Why Did the Communist Gain Power in 1949 in China?

Weakness was demonstrated by the Qing. Cixi finally realised that reform was the only hope China in becoming The Middle Kingdom again. As years went by The Qing dynasty was just a shadow of a national government. The Qing dynasty, that started in 1644, was weakened by the Boxer Rebellion. Furthermore, even

The humiliation caused by the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 stirred up nationalism in China as well as resentment against European-powers. It was believed that the Europeans were driving China’s domestic and foreign policy and that is was important to reclaim China for the Chinese to return to Confucian values. In 1898, the situation escalated when a group called the “Boxers” (officially “Righteous Harmony Fists”) began a rebellion in north China in the Shantung Province. In this province, Germans dominated the rail lines, factories and coal mines

After another uprising in 1911, the Qing’s rule ended, as well as China’s dynasty system. This lead to Republic of China in 1912 (History.com,

The Chinese just like the Russian revolution both became communist governments in the end. In the positions that

The United States tried to contain the Soviet Union’s expansion by sending troops to areas in which the Soviet tried to occupy and influence. For example, after defeating the Japanese, China was in a state of civil war between the Chinese Nationalists (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They Soviet entered the war against Japan and later gave the Japanese weapons to the CCP for them to have more power in Manchuria. Contrasting to the Soviets, the US supported the KMT and sent 50,000 US Marines to help the nationalists in September 1945. Later in December 1945, George Marshall became the ambassador of China. His job was to form a truce between the CCP and KMT, preserve nationalist domination in Manchuria, withdraw Soviet troops, and join the two parties together. At the end, Marshall’s goal was obtained and China was stabilized with minimal CCP influence. Back in August 1945, Soviets troops went into North Korea and in response the US sent troops into South Korea. Therefore, the North was led with communism by Kim II Sung, and the South with nationalist Syngman Rhee.

The turning point in Asia came in 1949 when communist rebels led by Mao Zedong won the civil war, took control over the mainland of China, and became a communist country. Starting in 1950, the United States began to support South Korea in efforts to contain the communist North backed by the Soviet Union and China. The United States sent military aid to France to contain the spread of communism in its war effort

For twenty years the Chinese communist had a difficult time dealing with the Nationalists. This is because the united states was supporting Chiang Kai-Shek “Between 1945 and 1949, the American government sent the Nationalists approximately $3 billion in aid.” U.S officials felt that Chiang Kai-Shek and his government was inefficient and corrupt. It was said that “he was prone to sudden rages, leading to casual beatings, even killings.” This Is why he was seen as a terrible leader and why his army was so easily defeated. Despite this the united states had no choice but to keep supplying him and his army with more money and supplies

Communists won the Civil War for the following reasons; The Communists had a well thought out plan and knew how to gain the support of the people.

At the end of the Sino-Japanese War the Guomindang held significant advantages over the Communists, with its widely recognised legitimate government controlling China, giving it the power to tax and conscript. On the other hand, the Communists could not match the Guomindang's troops in terms of training and equipment and could be "outgunned and outmanoeuvred in all major regions of the country" (Westad, 2003: 8). Furthermore, the Communist party was hardly represented in the cities at all, which of course was the power base of the Guomindang. However, the Communists also had successes resulting from the war with Japan including increasing their area of control and practiced evolving their strategies of protracted guerrilla warfare against the Japanese which in turn generated public support. Despite this the party's main forces were still located in North-west China and they were not in such a powerful position that a civil war with the Guomindang would be a mere formality in securing control of the country.

The 19th century had sparked a time period of bloody revolution, social and political reform, and both economic and financial problems for China. Though the cause of many of these problems could be rooted to internal conflict, foreign influence on Chinese ways proved to be disastrous. During the early 19th century the population was growing, the economy seemed stable and generally people seemed content with China’s economic progress. However these feelings of success would soon end as overpopulation would cause widespread poverty and famine. At that point in time China’s rulers had been Manchu; the Qing dynasty had been in rule but even its

Mao Zedong’s rise to political power as chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was made possible by the failings of the GouMinDan (GMD). After the fall of the Qing dynasty, in 1911, China fell into disarray where warlords had power, rather than a national government. Sun Yat-sen began a nationalist group whose militaristic tacts allowed them to unite china under a singular party, the GMD. Despite many revolutionary promises very little positive changes were made by Chiang Kai-shek, who became leader of the GMD in 1925.However because of the party’s lack of political knowledge and poor socio-economic abilities the GMD’s rule was a failure. Mao used this to project his own ideology on China in the form of Maoism. Mao’s ability to take advantage of China’s bad situation allowed him to receive the support he required in order to rise to power.

that women had to be 18 years and men 20 years in order to marry; thus

After a bitter civil war (1946-1949), which faced the major Chinese parties Kuomintang and CCP, Kuomintang’s defeat, evidenced with Chiang’s and 200.000 people´s fled to Formosa, Mao Zedong (1893-1976), born in Shoshan, Hunan, proclaimed the new People´s Republic of China with himself as both Chairman of the CCP and President of the republic in October 1949. How did the under numbered and weak CCP, founded by the same person in 1921 manage to survive several extermination campaigns and re-organize the party to win the civil war, crushing opposition and establish the Chinese

The Coming to Power of the Communists in China in 1949 The leadership of China at the beginning of the 20th Century was very different to how it is today. The Communists did not come to power without a long and bitter struggle against the many foes that came across their path between the time of their creation, in 1921, and their eventual success in 1949. The Double Tenth Revolution of 1911 overthrew the emperor of China, as he was only a child and could not contain the ever-depleting condition of the nation.

West and in a way they trust them a lot more than they used to. An