World History Lecture Twelve

2009-04-11T22:51:53Z

HappyPerson:

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World History – WWII

Twelfth Lecture

Instructor, Andy Schlafly

'''Outline of Lecture: '''

==Introduction==

This lecture focuses on World War II: before, during and after. No war in the history of the world had as big an impact as World War II. We still feel some of its effects to this day, more than 60 years later.

==The Rise of Fascism in Europe==

The world in the early 1930s was suffering from the Great Depression. This created discontent and encouraged change. National governments were in place in Italy and Germany, but the people were not happy with them.

Nationalism had been developing for decades, but it turned into an extreme form known as “fascism”. Fascism is defined as a political philosophy that elevates the nation and its ethnicity above the individual, and uses a dictator to impose economic and social regimentation. Often symbols are used for the purpose of mind-control, like the swastika in Germany. Special salutes are also required to inculcate complete devotion to the national ruler. Mass rallies were common. All opposition was suppressed.

Fascism is the opposite of communism, and fascist countries were the mortal enemies of communist countries. Communism sought a [[worldwide revolution]] that would abolish national identity, while fascism sought exactly the opposite. Communism opposed different social classes, while fascism encouraged it. Communism hated wealth, while fascism encouraged the creation of wealth to make the nation stronger. Communism pushed women into male roles of industrial workers and even soldiers, while strongly nationalistic cultures like Japan imported foreign male workers from Korea and China rather than force women into industrial jobs. The only thing communism and fascism had in common was their use of a dictator and demands for complete allegiance to the state ruler, rather than to God.

The first signs of fascism were in Italy, where the people were upset at not acquiring territory as a result of World War I and where economic problems existed earlier than the Great Depression. In 1919, Benito Mussolini founded Italy’s Fascist Party, emphasizing the need to improve Italy’s economy and its military. In October 1922, the Fascists or “Black Shirts” protested in Rome, demanding that King Victor Emmanuel abdicate in favor of Mussolini. The king did step down and Mussolini became Il Duce, the leader of Italy. Mussolini then suppressed all opposition. Ironically, Mussolini forbade strikes as he wanted to win over the wealthy people in the country and build Italy’s economic strength.

In Germany the name of the fascists was the “Storm Troopers” or “Brownshirts”, and their political party was called the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party, or “Nazis” for short. Adolf Hitler became their leader and he promised to stop communism and undo the Treaty of Versailles, which many Germans considered to be a humiliation to their nation. In 1923 Hitler led an armed rebellion in Munich, but was defeated and jailed. While imprisoned, he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in which he declared “Aryans” to be the master race. Hitler considered most German people to be “Aryans”, a term that really refers to the Indo-European people who partly migrated to India. The connection is ironic because the swastika, Hitler’s symbol, is borrowed from Hindu and the name itself is Sanskrit. But when Hitler said “Aryan” he meant people having Nordic features rather an Indian features.

Hitler also promised to help Germany take back land it lost in the Treaty of Versailles and to conquer Russia and Eastern Europe so that Germans could have more living space, or “lebensraum”.

In 1933, Germany was in the throes of the Great Depression and German President Paul von Hindenburg panicked by naming Hitler chancellor. This was one of the biggest mistakes in world history. Hitler quickly solidified power for the Nazis. Calling himself Der Fuhrer, Hitler began in 1934 to murder hundreds of Germans who had opposed him. Hitler developed a secret police known as the Gestapo, and also a special, black-uniformed public police known as the SS. Hitler took over the schools, requiring teenagers to join the Hitler Youth (for boys) and the League of German Girls (for girls). They were then brainwashed with Hitler propaganda. But Hitler promoted industrialization and revived the economy, making him a hero in Germany and even in the United States.

From the start Hitler blamed Jewish people in Germany for its problems. In 1933, the Nazis began passing laws taking away rights from Jews, and on Nov. 9, 1938 the Nazis conducted a massive pogrom in a thousand German towns that attacked Jewish people in their homes and destroyed their businesses. This day, which came after years of harassment, is known as the “Kristallnacht”. Afterwards Jews were prohibited from being in public buildings or owning or working in retail stores.

Meanwhile, dictators were rising to power in other countries. In 1936, a civil war broke out in Spain when fascists who supported General Francisco Franco attempted to overthrow the elected republican government. This was a three-sided civil war, as Franco’s Nationalists battled a group of communists (the “International Brigades”) as well as the Republicans, and it lasted for three bloody years until 1939. This war attracted attention by writers and thinkers worldwide. The British writer George Orwell, who later penned classic anti-communist novels entitled Animal Farm and 1984, volunteered to fight for the republican government and against both the communists and Franco’s fascists. Orwell survived after taking a bullet through his neck. Britain, France and the United States remained officially neutral while Germany and Italy helped Franco. Some Americans felt that Franco was far better than the communists, and were relieved that Franco won.

Yugoslavia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Albania were also taken over by their own dictators. The only democracy left in Eastern Europe in 1935 was Czechoslovakia.

==World War II==

Two nations – Germany and Japan – had built themselves into perfect fighting machines. They lacked diversity in their populations, with the German people being almost completely of one Germanic ethnicity, and the Japanese population being almost completely of one Japanese ethnicity. Both nations had become dominated by non-Christian belief systems. In Germany the prevailing view among the elite was that there was, or should be, a master race that defeats all others. In Japan, there was unyielding devotion to their warlord emperor, who they believed to be a god.

Both countries had powerful industrial economies to feed their thirst for power. In Germany, a leader (Adolf Hitler) had risen to power who had phenomenal public speaking skills, and who could whip the German people into a frenzy with his demagoguery. In Japan the national religion (Shinto) called on the Japanese to do the emperor’s will as though a god had ordered them to do so.

Germany and Japan had no connection with each other, and were located on nearly opposite sides of the globe. How does one explain that they rose to power and threatened the world at the same time? Just as we saw unrelated peoples do similar things in ancient times, such as building structures that looked like ziggurats, we see the coincidence of Germany and Japan independently threatening the world at the same time.

===Aggression in the 1930s===

Japan’s feudal period had militaristic aspects, but in the 1920s Japan had a democratic government that signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact for peace. But then the Great Depression hit Japan just like everywhere else, and the Japanese overthrew their democratic government and replaced it with a military regime. Emperor Hirohito rose to power as a military ruler.

Japan decided that it could solve its economic problems by expanding. That would enable it to obtain raw materials for production and new markets for exports. At least that is what the historians say. The truth is that the Japanese liked winning wars and no one had beaten them yet. China was many times bigger than Japan, but was no match for the Japanese military. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, attracted in part by the coal and iron deposits there. This invasion began the Asian phase of World War II.

The League of Nations condemned this invasion but was helpless to stop it. Japan withdrew from the League in 1933.

In 1937, Japan invaded China, and Japan invaded northern and central China. It sacked the Chinese capital of Nanjing, killing thousands of soldiers and civilians. Jiang Jieshi fled to the west while Mao Zedong’s guerilla fighters stayed to combat the Japanese.

In a completely unrelated move, Italy invaded one of the last remaining independent nations in Africa: Ethiopia. In the 1890s, Ethiopia had fought off the Italians, but Mussolini was back for revenge. He easily conquered Ethiopia in 1935 and, again, the League of Nations could nothing when Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie begged for help.

In 1935 Hitler was rearming Germany, and in 1936 he moved German troops into the buffer zone separating Germany from France: the industrialized Rhineland. This violated the Treaty of Versailles but no one did anything to stop it, certainly not the powerless League of Nations. Mussolini thought it best to ally Italy with Germany, and in October 1936 they formed the Rome-Berlin Axis. Japan joined both the following month, unifying the Axis Powers.

Hitler was just warming up. Next he wanted to combine Austria with Germany, as they had been combined in the past. Hitler himself was born in Austria and many Austrians supported joining Germany. So Hitler annexed Austria on 12 March 1938 without much resistance, and this is known as the Anschluss (unification of Austria and Germany). France and Britain had promised to defend the independence of Austria, but did nothing.

The more Hitler grabbed, the more he wanted. He turned to western Czechoslovakia, which had a large number of German speakers. In September 1938 he demanded that this region, the Sudetenland, submit to Germany and join it. But the Czech government refused and turned to France for assistance.

Mussolini requested the Munich Conference in September 1938 to address this crisis about Czechoslovakia. Germany, Italy, Britain and France were invited, while Stalin’s Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were not. In a classic example of making a deal with the devil, Britain and France agreed to allow Hitler to take the Sudetenland in exchange for his promise to stop there and not invade Czechoslovakia further. Britain Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in one of the worst blunders in the history of the world, insisted that appeasing Hitler was the best approach. Chamberlain received a hero’s welcome on his return to England, and he declared that he had achieved “peace in our time.” An English newspaper justified the appeasement by claiming that Germans were simply “going into their own back yard.” But within six months, Hitler annexed all of Czechoslovakia and then Mussolini grabbed Albania. Chamberlain was discredited, and his major critic (Winston Churchill) would rise to replace him.

