Long-term causes of the Civil War of 1946-49.

External Problems
- Throughout the 19th century, foreign powers had begun to increase their influence in
China.
- This started when Britain went to war with China in the Opium Wars (1838 onwards).
- China had a series of military defeats in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- E.g. against Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95).
- China was exploited economically by the powers. There were 92 treaty ports by
1917, where foreign countries controlled the trade.
- The exploitation by foreign powers undermined the rule of the Qing dynasty, which
had ruled for 2000 years.
- The foreign power exploitation encouraged nationalist movements. For example, Sun
Yatsen’s Revolutionary Alliance established in 1905.
- Other Chinese wanted to reform China the same way the West had reformed, and
were frustrated by the Chinese government’s opposition to reform.

Internal Problems
- The imperial government introduced reforms from 1905 onwards that didn’t
necessarily help matters.
- For example, it allowed a National Assembly to meet in 1910.
- This raised expectations of progress that were not realised.
- This was a frustration that contributed to the 1911 revolution.
- China’s population grew rapidly to around 400 million by 1850 and the peasants
increasingly suffered from land shortages. 10% of the rural population owned 70% of
the land!
- Tax evasion by the rich meant a growing tax burden on the poor. Peasant poverty
fuelled a succession of the rebellions in the 19th and early 20th century.
- From the mid-19th century onwards, the Imperial government in Beijing found it
increasingly difficult to control the provinces. This was partly the result of “imperial
overstretch”.
- The Qing in the 18th century had extended their territories to the North-West
and South-West. The Qing hence found it necessary to allow powerful
regional militias and army commanders to develop outside of the main
Imperial Army.
- This was dangerous. For example, in 1907, the government sacked the
powerful Northern Army Commander, Yuan Shi-Kai. He went on to play a
crucial role in the fall of the dynasty in 1911/12.
- The 1911 revolution. The 1911 Revolution was essentially made in central and
southern China; it was a revolt against the Beijing government. Sun Yatsen’s
Revolutionary Alliance was not strong enough to take over China. It had proclaimed a
republic in Nanjing but had to broker a deal with Yuan Shikai who became President
in 1912.
- The Warlord Era 1916-1927. During this period, the Beijing government never
controlled more than a fraction of China as eight regional warlords ran different areas
of the country.
- The May Fourth Movement: May 1919. One very influential event during the
warlord era, demonstrating the power of nationalism among urban Chinese was the
 “May Fourth” movement of 1919. This was a series of massive demonstrations
against the western powers’ decision to award Japan Germany’s former Chinese
concessions (Shandong) and against the Chinese government’s tame acceptance of
this.
- The May Fourth upheavals strengthened the support base of the
Guomindang. (Sun Yatsen renamed his Revolutionary Alliance the
Guomindang (GMD) after the establishment of the republic in 1912).
- The movement also gave rise to the Chinese Communist Party which was
founded in 1921 by a number of the university lecturers and students
prominent in May 1919.
- Rana Mitter - Argues that the May the Fourth movement was the birth of
Chinese modern nationalism.
- The First United Front: 1923. Until 1926, the GMD, whose main support was
located in Southern China, were not strong enough to make a series bid for control of
China. The GMD were led by Sun Yatsen until his death in 1925. In 1923, the GMD
formed an alliance with the small Chinese Communist Party set up in 1921. The
Russian international organisation, Comintern, had helped arrange this agreement.
- In 1926-27, the GMD launched the Northern Expedition aimed at defeating
the warlords and creating an effective national government for the whole of
China. Chiang Kai-shek, who had succeeded Sun Yat Sen as GMD leader,
organized the expedition. During the Northern Expedition, having defeated
several warlords, Chiang Kai-Shek turned on the CCP in Shanghai in 1927.
China subsequently captured Beijing and in 1928 foreign governments
recognised the GMD government as the official government of China.
- There were two periods of civil war. 1927-37, then 1946-39. Punctured by the
Japanese invasion of 1937-1945.

