second United Front in order to stop the incoming invaders. However in 1945, the Japanese had surrendered due to the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what ensued in China was a battle between two political ideologies both trying to gain power. What began in 1946 was one of the most bloodied battles in Chinese history. It was a war that would change the course of China and its future. The Chinese Civil war was a war between the Communists (CCP) led by Mao Tse Tung and the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek. The Chinese Civil War finally ended in 1949 after several years of war, the Communists had managed to gain control and Chiang had fled to Taiwan. This essay will be focused on analysing the reason for the communist victory in 1949 and how much of a role did Mao Tse Tung play in this. However before we begin to analyse the reasons for communist victory, we first need to examine the question. The question states that the Chinese Civil War was between in 1946 and 1949. However it could be argued that the Chinese Civil War started in 1912, with the collapse of the Qing dynasty. For a period of 37 years China did not have a strong established leader, there was always chaos in the country, from Yuan Shikai to the Warlord period, China was established in constant war. It was only when Mao came in to power; in 1949 did China gain a strong, established leader. Another point of view could be that the Civil war started in 1927 after the ‘white terror’. The Nationalists failed attempt to purge the communists after the first united front, started hatred towards each other than finally

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