Hitler was about to make his big move. He demanded that Poland give back a former German seaport known as Danzig. Poland refused and prepared to defend against a German invasion with courageous soldiers on horses. Poland obtained the support of Britain and France if Germany attacked. Britain and France then turned to Stalin in the Soviet Union, but he double-crossed them. Stalin secretly agreed with Hitler in August 1939 to divide Poland among themselves and not to attack each other. Stalin also received a promise from Hitler that Stalin could annex Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Finland.

===German Aggression in 1939-1940===

Hitler’s dictatorship, the Third Reich, was ready to begin conquering all of Europe. He started with Poland based on Stalin’s promise not to interfere. On September 1, 1939, Hitler launched a lightning-fast, massive attack (a “blitzkrieg”) against Poland. A blitzkrieg combines bombing with a tank invasion. Polish soldiers fought valiantly on horseback, but were crushed. France and Britain declared war on Germany in two days, on September 3rd. After destroying Warsaw, Poland, with the bombing and destruction of the Polish militia, Hitler annexed western Poland to Germany.

By mid-September, Stalin was grabbing eastern Poland and also annexing Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Finland put up an awesome struggle against Stalin, and the typically cold winter helped its defenses. But by March 1940, the massive Soviet army had taken Finland.

Germany did little for six months after taking Poland. The Germans nicknamed this the “sitskrieg” (sit (wait) – skrieg). Even though war had been declared, the nations seemed to be watching and waiting. Some call this period the “phony war.” The British and French fortified the Maginot Line, which was a defensive line set up along the French-German border. Ever since World War I, the French relied on a strong line there to prevent Germans from ever invading again. But Germany later invaded by going around (“outflank”) the Maginot Line.

The Germans, meanwhile, fortified their Siegfried Line on their side. Then, on April 9, 1940, the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrendered quickly, and by June Norway had fallen also.

By the middle of 1940 a real world war had begun again. On one side were the Axis Powers of Japan, Germany and Italy. On the other side where the Allied Powers of Great Britain and its colonies (commonwealth) countries of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, France and its colonies, and potentially the United States and Soviet Union.

===Hitler Takes Continental Europe===

After taking Norway and Denmark, Hitler invaded and quickly conquered the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The Allies were outmanned and ill-equipped for the German tanks and air force. The Allies retreated to Dunkirk, a harbor town on the northernmost tip of France, across the English Channel from England. There they expected to be slaughtered by the advancing German forces.

The Germans did bomb the Allies mercilessly at Dunkirk. But in what Winston Churchill called the “miracle of Dunkirk,” 338,226 soldiers were evacuated to England during constant bombing. This required over 900 vessels to cross the English Channel, abandoning 40,000 land vehicles at Dunkirk. The code name for this was Operation Dynamo. Towards the end of the war, the Allied forces would return to liberate this town amid heavy German resistance.

France fell to the Axis Powers on June 24, 1940, after Mussolini joined forces with Hitler and invaded France from the south. The Germans took control of northern France, and installed a Nazi-controlled government (Vichy government) under a “puppet” for the Germans, French Prime Minister Henri Petain. The real French government, led by French general Charles de Gaulle, was set up as government-in-exile in London. De Gaulle’s Free French armies continued to battle Germany until the Allied Forces liberated France in 1944.

After France fell, the only remaining prize in Europe for the Germans to capture was Great Britain itself. (Switzerland, a small country protected by the Alps and a tremendous self-defense system, was never invaded by the Germans.) But Great Britain’s new leader, Winston Churchill, refused to surrender. Hitler began Operation Sea Lion to bomb London, using the powerful German air force (the Luftwaffe). From September 1940 to May 1941, “the Blitz” consisted of constant Germany bombing of British cities, especially London. There were more than 40,000 civilian casualties, and people would listen for air sirens as the sign to hide in underground shelters.

A new invention, radar, saved the British. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) began tracking incoming German airplanes and started shooting them down. Also, the will of the British to survive deprived the bombing campaign of victory. Hitler was forced to suspend the bombing in May 1941, and the Battle of Britain was over.

Recall that Hitler was anti-communist, and even though he had a secret agreement with Stalin over Poland, Hitler long planned to defeat Stalin. He prepared to accomplish this by first conquering the Balkans in 1940, thereby persuading Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria to join the Axis Powers. When two countries refused to submit (Yugoslavia and Greece), Hitler simply invaded and conquered them in 1941.

Hitler was then ready to invade the Soviet Union, beginning on June 22, 1941 in Operation Barbarossa. The irresistible force had met the immovable object, as the Soviet Union had the largest and most vicious army in the world. The communists lacked the technology of the Germans, but the Soviet Union had more people and just as much industrial capacity. This invasion by Hitler caused the Soviet Union to join the Allied Powers.

Still, the Germans pushed the Soviets back, and the communists resorted to their “scorched-earth” policy of burning everything in sight as they retreated. A similar policy had been used by the Russians to survive Napoleon’s invasion over a century earlier. Then the harsh winter hit the German troops, and 500,000 German soldiers perished from the frigid temperatures. Hitler felt he could capture Leningrad, but Russians never surrender and they lived on rats rather than give their city to the Germans. That forced the Germans to remain outside the city, freezing to death. When the Germans proceeded to Moscow in December 1941, Soviet General Georgi Zhukov defeated them with Siberian troops. The Germans paid a heavy price for trying to defeat the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, one of the shrewdest commanders in world history, the German field general Erwin Rommel, came to the aid of the Italians in northern Africa. In September 1940, Mussolini advanced towards the Suez Canal and the rich oil fields of the Middle East. The British woke up to this and defeated the Italians, capturing more than 100,000 prisoners in the process.

But the brilliant German Rommel, nicknamed “The Desert Fox,” brought a powerful German tank corps known as the Afrika Korps to the aid of the Italians. He routed the British in Libya, who were then forced to retreat to Tobruk.

===The Holocaust and “Final Solution”===

Adolf Hitler had blamed the Jewish people for Germany’s troubles and as early as 1933 there were Nazi-supported laws prohibiting Jews from holding official positions in government. Hitler found it useful for his goals to have a scapegoat, and the Nazis made the Jewish people the scapegoats. Other people, such as gypsies, also became scapegoats. Nazis claimed to be returning to Germany tradition in part by particularly excluding Jews. In 1935, Nazis passed Nuremberg Laws that prohibited Jewish people from owning property or even becoming German citizens. Nazis also forced Jewish people to wear a bright yellow Star of David on their clothing, as a way of ostracizing them.

Jewish people began to flee Germany, emigrating to other countries such as the United States and safer countries in Europe. But other countries, including the United States, had limits on immigration. The pogrom of the Kristallnacht in 1938, described earlier, increased the Jewish emigration from Germany.

But many Jewish people remained in Germany and throughout Europe, and they became victimized by Hitler’s “Final Solution,” which was the execution of the Jewish people in concentration camps. Other groups considered by Hitler to be inferior, such as gypsies and the disabled, were also targeted. In 1941, Hitler began rounding them up and forcing them into segregated communities called ghettos surrounded by barbed wire. Concentration camps and extermination camps having gas chambers for mass executions were built to kill the Jews. Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis in this manner, which was the majority of the Jewish population living in Europe then. This is known as the Holocaust. It was a type of extreme evil that cannot be compared to anything else in history, and it has been difficult to understand ever since.

The “Angel of Death” in one of the worst extermination camps, Auschwitz, was Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele had obtained a PhD based on Darwinian evolution, and had written his dissertation thesis on racial differences among humans. He supported and reinforced Nazi theories of racial superiority with phony research claims. He was an ardent supporter of “survival of the fittest” and he performed cruel experiments on humans at the concentration camp in furtherance of the theory of evolution. He attempted to prove that disease was the product of racial inferiority, and he would amputate healthy limbs and perform other cruel surgeries on prisoners. Today Mengele is criticized by everyone, but supporters of the theory of evolution omit mentioning how much Mengele’s work was based on that theory. Mengele was never punished for his crimes, and after the war he fled to Brazil, where decades later he drowned due to having a stroke while swimming.

===The Enigma===

The Enigma was a portable cipher machine, roughly the size of a typewriter, which could encrypt and decrypt secret messages. It used electro-mechanical rotors to convert a message to a secret code, and then another machine could decode that same message and reveal the original message. This machine was commercially available beginning in the early 1920s. The Nazi German military version generated codes widely thought to be unbreakable.

The Enigma machine was an electromechanical device, equipped with a 26-letter keyboard, with one light per letter of the alphabet. Inside the machine was a set of wired drums for scrambling the input. To encipher or encrypt a letter, the operator pushed the relevant key and observed which of the lights lit. The communication between two operators required that each had an Enigma machine set up in the same way as each other. The large number of possibilities for setting the rotors (and a plugboard that could swap letters) made for an astronomical number of possible configurations, each producing a different cipher. The Germans changed the settings daily, such that the code had to be re-broken each day in order to decrypt the messages.

