Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party, with armed conflict continuing intermittently from 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949, resulting in a Communist victory and control of mainland China in the Chinese Communist Revolution.
| Chinese Civil War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the interwar period, the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Cold War (from 1947) | |||||||||
Clockwise from top: Communist troops at the Battle of Siping; Hui soldiers of the NRA; Mao Zedong in the 1930s; Chiang Kai-shek inspecting soldiers; CCP general Su Yu inspecting the troops shortly before the Menglianggu campaign | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
1927–1936:
|
1927–1936:
| ||||||||
|
1945–1949:
|
1945–1949:
| ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
(Director-General of the Kuomintang)
Other leaders
|
Mao Zedong
(Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party)
| ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
2 million (regular) 2.3 million (militia) (June 1946) |
1.2 million (regular) 2.6 million (militia) (July 1945) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
1.5–1.7 million (1945–1949) 370,000~ killed |
2.8+ million (1945–1949) 263,800 killed 190,000 missing 850,000 wounded (1945–1949) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Chinese Civil War | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 國共內戰 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 国共内战 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Kuomintang-Communist Civil War | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Part of a series on the |
| Chinese Communist Revolution |
|---|
| Outline of the Chinese Civil War |
| Communism portal |
The war is generally divided into the First Kuomintang-Communist Civil War and the Second Kuomintang-Communist Civil War with an interlude: from August 1927 to 1937, the KMT–CCP Alliance collapsed during the Northern Expedition, and the Nationalists controlled most of China. From 1937 to 1945, hostilities were mostly put on hold as the Second United Front fought the Japanese invasion of China with eventual help from the Allies of World War II, although co-operation between the KMT and CCP during this time was minimal and armed clashes between the groups were common. Exacerbating the divisions within China further was the formation of a puppet government, sponsored by Japan and ostensibly led by Wang Jingwei, which was established to nominally govern the regions of China that came under Japanese occupation.
The civil war resumed as soon as it became apparent that Japanese defeat was imminent, with the communists gaining the upper hand in the second phase of the war from 1945 to 1949.
The Communists gained control of mainland China and proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949, forcing the leadership of the Republic of China to retreat to the island of Taiwan. Starting in the 1950s, a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has ensued, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both claiming to be the legitimate government of all China. After the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, both tacitly ceased to engage in open conflict in 1979; however, no armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed.