China’s history has many thousands of years . Few , however, it was so dramatic and tense periods , as the twentieth century . Can be properly described as a sequence of consecutive Chinese revolution.
It started with the collapse of more than two thousand years of uninterrupted existence of the monarchy. China has been gradually undermined by continued throughout the nineteenth century expansion of European powers . The result was three so-called Opium Wars . They had to break the importation of opium into China by Britain and France, who wanted in this way to improve its trade balance . War resulted in the defeat of the Empire – it had to agree to import opium and suffered significant territorial losses .
The devastating effects also had another civil war , among them the Taiping uprising in the years 1851 – 1864 , considered the most bloody civil war in the history of the world. It cost the life of more than 20 million people. In the end , after a series of revolts in various provinces in 1911 a revolution , organized by the League of compounds under the direction of Sun Yat – Sen . In December, he was the first provisional president of the new Republic of China. Two months later, the incumbent regent announced the abdication on behalf of 12 -year-old Emperor Pu Yi . In August, founded the Nationalist Party , the Kuomintang called the Sun Yat – sen at the helm. Contrary to its name, the Kuomintang had initially strong Marxist influence . Such combining Marxism with nationalism was one of the typical characteristics of the Far liberation movements . Sun Yat -sen compete with General Yuan Shikai , who apparently wanted to announce the new emperor . These plans were shattered by a quick death Yuan .
China was in this period state in name only . They were indeed the central government in Beijing, but in practice the provinces ruled warlords – premises military leaders and political , in positions of authority through their private armies .
The process of unification has been made only in the 20s , under the Sun’s successor , Chiang Kai -shek , head of the Kuomintang in 1925 as the only legal party . Initially, Chiang received military material aid from the Soviet Union and , later, however, the Soviets supported the other , competitive political force : the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Tse- Tung . Long-lasting war between the two groups lasted from 1926 until 1949 . Not interrupted even the Japanese invasion in 1937.
Clash of the Chinese Communist Party made the Chiang Kai – shek finally resigned from Marxism and contented himself with pure nationalism. One of the first effects were executions of the Communists and their supporters April 12, 1927 inShanghai. Activities Chiang Kai -shek weakened the influence of the Communist Party of China in the cities , so its leaders decided to go underground or move to the countryside . This has led to the so-called agrarian revolution , during which Mao and his men announced in Jiangxi first communist state in China : the ChineseSovietRepublic . Initially expeditions Chiang Kai -shek against the Communists ended in defeat , but he learned his advisers mistakes . As a result, about 1,934 years before Mao’s forces faced the specter of death and the ChineseSovietRepublic ceased to exist. In the face of disaster , Mao decided to retire to the northwest, where he could count on Soviet assistance . Thus began the famous Long March .
Communist troops broke through the ring of the Kuomintang forces besieged Jiangxi. A crowd of 100,000 soldiers wandered more than 370 days through the mountains and swamps. Of more than 12,000 km route survived only a fifth . Others were killed in accidents , with cold, hunger, exhaustion and as a result turned the way of fighting with the army of the Kuomintang and local warlords . Those who survived , 20 October 1935 they reached the Rhône . The historical significance of the Long March was to the final fixation position of Mao Tse -tung as the undisputed leader of the Communist Party of China . In subsequent propaganda Long March has become a symbol of strength and endurance of the Chinese Communist whom nothing could stop it.
During World War II, which was an extension of the Chinese conflict began 1937 with the Japanese invasion of their country , the two warring parties force a formal cooperation agreement . In practice, most parties devote energy to compete with each other in the areas of so-called free Chinese ( area not occupied by Japan and remaining under the authority of the underlying Japan’s puppet government Manchu ) . After the surrender of Japan, fighting erupted anew. Did little American George Marshall , who spent two years trying to convince both sides to stop fighting and start negotiations .
In 1946 he began the final phase of the Chinese Civil War, called by the Communist Liberation War . Initially, the Nationalists of Chiang Kai -shek outnumbered , their army had better equipment , and to be able to count on help from the U.S. . Despite this, the Communists within three years of fierce fighting completely drove Chiang from mainland China . The reason was mainly corruption and progressive demoralization in the branches of the Kuomintang . In January of 1949 years without a fight Communists occupied Beijing , and October 1 , Mao officially announced the creation of the People’s Republic of China . The last bastion of Chiang became the island of Taiwan . It seemed that his days are numbered , and the Communist invasion is only a matter of time. Meanwhile, the war broke out in Korea. June 25, 1950 ‘s army of communist North Korea invaded with the help of Red China southern part of the country. In her defense stood the UN troops , consisting mainly of U.S. troops . The U.S. authorities have recognized that there should be no further expansion of communism in Asia and gave Taiwan a large military and political support . Thus immortalized the status quo at the beginning of the twenty-first century , in which the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China on the mainland claim to be the only “real ” China, although Taiwan is increasing support for the idea of recognition as an independent state of the Republic of China . I do not agree , however, that Beijing, for which Taiwan is a ” rebellious province ” .
Another Chinese revolution was the period of the so-called . Great Leap Forward . In 1958, Mao Tse -tung declared that the evolution of the country towards communism is too slow . Cooperation with the Soviet Union broke up and announced in his usual florid style formula ” three red banners “, of which the most important was what the Great Leap Forward . The idea of accelerating industrialization of the country through the creation of millions of ” backyard factories “, in which the primitive methods that smelted iron, melting such as old pots . The result was a complete collapse of the economy , which, combined with several years of crop failure led to the great famine .
It took only a few years , and China shocked the next revolution – ” Cultural Revolution ” . The immediate reason was factional fighting within the Communist Party of China . Mao proclaimed the fight against all ” counter-revolutionaries ” – intelligence, clerics and every person who, without proper enthusiasm was referring to his person. Country swept anarchy . A group of fanatics of youth ” Red Guards ” tormented anyone who did not like them . The situation is only mastered the army , which took over the rule over much of the country .