For others to break (decrypt) the code, they had to figure out how the Enigma functioned, the wiring of its rotors and its daily settings (both rotors and plugboard).

Nazi Germany used the Enigma before and during World War II to send messages about its military maneuvers. But in 1932 a 27-year-old Polish mathematician (cryptologist) named Marian Rejewski had used advanced mathematics (permutation theory with some group theory) to secretly break (“crack”) the Enigma codes. He then helped design working “doubles” of the Enigmas that could find the keys necessary for decryption. By 1938 the Poles were decrypting most of the German messages, and the Poles shared their marvelous discovery with Great Britain and France.

This breakthrough enabled the Allies to anticipate German military maneuvers, although sometimes the Allies would allow an attack to occur successfully in order to avoid signaling to the Germans that their code had been broken. The Allied code-breaking effort was known as “Ultra”, as in “ultra-secret”.
At the end of the war, Allied General Dwight Eisenhower said that Ultra was “decisive” to the Allied victory over Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also declared, “It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war.” The breaking of the German codes prevented it from completely blockading Britain with U-boats and enabled the Allied forces to make key strategic decisions throughout the war.

===America Enters the War===

Throughout the 1930s, there was ambivalence in England and the United States about Hitler and the Nazis. In America many people are of German descent, and Hitler was popular. Time Magazine named him as “Man of the Year.” On some college campuses, Hitler was voted the greatest leader.

Some viewed Hitler as an answer to Joseph Stalin and communism in Russia. Others thought there was a “Jewish problem” in Europe. G.K. Chesterton, who favored creating a new state like Israel for the Jewish population, said this in 1934: “Today, although I still think there is a Jewish problem, I am appalled by the Hitlerite atrocities. They have absolutely no reason or logic behind them. It is quite obviously the expedient of a man who has been driven to seeking a scapegoat, and has found with relief the most famous scapegoat in European history, the Jewish people.”

But most in America felt it was time to stay out of Europe and let Germany, France, England and Italy solve their own conflicts. No one in America expected the Holocaust, and Hitler kept it quiet even after it began in 1942. In the late 1930s, the debate over involvement by the United States in Europe had almost nothing to do with discrimination against Jewish people by the Nazis. Discrimination based on race was common throughout the world, and the United States herself had many laws or policies discriminating based on race.

In an effort to remain neutral, Congress passed several laws between 1935 and 1937 making it illegal for Americans to lend money to a nation at war, or sell it weapons. But by 1941, President Roosevelt felt he needed to help England, and he persuaded Congress to pass the [[Lend-Lease Act]] to allow him to lend or lease weapons to any nation that he considered to be vital to the United States. As a practical matter, this meant that President Roosevelt could now help England. President Roosevelt ordered the U.S. Navy to begin escorting British ships that carried American arms, and Hitler predictably responded by commanding his U-boats (submarines) to sink cargo ships. When a U-boat shot torpedoes at a U.S. destroyer in the Atlantic in September 1941, President Roosevelt ordered the U.S. ships to fire back. An unofficial war had begun between the United States and Germany.

President Roosevelt met secretly with Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, in August 1941 on a boat in the Atlantic. They agreed on a declaration for free trade and self-determination, disarmament of aggressor states (e.g., Japan and Germany) and freedom of the seas. This became known as the Atlantic Charter. The United States and Great Britain renounced any territorial ambitions, and expansion against the wishes of local populations was condemned. The Soviet Union soon endorsed the Atlantic Charter and it later provided the ideological foundation for the United Nations.

By late 1941 President Roosevelt wanted the United States in the war, mainly to save England but also to avert attention from his failure to end the Great Depression. But the American people were not in favor of another world war. Many prominent Americans, such as Charles Lindbergh, opposed American involvement in this war. Many felt that the communist threat to the world was greater than the Nazi threat. Roosevelt needed a way to turn public opinion in favor of war, and generate enough public support to win the war.

The Japanese did the trick. On Dec. 7, 1941, the “day that will live in infamy,” the Japanese launched a surprise attack on our navy fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was not yet a state. Some people believe that Roosevelt knew the Japanese would attack because American mathematicians had broken the Japanese code and intercepted and decoded the messages between Japanese officers. Also, the United States had a good radar system that should have been able to predict the attack an hour before it happened. But Roosevelt remained silent, allowing the American public to be outraged by this attack that sunk much of the U.S. Pacific fleet and killed 2,400 sailors. Congress declared war on Japan the next day, and then declared war on Germany. America thereby entered World War II.

By this time Japan had already taken over Manchuria in China and established a Japanese state there called Manchukuo. The Japanese viciously exploited and killed thousands of helpless Chinese in the Rape of Nanjing. Japan sought to establish a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which was to be an Asia dominated by Japan and lacking in any western influence. Japan had also seized French Indochina in July 1941. Roosevelt had already suspended oil shipments to Japan, and blockaded Japan before it attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan’s attack was perhaps due to this blockade.

But Japan did not stop with its success at Pearl Harbor. It captured Wake Island and Guam in the Pacific, and then invaded the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur was stationed on the Philippines at the time, and American and Filipino soldiers fought valiantly on the Bataan Peninsula to defend the island against the Japanese. General MacArthur escaped on a small speedboat, and the Japanese conquered the islands, including the island of Corregidor. From there the Japanese also conquered Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Burma and the Burma Road. The Japanese seemed unstoppable.

It became clear that, for the first time in world history, air power would be decisive in battle. A college dropout named Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell had predicted this in the early 1920s, based in part on his personal experience in leading a large bombing attack on St. Mihiel near the end of World War I. Mitchell announced in the 1920s that Japan would attack us with aircraft and he felt American generals were incompetent and even treasonous in not guarding against this. In 1921 and 1923, Mitchell proved his point by personally flying over and bombing old American and captured German battleships to sink them easily.

In September 1925 a military airship crashed and killed many on board. Mitchell published a diatribe harshly criticizing his superiors, even accusing them of treason in ignoring the need for good military aviation. He was swiftly brought before a military court, known as a court-martial, for insubordination. He was tried for seven weeks, and convicted by a divided jury. One juror, widely thought to be the future General Douglas MacArthur, voted for acquittal. Mitchell was sentenced to a humiliating loss of rank and pay, and he quit. Only after he died and after World War II did President Truman honor him again.

But perhaps Billy Mitchell’s warnings did make a difference. In 1942 the United States sent Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle to bomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities, largely for symbolic purposes. In May 1942, a fleet of American and Australian ships intercepted a Japanese strike force and stopped Japanese advances at the Battle of Coral Sea. This was the first battle in world history in which both sides fought in aircraft based on aircraft carriers.

Perhaps Providence helped too. In June 1942, the Japanese brought together the largest naval force in the world near Midway Island in the Pacific. One soldier with superb vision noticed some dots on the horizon during a routine surveillance flight in the Pacific, and discovered the massive Japanese fleet. Alerting his aircraft carrier of the find, Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, launched an attack and won the Battle of Midway, which was the turning point in the war against the Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the Allied land forces in the Pacific, then embarked on a strategy of island-hopping to capture strategic islands surrounding Japanese positions. The Japanese, who were trained not to surrender, fought tenaciously for months before succumbing to American and Australian forces in the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

With the help of Americans, the Allies began to win victories against the Axis Powers in Europe. In late 1942, the Allies won the Battle of El Alamein, and in May 1943 General Dwight Eisenhower led the Allies to a victory against the feared Afrika Korps. Russia continued to hold its own in Stalingrad against the German army.

From northern Africa the Allies were able to invade Sicily in southern Italy, and oust Mussolini from power. The Germans restored him to power, but on June 4, 1944 the Allies broke through to Rome and by April 1945 the Germans were evacuating Italy. Mussolini was then found hiding in a truck. He was promptly shot and hung in a public square in Milan.

===American Issues – Korematsu and the Manhattan Project===

In the United States there were some American citizens of Japanese descent, particularly in California. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, fear and distrust about Japanese Americans arose. Rumors of surprise Japanese attacks on the west coast of the United States became common, and some American officials feared spying by Japanese Americans. The loyalty of American citizens of Japanese descent was doubted.

President Roosevelt, with the support of California Governor Earl Warren (who was later appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the 1950s), ordered that people of Japanese descent be forced to live in internment camps where they could be watched 24 hours a day. These included American citizens who had been born in the United States (the “Nisei”). Their property was confiscated also. Many of the internment camps were located away from the coasts in unfamiliar territories, such as near Indian reservations. Overall, 110,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly moved to internment camps during the war.