Summary: Why did civil war break out between the GMD and the CCP in 1927?
- Chiang moved the GMD to the right, defeating Wang Jingwei for the party’s
leadership.
- Wang advocated maintaining links with the Communists and implementing
social reforms.
- Chiang distrusted the Communists and was socially quite conservative.
- The White Terror. By 1927, Chiang was worried by growing peasant and proletarian
support for the CCP; there were 50 000 CCP members by 1927.
- The CCP challenged the interest groups who were the main GMD supporters.
They were the committed to land reform and a Marxist revolution, centred on
the industrial workers and the peasants.
- Chiang treacherously ordered a massacre of CCP members in Shanghai and
other Southern cities; this was known as the White Terror.
Long Terms
Collapse of Imperial Power
- Qing dynasty had become increasingly fragile towards the end of the 19th century
because of external and internal threats.
- China saw an increase in foreign interest in the country after Britain lost the opium
wars 1839-42.
- The superpowers started to carve up China to control her trade.
- The emperor’s inability to stop this led to nationalism.
- Nationalists were convinced that abdication of the emperor was necessary for
China’s future.
- Despite attempts at reform, it was too little too late and the emperor was overthrown
in 1911 in the revolution of the double tenth.
- A power vacuum arose, that military dictators and warlords tried to fill. Ultimately, this
power vacuum would create the conditions for civil war between the GMD and CCP.

Warlords and regionalism:

- Failure to fill the 1911 power vacuum divided China into regions where warlords
brutally exercised their power over the peasants.
- Yuan Shikai set up a military dictatorship in 1912. He failed to resolve China’s big
problems and died in 1916.
- The country descended into warlord-ruled chaos as he had not appointed a
successor.
- This contributed to civil war in three ways:
- As the country was divided up, more people became nationalistic and wanted
to unify China.
- The social conditions under the warlords were very poor, and the exploitation
of peasants would lead to later significant support for the CCP.
- As China was weak, it had to accept the TOV and grant the former Germany
colonies to Japan. This created greater nationalistic feelings.
- As a result of the warlord era, desire for change and modernization was intense.
- Two key parties were formed, the GMD and the CCP. Both offered a solution to
China’s problems and were willing to fight for it too.

Midterm
Ideological Divide
- Ideological divide played a crucial role in bringing about war as the GMD and CCP
essentially fought over who was going to unify China and solve its problems
according to their respective ideology.

CCP GMD

- Communist ideology. Ultimate aim of Starts with Sun-Yat-Sen as leader from

Communism is to create and equal
classless society.
- Mao adapts Soviet Communism. For
example, the peasant class is seen
as the revolutionary class.
- Mao wants to eradicate rural poverty
1912-1925.
- Nationalism.
- People’s democracy.
- People’s livelihood.
Chiang Kai Shek 1925-1949
- Chiang shifts GMD ideology to the
 through collective ownership, right. He focuses more on
replaced tradition with modern CCP nationalism. Chiang’s shift leads to
values, and abolish foreign the White Terror in Shanghai in
influence. 1927.

- Initially the parties worked together to defeat regionalism in 1926, but Chiang’s shift
to the right led to the White Terror.
- CCP officials were killed in Shanghai in 1927. This sparks the first civil war from
1927-1937.
- Ideological divisions became essential in causing the civil conflict in 1946.

Failure of GMD to secure a single party state

- The failure of Chiang Kai-Shek to secure his single party state and unite China,
meant that Civil War was inevitable.
- Chiang had dealt a blow to the CCP but failed to defeat them in 1927, Shanghai, but
the CCP had survived and had fled to Jianxi to rebuild.
- The CCP and GMD formed the United Front in 1937 to expel the Japanese, but this
American-organised alliance was not to last. The Civil War resumed from 1946.

Short Term
End of WW2 and failure of US diplomacy
- The failure of the US to secure peace in China in 1946 meant that a proper civil war
broke out between CCP and GMD in the same year.
- The country was heavily divided between communists and nationalists and both
wanted to secure land as the Japanese withdrew.
- As the cold war emerged in Europe, the US sought to stall a Communist victory in
China. General Marshall intervened to promote a coalition between the GMD and
CCP.
- Both parties agreed but did not honour the agreement in practice. By Feb 1946 the
civil war had broken out again as troops clashed in Manchuria.
- As such, the failure of diplomacy contributed to the civil war.