This policy constituted racial discrimination and some of the victims sued to stop it. But the U.S. Supreme Court upheld this racial discrimination in Korematsu v. United States (1944). Three dissented from this decision, which is considered one of the Court’s most embarrassing rulings. In 1948 Congress enacted the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act to compensate some of the victims for losing their homes and businesses. In 1980, Congress held hearings to review some of the personal hardships, and issued a report in 1983 condemning President Roosevelt’s removal order and the Supreme Court decision.

Beginning the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, American scientists were feverishly working on building an atomic bomb to help end the war. The code name for this project was the “Manhattan Project.”
Since 1900 scientists had known that the natural decay of radioactive elements produced large quantities of energy, much larger than the energy produced by chemical reactions. In 1914, a science-fiction writer named H.G. Wells described futuristic “atomic bombs” in a novel. In 1933, Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard had the idea that a nuclear chain reaction could make the rapid release of energy from the atom possible. Japan and Germany had projects to build a bomb.

Szilard immigrated to the United States and was determined to persuade President Roosevelt to fund the building of an atomic bomb. Szilard felt that a letter to the President by Albert Einstein would help. Einstein, a pacifist, was known better than most physicists. Einstein agreed to sign a letter written by Szilard, which was then taken to President Roosevelt in early August 1939. The letter explained the feasibility and importance of developing an atomic bomb.
But President Roosevelt did little based on this letter, and instead only allocated a tiny $6,000 for such a project. Over two years passed without progress. It was not until Dec. 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor, that an all-out effort to build an atomic bomb began under the direction of General Leslie Groves. Building on work performed by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago, a massive and top-secret team of scientists assembled in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to build an atomic bomb. Managers of this project included J. Robert Oppenheimer, later accused of being a communist sympathizer.

The scientists succeeded, and rushed a few prototype bombs to the military for potential use near the end of the war in 1945. By then, Americans had won many victories against the Japanese in the Pacific, including capturing the island of Leyte in the Philippines in October 1944, and then defeating the Japanese at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The U.S. Marines defeated the Japanese at Iwo Jima, resulting in a famous picture of several Marines raising the American flag. But the American capture of Okinawa in June 1945 proved to be one of the bloodiest land battles of the war with Japan. It became clear that the Japanese would not agree to President Roosevelt’s demand for unconditional surrender, and that conquering Japan itself would cost the lives of perhaps a million American soldiers. The Japanese were ready to fight to the death for their country. Increasingly Japanese fighter pilots became kamikaze by flying their planes in suicide missions directly into American ships.

President Roosevelt, who knew he was dying but kept it from the American people in the election in November 1944, passed away on April 12, 1945. He thus served less than three months of his new term. His vice president, Harry S Truman, became president despite not having been elected. Truman was a decent man from Missouri but was beyond his depth as the leader of the nation. He was not even aware that the Manhattan Project existed until late 1944. Joseph Stalin knew more about the progress of the Manhattan Project, through spies, than Truman did. Truman’s personality was to act impulsively, and he spent much of his spare time playing simple card games with friends.

He had never met Winston Churchill or other world leaders, and soon he began to meet with them as Americans were looking for ways to wrap up the war. In the summer of 1945 he received word from the Manhattan Project that the scientists had successfully built a few atomic bombs. It would be up to President Truman to decide if and how to use the atomic bomb.

===H. Victory===

Just as the American soldiers had defeated Germany in World War I, the Americans did it again. Operation Overlord was the code name for the massive challenge of retaking Continental Europe, liberating France from the Nazis, and conquering Germany itself. It began on “D-Day”, June 6, 1944, with the largest invasion in the history of the world when the Allied forces did a surprise landing at Normandy, France. There were so many ships and people in the ocean that it obscured the water below. Germany killed many of the initial soldiers who hit the beaches, but the Americans overpowered them and started moving through France. With America’s massive industrial capacity added to the Allies, they could now defeat the Axis Powers.

American General George Patton had perfected the art of lightning-fast tank maneuvers and unrestrained aggression, and he was the only Allied leader feared by the Germans. A few years earlier, Patton led his men in war games in Atlanta that were supposed to last for many days. Patton’s aggression and the enthusiasm of his men enabled him to win the games in just a day or two. Patton inspired a unique loyalty and spirit in his men that enabled his troops to win quicker and with few casualties than everyone else.

Patton’s Third Army rolled through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and much of the Netherlands, routing the Germans everywhere. The best the German army could do was turn and run. The French citizens lined the streets of Paris to cheer the Americans when they arrived and freed the city. One of Hitler’s last orders to his general in Paris was to detonate bombs to destroy great artworks at the Louvre Museum, which holds the Mona Lisa. The Nazi general received the order but disobeyed it.

Hitler did not plan on surrendering. He launched a massive counterattack at the Battle of the Bulge (December 16-26, 1944), also known as the Ardennes Campaign. This was the last major German counteroffensive against advancing Allied troops during World War II. Hitler caught the Allied forces by surprise and inflicted heavy casualties. It was bitterly cold.

The German forces snuck through wooded and hilly country in Luxembourg and Belgium with the goal of reaching Antwerp. The Nazis amassed three armies including 250,000 soldiers for a massive attack against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest. The Nazis surrounded the 101st Airborne Division in southern Belgium, and demanded their surrender. The Americans refused to surrender. This battle was the largest ever fought by the U.S. Army. Nearly 600,000 American Soldiers fought in this historical battle.

Allied resistance, especially the heroic effort by the 101st Airborne division, slowed the German forces just enough to prevent the Germans from making it to Antwerp. General Patton directed the Third Army to pray, and then he counterattacked. He relieved the German pressure on the 101st Airborne Division and by February the Germans were in full retreat.

General Patton could have taken all of Eastern Europe from the Germans, and the Russians. Patton planned to liberate Czechoslovakia but was told to stop in 1945. He was accused of insubordination as he pleaded with his superiors to allow him to free Eastern Europe from both Nazi and communist control. His superiors would not let Patton win more victories. The communist Soviet Union then acquired control of eastern Germany and much of Eastern Europe, placing it under communist rule for most of the remainder of the century. Soviet and American troops met at the Elbe River in Germany, and a week later Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide (on May 7, 1945). Germany immediately surrendered, and V-E Day (Victory in Europe) is May 8, 1945.

Two months later the leaders of the Allied powers traveled to Potsdam, Germany, to plan for a post-war Europe. At this Potsdam Conference were Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who was there replaced by Clement Attlee after Churchill lost reelection in Britain), and President Truman (who had succeeded Roosevelt after his death in April). They met from July 17 to August 2.

Truman was no match for Stalin. Truman’s greatest interest was in playing cards with his “advisors”, one of whom was the communist spy Alger Hiss. Truman’s biggest concern was how Stalin might react to America’s development of an atomic bomb. Why Truman was worried about that is a mystery, as the United States was far more powerful than the Soviet Union at this point. But Truman gingerly told Stalin that America had developed a vastly more powerful bomb. Stalin simply shrugged his shoulders and took an attitude of “so what?”. One explanation is that Stalin knew more from his spies about the atomic bomb than Truman did. Another explanation is that Stalin had just acquired control of half of Germany and all of Eastern Europe and did not fear the United States in the slightest.

The big decision for Truman upon his return to the United States the first week of August 1945 was whether and how to use the atomic bomb against Japan. Historians say that Truman had already decided by late July, but had not yet given the orders. Truman was perhaps the most impulsive president in American history. He would make snap decisions and he bragged about how when he made a decision, he never second-guessed himself. Japan refused to agree to an unconditional surrender and it would have required 2 million American soldiers to invade and conquer the island. The Japanese soldiers fought to the death in hand-to-hand combat and were even engaging in suicide acts.

Some scientists (including Leo Szilard) asked Truman not to use the atomic bomb, but that approach would not end the war. Others suggested that Truman should warn the Japanese, and perhaps even display the awesome power of the bomb in a safe place to Japanese leaders before using it on cities. But for every compassionate approach, there was a counter-argument against it. Hawks (pro-war people) in America felt that if the Japanese leaders had prior warning, then they would put 100,000 of their American prisoners of war at risk and perhaps even place them in the cities we wanted to attack.

By August 1945 the mood in America was unsympathetic to the Japanese, perhaps even racist. But there is little or no evidence that racism played a role in Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb. All of Truman’s military advisors wanted to use the bomb. After the United States spent so much effort developing it, it was hard to imagine not using it. Also, Truman acted impulsively and decisively, and was not one to favor inaction over action. Cautious restraint was not part of Truman’s personality.

Truman and the Allied Powers had issued the Potsdam Proclamation on July 25th to the Japanese government warning of “prompt and utter destruction” if it did not surrender immediately. Afterwards, Truman dropped 27 million leaflets over Japanese cities with the same warning. The Japanese ignored them and showed no interest in surrendering. If the Japanese had shown any interest in ending the war, then the atomic bomb would not have been dropped. But the Japanese wanted to keep fighting.

Truman approved the dropping the atomic bomb, and bombers named the Enola Gay carried out the mission on August 6, 1945 on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Truman bragged that he did not lose a night’s sleep over the decision. Truman’s reaction to the news was troubling to some. He was crossing the Atlantic on a ship and when the news reached him, he reportedly declared, “This is the greatest thing in history.” According to a witness, Truman supposedly “raced about the ship to spread the news, insisting that he had never made a happier announcement. ‘We have won the gamble,’ he told the assembled and cheering crew.” Japan, stunned, did not immediately surrender and some wonder whether it was given enough time to do so. On August 9th, a second atomic bomb was dropped, this time on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered the next day, and World War II was over.

==Postwar==

With 60 million dead from the war and many cities destroyed, there was much work to do to rebuild. Famine and disease swept through the devastated areas of Europe. European dominance and hegemony in the world was over. Japan’s empire was conquered. There needed to be fundamental changes in both Germany and Japan.

In Germany, the Nuremberg Trials in 1946 reviewed the most heinous acts of Germans during the war. Josef Mengele fled undetected to Brazil, but other war criminals were caught, tried, and executed. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson was appointed as the Chief Prosecutor. Jackson, who never attended college, was known to be a brilliant, conservative judge. Evidently he conducted the trial in a reasonably fair manner, as 3 persons were acquitted and a substantial percentage avoided the death penalty. Some of the Allies, perhaps fearing the release of embarrassing information, kept Rudolph Hess (a German who had mysteriously visited England during the war) from telling what he knew and he spent most of the trial drugged up by his captors. He was sentenced to life in jail and kept from the public until he died. Twelve were executed. There were more trials afterwards leading to the execution of 250 criminals. Ever since, the Nuremberg Trials have served as a precedent for future trials for misdeeds during war.

After Japan surrendered, the United States forced it to adopt a new constitution, a parliamentary form of government, and an admission by Emperor Hirohito that he was not divine. All men and women over the age of 20 obtained the right to vote, and the emperor was reduced to the role of a figurehead, like the monarchy in England today. The new Japanese constitution prohibited Japan from declaring war. American troops occupied Japan, and General Douglas MacArthur moved there to rule over the country.

The United States helped rebuild Japan’s economy, giving it aid, loans and investments. Wartime reparations were not required. Soon Japan grew into an economy power and its goods flooded the American markets. By the spring of 1952 the formal occupation of Japan by the United States ended, and the two nations had become allies with a mutual defense treaty. However, they began competing economically instead of militarily. Later many Americans would become bitter at how much we helped Japan after the war, as competition by Japanese companies eventually caused American industries (like the car industry) to fire workers.

The Philippines suffered from the war with Japan, and the Bell Trade Act of 1946 gave the Philippines $800 million in war damages in exchange for free trade provisions. These provisions included a waiver of all import duties on goods shipped by America to the Philippines and equal access by Americans to Filipino natural resources. The Act, which both Congress and the Philippines approved, also pegged the Filipino currency (the peso) to the American dollar and prohibited the Philippines from selling products that might "come into substantial competition" with U.S.-made goods. For those reasons Filipino nationalists criticized the law as American interference in their sovereignty. In 1955, the Laurel-Langley Agreement modified this law on terms more favorable to the Philippines.

Large amounts of economic aid flowed to Europe. The Marshall Plan (named after U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall) was passed by Congress in 1948 to offer money to European nations to rebuild. Western Europe and Yugoslavia received vast aid from the Marshall Plan.

==Cold War==

The “Cold War” began at the end of World War II. It was hostility between communism and capitalism, and between the Soviet Union and the United States. It was “cold” because no shots were fired between the two large nations. But it was very much a war.

Even before World War II ended, the foundation was laid for the Cold War. At the conference among the Allied Powers at Yalta, a city on the Black Sea, a sick and dying President Roosevelt agreed to allow the Soviet Union to occupy eastern Germany after the war. Roosevelt also promised Stalin and the Soviet Union reparations from Germany, two warm-water ports, the Kurile Islands and Sakhalin, and railroad rights in Manchuria. What did the United States receive in return? Stalin made only two promises, neither of which was worth anything. First, the Soviet Union agreed to join the war against Japan. But the Soviet Union was no help in defeating the Japanese. Second, Stalin agreed to hold free elections in Eastern Europe. This was a complete lie and Stalin never kept that promise.

In utter disregard of his promise at Yalta, Stalin established communist governments controlled by the Soviet Union in all these eastern European countries: Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania. These became “satellite” countries of the Soviet Union, meaning their policies revolved around and were controlled by the Soviet Union.

Germany itself was divided between communist and free portions. The eastern side became the German Democratic Republic, which was merely a communist satellite of the Soviet Union and became known as “East Germany.” The western side in 1947 became the Federal Republic of Germany. From a memorable post-war speech by Winston Churchill in America, the Soviet Union had dropped an “iron curtain” across Eastern Europe.

Berlin, the historic capital city of Germany, was located in the eastern side and the Allied Powers agreed to split that city into free and communist parts. Stalin then showed his hatred of freedom by blockading the delivery of goods to the free part of Berlin, which was as easy as simply stopping the railroads from traveling to Berlin from the west. The Allies reacted by implementing a massive airlift of foods and supplies to West Berlin. Every day huge numbers of airplanes flew to and from West Berlin to carry enough cargo to support a large city. This Berlin Airlift lasted nearly 11 months, from October 1949 to May 1950, until the Soviet Union backed down and lifted the ground blockade.

A decade later in 1961, the Soviet Union reacted to a different problem: huge numbers of refugees fleeing communism in East Berlin to live in the free West Berlin. While President Kennedy was enjoying a long, relaxing weekend, the communists built a concrete wall to separate East Berlin from West Berlin. Barbed wire was placed atop this “Berlin Wall,” and armed guards at posts shot and killed anyone trying to escape from the East into the West (no one would want to go in the opposite direction). Stories of daring and sometimes successful escapes are fascinating to read. This was the wall at which President Ronald Reagan stood in the late 1980s demanding that the head of the Soviet Union “tear down this wall!”

Back in 1945, the United Nations was set up by Soviet spy Alger Hiss, who was a confident of Roosevelt, initially in San Francisco. The United Nations charter established a General Assembly on the principle of one vote per nation. There was an 11-member Security Council on which Great Britain, China, the United States, France and the Soviet Union had permanent seats. The other seats rotate and have representative nations from around the world. Today the Security Council has 15 seats, and communist Hugo Chavez from Venezuela seeks a seat on it. Any nation on the Security Council can veto any proposal. The United Nations moved to New York City where it sits today, and many feel it is ineffective or even counterproductive. Supporters of the United Nations say that it is important to promote peace and participate in peacekeeping operations.

The United States had several reactions to the Cold War. One was a policy of “containment”, whereby America helped smaller countries seeking to resist the spread of communism to them. The Truman Doctrine was a statement of support to Greece and Turkey against communist advances, and Congress authorized military and economic aid.

Military alliances formed on both sides. After the Berlin blockade in 1949, western countries joined together as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In response, in 1955, the Soviet Union formed a communist alliance in the Warsaw Pact, which included all the communist countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself. Another organization, the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), brought together the United States, Great Britain, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Iraq to stop communist advances in the Middle East (Southwest Asia). SEATO, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, performed the same function in the Far East. Members included the United States, Great Britain, France, Thailand, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Technology played a key role in the Cold War. The United States developed the atomic bomb in 1945. Using secrets stolen from the United States, the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949. To stay one step ahead, the United States developed the far more powerful hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) in 1952. This used nuclear fusion and is called a “thermonuclear weapon.” The Soviet Union by itself developed its own H-bomb nine months later. Both nations began to develop huge inventories of these bombs, and advocated a policy of “brinkmanship” or the willingness to do whatever was necessary to defend their interests.

Spying between the nations took advantages of improvements in space technology. First both the United and States developed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to shoot each other with nuclear arms. Then the Soviet Union launched the first unmanned satellite, known as Sputnik I, into outer space in 1957. This greatly alarmed Americans, and the United States responded by launching its own satellite in 1958 and later initiating a mission to land on the Moon.

Americans developed a spy plane that could fly undetected at very high altitudes, called the “U-2”. When one fell to the earth in Soviet territory in 1960, President Eisenhower arranged for his Administration official to deny that America was spying. But the pilot disobeyed his orders to kill himself before being captured, and he was produced live in the Soviet Union for the television cameras! The Soviets then put him on trial, and an embarrassed United States had to beg for his return, which the Soviets ultimately did. It was never fully understood how the plane could have landed safely, and the pilot (Francis Gary Powers) died two decades later while operating a traffic helicopter. The U-2 incident forced cancellation of a meeting between President Eisenhower and the aggressive Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev.

==China==

The Japanese devastated China during World War II. The Nationalist Chinese led by Chiang Kai-shek received aid from the United States to fight against the Japanese, but in reality they needed that money to prepare for civil war against the communists led by Mao Zedong . After the war, the communists attempted to conquer the Nationalists . Civil war raged from 1946 to 1949. Due to many desertions by soldiers from the Nationalist army to the communists, Mao prevailed by October 1949. Mao had promised land for the peasants and renamed the country the People’s Republic of China. Chiang fled with Nationalists to the island of Formosa, and renamed it the Republic of China (Taiwan), which the United States supported. By February 1950, the communists in the Soviet Union signed a friendship pact with the Chinese communists. Fear gripped the free world.

Chairman Mao quickly extended communist control to Inner Mongolia and Tibet in 1950-51, causing the Daili Lama to flee to India in 1959. Tibet attempted a revolution that year, but the Chinese brutally repressed the revolution and Buddhism. India received many refugees and, after a 1962 border dispute, has been on tense terms with China ever since.

Life under Chairman Mao included an Agrarian Land Reform Law of 1950, when Mao seized property and distributed it to peasants, and a policy of forcing peasants to work on collective farms from 1952 to 1957. Women were treated like men. Mao imitated the five-year plans of the communist Soviet Union.

From 1958 to 1961, Mao implemented the misnamed “Great Leap Forward,” where he established large collective farms composed of 25,000 people working on thousands of acres per farm. These communes prohibited private possessions and everyone lived in communal housing. Predictably, people worked less and less because there was no private property as an incentive. A great famine resulted and nearly 30 million Chinese died.

Mao had a disagreement with the communists in the Soviet Union known as the “Sino-Soviet rift,” and he started to allow other communists in China to make policy. They began to use capitalist principles such as allowing people to own their land and profit from sales. In 1966, Mao reacted to this with the Cultural Revolution, where everyone intelligent or artistic was imprisoned or killed. Schools and universities were closed. Mao’s “Red Guards” (high school and college students who were militant communists) enforced the Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping was imprisoned, and Zhou Enlai was placed in seclusion. Chaos reigned.

Finally Mao Zedong died in 1976, and Deng Xiaoping gained control over the radicals and ended the Cultural Revolution.

==Korean War==

The Cold War broke out into a real war in 1950 between communist North Korea and free South Korea. The North Koreans invaded across the 38th parallel into South Korea, which petitioned the United Nations for help. The Soviet Union at the time was boycotting its seat in the Security Council due to a decision to seat Taiwan, and thus it lacked a veto for the decision by the United Nations to send an international force to South Korea under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. But the international force was ineffective in blocking the advancing, well-trained communist soldiers from North Korea.

In September 1950, General MacArthur used an idea he had months earlier, but which all his advisors had rejected as too risky: an amphibious maneuver known as the “Inchon landing.” He turned North Korean aggression against itself by having his soldiers secretly flee on boats and then land, with reinforcements from other sources, north of the enemy to cut off their supply lines on a peninsula (see map).

That single maneuver turned certain defeat into certain victory, as the North Korean army was then stuck without supplies. But a month later communist Chinese began flooding into North Korea by the hundreds of thousands to help the fellow communists. General MacArthur wanted to defeat them also, but President Truman refused and fired MacArthur. In July 1953, a ceasefire was signed reestablishing the 38th parallel as the dividing line. A demilitarized zone on both sides exists to this day.

The North Korean dictator, Kim Il Sung, ruled the country for decades and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il, who recently alarmed the world by saying he has nuclear weapons. South Korea, meanwhile, has grown with capitalism far stronger than North Korea. South Korea had its first free elections in 1987.

Repeated attempts to reunite North and South Korea have been total failures, as North Korea remains completely communist (like China and Cuba) while South Korea is one of the most Christian and free enterprise nations in the world. The Korean electronics company Samsung has risen to dominance in the computer video market, and the Korean car company Hyundai has also been successful in competing against the Japanese and American companies.

[[Category:World History lectures]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:World History Lecture 12}}

History of China

2009-04-11T22:49:01Z

HappyPerson: /* Civil War: 1945-1949 */

'''Chinese History''' is the story of China over the last 5000+ years. For the contemporary scene, see [[China]]

===Dynastic Period===
China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, with records dating back about 3,500 years. Stories and artifacts show the area was occupied about 5,000 years ago, but there is no verifiable tie-in to the nation now known as China. Successive dynasties developed a system of bureaucratic control that gave the agrarian-based Chinese an advantage over neighboring nomadic and hill cultures. Chinese civilization was further strengthened by the development of a Confucian state ideology and a common written language that bridged the gaps among the country's many local languages and dialects. Whenever China was conquered by nomadic tribes, as it was by the Mongols in the 13th century, the conquerors sooner or later adopted the ways of the "higher" Chinese civilization and staffed the bureaucracy with Chinese.

The discovery of silk from the silkworm occurred around 2700 BC. Sericulture, the cultivation of the silkworm to produce silk, spread through China, making silk a highly valued commodity. It was considered to be the domain of women; while men worked in the fields, women reared silkworms and tended mulberry plantations. This is reflected in the modern Chinese character for the English meaning "tired", "累"，lei, which is a picture of a field - the work of men - above a picture of a coil of silk - the work of women.

When the Chinese discovered [[gunpowder]] they had no intention of using it as a weapon; instead, it was developed in the Tang dynasty as a formula for immortality by religious Daoist (daojiao - 道教) alchemists. It was discovered to be a powerful explosive, and when lit, gunpowder in a bamboo stick made a colorful explosion. This loud explosion was used to chase away evil spirits and to celebrate weddings, victories in battles, and religious ceremonies. However, contrary to popular belief, the first depiction of gunpowder in pictorial form shows it in military use. Similarly, it is also known that before the arrival of Westerners in China, Chinese troops were equipped with firearms.

===Great Wall of China===
The '''[[Great Wall of China]]''' was designed to keep enemies out and protect their country. Constgruction took centuries, and was begun during the Qin dynasty, 221-206B.C. In 246B.C. the emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, whose original name was Ying Zheng, came to power in the state of Qin. By 221 B.C, he had unified China using the Legalist philosophy of his state to encourage colonization and to build up the military in what was previously a minor desert state.

The Great Wall winds some 2,400 km (1,500 mi) along the edge of the Mongolian plateau from Gansu (Kansu) province in the west to the Yellow Sea in the east. Its width ranges from 4 to 12 m (12 to 40 ft) and its height from 6 to 15 m (20 to 50 ft). It makes possible much more effective military defense of China from invaders.

It was perhaps the greatest and largest thing ever created by man by that point. Unlike the wall we see today, it was originally an earthen and wooden rampart structure, and had earlier precedents, walls built by the various states of the Warring States period to keep out nomads in the north. There was a huge human cost involved; it is believed over a million people died in the construction. The wall that is visible today dates from the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), begun after the expulsion of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1276 - 1368) and nearly a thousand years of nomad rule in China under various dynastic titles. It did not, however, prevent a final nomadic group from conquering China at the end of the Ming dynasty in 1368 - the Manchus. The Shanhaiguan pass, the main route into and out of Manchuria, was not protected by the wall, and in 1644, Manchus, Buddhist descendants of the Jurchen tribes who had fought the Han Chinese for centuries, invaded the north of China, exploiting the weak late-Ming government and infrastructure. This resulted in the formation of the Qing dynasty, which lasted until the revolution of 1911.
==Ming Dynasty: 1368-1644==
The Ming period is the only era of later imperial history during which all of China was ruled by a native, or Han dynasty. The success of the Chinese in regaining control over their own government is an important event in history, and the Ming dynasty thus has been regarded, both in Ming times and even more so in the 21st century, as an era of Chinese resurgence.

[[Image:16th century East Asia.png|thumb|310px]]

All the counties in China had a county government, a Confucian school, and the standard Chinese family system. Typically the dominant local elite comprised high status families comprised of the gentry owners and managers of land and of other forms of wealth, as well as smaller groups that were subject to elite domination and protection. Much attention was paid to genealogy to prove that high status was inherited from generations back. Substantial land holdings were directly managed by the owning families in the early Ming period, but toward the end of the era marketing and ownership were depersonalized by the increased circulation of silver as money, and estate management gravitated into the hands of hired bailiffs. Together with the departure of the most talented youth into the imperial service, the result was direct contacts between the elite and subject groups were disrupted, and romantic images of country life disappeared from the literature. In villages across China elite families participated in the life of the empire by sending their sons into the very high status imperial civil service. Most of the successful sons had a common education in the county and prefectural schools, had been recruited by competitive examination, and were posted to offices that might be anywhere in the empire, including the imperial capital. At first the recommendation of an elite local sponsor was important; increasing the imperial government relied more on merit exams, and thus entry into the national ruling class became more difficult. Downward social mobility into the peasantry was possible for less successful sons; upward mobility from the peasant class was unheard of. <ref> Dardess, ''A Ming Society'' (1996)</ref>
==Qing (Manchu) Dynasty: 1644-1911==

Chinese had an advanced artistic culture and well-developed science and technology. However, its science and technology stood still after 1700 and in the 21st century very little survives outside museums and remote villages, except in for the ever-popular forms of traditional medicine like acupuncture.

In the late Qing era (19th and early 20th centuries), the country was beset by large-scale civil wars, major famines, military defeats by Britain and Japan, regional control by powerful warlords and foreign intervention such as the [[Boxer Rebellion]] of 1900.

===Reforms 1900-1908: too little, too late===
The Boxer Rebellion was a humiliating fiasco for China; the Qing rulers proved visibly incompetent and lost prestige irreparably, while the foreign powers gained greater influence in Chinese affairs. The humiliation stimulated a second reform movement--this time sanctioned by the empress dowager Cixi herself. From 1901 to 1908, the dynasty announced a series of educational, military, and administrative reforms, many reminiscent of the "one hundreds days" of 1898. In 1905 the examination system itself was abolished and the entire Confucian tradition of merit entry into the elite collased. The abolition of the traditional civil service examination was itself a revolution of immense significance. After many centuries, the scholar's mind began to be liberated from the shackles of classical studies, and social mobility no longer depended chiefly on the writing of stereotyped and flowery prose.

New ministries were created in Beijing and revised law codes were drafted. Work began on a national budget--the national government had no idea how much taxes were collected in its name and spent by regional officials.

New armies were raised and trained in European (and Japanese) fashion and plans for a national army were laid. The creation of the "new army" reflected rising esteem for the military profession and the emergence of a new national elite that dominated China for much of the 20th century. . More officers and men were now literate, while patriotism and better pay served as an inducement for service.

The movement for constitutionalism gathered momentum following the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, for Japan's victory signalled the triumph of constitutionalism over absolutism. Under pressure from gentry and student groups, the Qing court in 1908 issued plans for the inauguration of consultative provincial assemblies in 1909, a consultative national assembly in 1910, and both a constitution and a parliament in 1917. The consultative assemblies were to play a pivotal role in the unfolding events, politicizing the provincial gentry and providing them with new leverage with which to protect their interests.

===Revolution planned===
Ironically, the measures designed to preserve the Qing dynasty hastened its death, for the nationalistic and modernizing impulses generated or nurtured by the reforms brought a greater awareness of the Qing government's extreme backwardness. Modernizing forces emerged as business, students, women, soldiers, and overseas Chinese became mobilized and demanded change. Government-sponsored education in Japan, available to both civilian and military students, exposed Chinese youths to revolutionary ideas produced by political exiles and inspired by the West. Anti-Manchu revolutionary groups were formed in the Yangtze cities by 1903, and those in Tokyo banded together to form the "Revolutionary Alliance" in 1905, led by [[Sun Yat-sen]].

==Republic: 1912-1949==
===Dictatorship of Yuan Shikai 1911-1916===
By 1911 China had 400 million people and the beginnings of a modern railroad system. The administrative system remained hopelessly inadequate; for example the central government never knew how much was raised in taxes (only a small part of which it obtained). Unrest with the failures of the Qing dynasty continued to escalate, despite belated efforts at reform. [[Sun Yat-sen]] (1866-1925) created a revolutionary ferment based in the worldwide Chinese diaspora. The old dynasty collapsed in 1911 as soldiers of the modernized army revolted, and the emperor abdicated in early 1912. A republic was proclaimed on January 1, 1912, but power was held by a [[Yuan Shikai]] (1859-1916), a soldier. The Nationalist ("Kuomintang" or [[KMT]]) party won the first national elections in 1912, but Yuan had the KMT leader assassinated, crushed republican uprisings in 1913 (called the "Second revolution"), shut down parliament, and ruled as dictator. Yuan's foreign policy was subservience to the foreign powers; he accepted Japan's Twenty-One demands, giving Japan control of Manchuria and a voice in internal affairs; it was a humiliation the people rejected. Yuan even tried to proclaim himself emperor, but the spirit of [[republicanism]] was too strong and a rising revolt, based in the south, was about to overthrow him when he suddenly died of natural causes in June 1916.<ref>Hsü, (1999) ch 20</ref>
===Age of Warloards, 1916-1927===
After Yuan's death power devolved to regional warlords, and there was little or no central government until 1928.<ref>Hsü, (1999) ch 20</ref>
===KMT government 1927-1937===
Under the leadership of the [[KMT]] (Kuomintang), headed by [[Chiang Kai-shek]] (1887-1975), the central government finally suppressed the local warlords who effectively controlled many provinces. Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, and in 1937 invaded all of China, defeating the government armies, seizing the coast, the major cities, and setting up a puppet government that controlled most of the population. China's resistance was ineffective.<ref> Spence, ''Search for Modern China'' (1990) ch 14-16</ref>

===Communists Party CCP===
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in Shanghai, China's largest city, in 1921. It was allied with the KMT but in classical Marxist style its goal was initially to foment revolution among urban workers. It was controlled by [[Stalin]] in Moscow through the Comintern. In 1927, however, a bloody anti-Communist coup by the KMT, destroyed the CCP in the cities. Forced into the countryside, the CCP broke with Russian guidance and developed a new strategy based on agrarian revolution, mobilizing poor peasants by promising to confiscate and redistribute the lands held by landlords. [[Mao Zedong]] (Mao Tse-tung) took the lead.<ref> Spence, ''Search for Modern China'' (1990) ch 14</ref>

Mao had long engaged in rural party work in his native Hunan province. In 1926 he foresaw China's 400 million peasants "rising like a hurricane" to throw off the "oppressive yoke" of landlord domination. This essay, with its call for the formation of peasant associations and its prediction of dire consequences for all who stood in the peasants' way, provided a blueprint for Mao's revolutionary strategy of "surrounding the cities from the countryside."

To implement his strategy Mao developed a well-trained and highly disciplined "Red Army" capable of withstanding KMT attacks and he organized local governments, or "soviets," where Communist control could be consolidated. A soviet republic was proclaimed in 1931 in Jiangxi, where the Communists controlled a rural mountainous area of about 10,000 square miles (26,000 sq km) with some 15 million inhabitants.

The strength of the red army and the durability of the Jiangxi Soviet Republic were severely tested between 1931 and 1934, as the Kuomintang waged five successive military encirclement campaigns against the Communists. Confronted with a larger and better-equipped enemy, Mao and his chief military strategist, Zhu De (Chu Teh) (1886-1976), refined the tactics of "people's war": enlist the support of local peasants through benevolent treatment of noncombatants; avoid conventional battles with superior enemy forces; isolate the enemy and overextend his supply lines; concentrate superior tactical forces to encircle and annihilate individual enemy units; and attack the enemy only under favorable conditions.

The essential preconditions for a successful people's war were the maintenance of high morale among red army soldiers and the securing of the widest possible base of civilian support. Without the latter, the guerrilla fighter was a "fish out of water." Without the former, a numerically and materially inferior force would be unable to maintain discipline and fighting effectiveness. Underlying both preconditions was the premise that a sense of purpose was vital to the success of the revolution. As Mao put it in 1936, "The contest of forces is [a contest] of the power and morale of men.... In war, it is man, not matériel, that counts." This voluntarist strain in Mao's thought, stressing the need to place "politics in command," is widely regarded as one of Mao's most important--and controversial--innovations in Marxist theory.<ref> Spence, ''Search for Modern China'' (1990) ch 15-16; Spence, ''Mao Zedong'' (2006); quote in Baum (1964)</ref>
====The Long March: 1934-36 ====
In 1934-35, the CCP fled the KMT with over 100,000 men and women. They divided into several armies, marched 6000 miles inland through a brutal terrain of frigid mountain passes, freezing rivers and marshes in search of a sanctuary to continue their revolution. Desertion was common, local peasants refused to join, and local landlords raided the marchers. The army traded opium for supplies, and women were forced to leave their newborns behind with peasant families because a crying infant could endanger troops. Critical tactical blunders led to the bloody sacrifice of soldiers in hopeless battles. Only 7000 survived the march. Intraparty struggles and betrayal brought repeated rounds of purges, as Mao emerged as chairman of the Politburo and became the unchallenged leader of the CCP<ref>John M. Glionna, "China's reality check on Long March," [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-longmarch16jan16,0,3463382.story?coll=la-home-center ''Los Angeles Times, Jan. 16, 2008] </ref>

The Long March became the heroic memory of the CCP, and virtually all the Communist leaders of the next 70 years were marchers or their children.<ref>Sun Shuyun, ''The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth'' (2007)</ref>

===World War II: 1937-1945===
China suffered millions of deaths in the long war, even though battles were few. The Japanese killed tens of thousands of civilians in the occupied territories. Tens of thousands more died when Nationalist troops broke the levees of the [[Yangtze]] to stop the Japanese advance after the loss of the capital, [[Nanking]]. Millions more Chinese died because of famine during the war.

Millions of Chinese moved to the western regions of China to avoid Japanese invasion. Cities like [[Kunming]] ballooned with new arrivals. Entire factories and universities were often taken along for the journey. Japan captured major coastal cities like [[Shanghai]] early in the war; cutting the rest of China off from its chief source of finance and industry.

The city of [[Chongqing]] became the most frequently bombed city in history. <ref>[http://www.cs.albany.edu/~lance/china/chongqing.htm Chóngqìng]. </ref>

Though China received [[Lend Lease]] economic and military aid from the United States, China did not have sufficient infrastructure to properly arm or even feed its military forces. Much of the aid was lost to corruption and extreme inefficiency.

Communist forces led by Mao were generally more successful at getting support or killing opponents than Nationalists. They were based mainly in Northern China, and built up their strength to battle with the Nationalists as soon as the Japanese were gone.

In occupied territories under Japanese control, civilians were treated harshly.

===Civil War: 1945-1949===
China was allied with the U.S. and Britain against Japan, and at war's end joined the United Nations as a permanent member of the 5-nation Security Council, with a veto. The Americans attempted to force a negotiated settlement between the KMT and the Communists, but failed.

United States General George Marshall had Chiang agree on a four-month ceasefire in Manchuria in 1946. In this time, the Soviets trained the communist troops and sent them fine weaponry. Plus, because Chiang's finest generals often were red spies, they reported battle plans to Mao Tse-tung. Due to this, he triumphed over Chiang and declared the People's Republic of China on October 1,1949 in Tiananmen Square to a crowd of fanatic reds.

==People's Republic of China: 1949 - present==

[Image:PRCFounding.jpg|right|thumb|1st Chinese Communist Party chairman [[Mao Zedong]] declaring the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.]]

In the face of economic collapse the Communists won the civil war in 1949 under [[Mao Zedong]] (1893-1976). Mao established a dictatorship, driving the KMT to [[Taiwan]]. Taiwan is recognized as an integral part of China in theory, but in practice has been independent since 1949. Mao liquidated millions of opponents, fought the United States in the bloody [[Korean War]] (1950-53), and broke with the Soviet Union over the issue of who best represented the Marxist orthodoxy.
===Great Leap Forward===
The Great Leap Forward (1958-60) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) were the two periods of leftist domination in the history of China. Although the Great Leap Forward was much more disastrous in both human and economic terms, the Cultural Revolution receives the more negative assessment in China. This harsher review of the Cultural Revolution stems from the facts that it occurred more recently, was much longer in duration, and that many of its victims were cadres and intellectuals.<ref> William A. Joseph, "A Tragedy of Good Intentions: Post-mao Views of the Great Leap Forward." ''Modern China'' 1986 12(4): 419-457. Issn: 0097-7004 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/189257 in Jstor ]</ref>
===Cultural Revolution, 1966-75===
Mao's regime imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. The [[Cultural Revolution]] of 1966-76 was inspired by Mao and devastated the intellectual class. Tens of thousands of intellectuals and teachers were educators were insulted, tortured, driven to suicide or executed by their students. Mobilized as members of the Red Guards, a new youth organization, the students attacked the educators as "capitalist intellectuals." From 1967 to 1978, the state "send-down" (rustication) policy 17 million urban youth to live and work in rural areas, with a pwermanent negative impact on their intellectual development and careers. <ref> Xueguang Zhou and Liren Hou, "Children of the Cultural Revolution: the State and the Life Course in the People's Republic of China." ''American Sociological Review'' 1999 64(1): 12-36. Issn: 0003-1224 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2657275 in Jstor ] </ref> The upheaval was not limited to the cities. Maoist political ideology and teachings provided the catalyst for village conflicts that brought out traditional grievances and further escalated the conflicts. Some of the catalysts were student activists carrying out Mao's teachings, factional disputes, and the Four Clean-up campaigns that purged village officials and corruption. These conflicts spread to traditional grievances like lineage and hamlet hostilities and disputes over leadership and rights. Often, the conflicts caused by Party politics intersected traditional conflicts to the extent that the root causes of the conflicts were lost. This resulted in further escalation of the conflicts, which became more complex and widespread. In rural China an estimated 750,000 to 1.5 million people were killed, and about as many permanently injured; 36 million who suffered some form of political persecution. The vast majority of these casualties occurred from 1968 to 1971, after the end of the period of popular rebellion and factional conflict and the establishment of provisional organs of local state power.<ref> Jonathan Unger, "Cultural Revolution Conflict in the Villages.} ''China Quarterly'' 1998 (153): 82-106. Issn: 0305-7410 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/655831 in Jstor] ; Andrew G. Walder, and Yang Su, "The Cultural Revolution in the Countryside: Scope, Timing and Human Impact." ''China Quarterly'' 2003 (173): 74-99. Issn: 0305-7410</ref> Mao's policies were illustrated in posters that used art for political purposes. The posters glorified Mao, criticized his opponents, urged cooperation among all revolutionary groups, and condemned capitalism and foreign imperialists.<ref> Patricia Powell, and Joseph Wong, "Propaganda Posters from the Chinese Cultural Revolution." ''Historian'' 1997 59(4): 776-793. Issn: 0018-2370 in [[EBSCO]]</ref> Major leadership changes and purges occurred at the top, involving [[Lin Biao]], the [[Gang of Four]], and [[Deng Xiaoping]]. In 1976, after the death of [[Zhou Enlai]] in January, the replacement of Deng in April, and Mao's death in September, a short, dramatic struggle ended with the arrest of the Gang of Four, the end of the Cultural revolution, and the transition to the post-Mao era.

===Nixon and China===
[[Image:Rn-chou.jpg|thumb|400px|Nixon visits Chinese premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing, Feb. 1972]]
n 1972 the world was stunned when American President [[Richard Nixon]] visited Beijing, ending the cold war between the two countries and opening an era of détente and friendship that continues into the 21st century.<ref> For primary sources and details see [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/kissinger/nixzhou/ "Record of Historic Richard Nixon-Zhou Enlai Talks in February 1972 Now Declassified"] </ref>

After 1978, Mao's successor [[Deng Xiaoping]] focused on market-oriented economic development, and by 2000 output had quadrupled, population growth ended (by imposing a one-child policy), and good relations were secured with the West. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls and Internet censorship remain tight.

===The "Great Leap Forward" and the Sino-Soviet Split===
In 1958, Mao broke with the Soviet model and announced a new economic program, the "Great Leap Forward," aimed at rapidly raising industrial and agricultural production. Giant cooperatives (communes) were formed, and "backyard factories" dotted the Chinese landscape. The results were disastrous. Normal market mechanisms were disrupted, agricultural production fell behind, and China's people exhausted themselves producing what turned out to be shoddy, un-salable goods. Within a year, starvation appeared even in fertile agricultural areas. From 1960 to 1961, the combination of poor planning during the Great Leap Forward and bad weather resulted in one of the deadliest famines in human history.

The already strained Sino-Soviet relationship deteriorated sharply in 1959, when the Soviets started to restrict the flow of scientific and technological information to China. The dispute escalated, and the Soviets withdrew all of their personnel from China in August 1960. In 1960, the Soviets and the Chinese began to have disputes openly in international forums.

===The Cultural Revolution===
[[Image:Yun Xin.jpg|left|200px|Chinese painting by Yun Xin]]
In the early 1960s, State President Liu Shaoqi and his protégé, Party General Secretary Deng Xiaoping, took over direction of the party and adopted pragmatic economic policies at odds with Mao's revolutionary vision. Dissatisfied with China's new direction and his own reduced authority, Party Chairman Mao launched a massive political attack on Liu, Deng, and other pragmatists in the spring of 1966. The new movement, the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," was unprecedented in communist history. For the first time, a section of the Chinese communist leadership sought to rally popular opposition against another leadership group. China was set on a course of political and social anarchy that lasted the better part of a decade.

In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Mao and his "closest comrade in arms," National Defense Minister Lin Biao, charged Liu, Deng, and other top party leaders with dragging China back toward capitalism. Radical youth organizations, called Red Guards, attacked party and state organizations at all levels, seeking out leaders who would not bend to the radical wind. In reaction to this turmoil, some local People's Liberation Army (PLA) commanders and other officials maneuvered to outwardly back Mao and the radicals while actually taking steps to rein in local radical activity.

Gradually, Red Guard and other radical activity subsided, and the Chinese political situation stabilized along complex factional lines. The leadership conflict came to a head in September 1971, when Party Vice Chairman and Defense Minister Lin Biao reportedly tried to stage a coup against Mao; Lin Biao allegedly later died in a plane crash in Mongolia.

In the aftermath of the Lin Biao incident, many officials criticized and dismissed during 1966-69 were reinstated. Chief among these was Deng Xiaoping, who reemerged in 1973 and was confirmed in 1975 in the concurrent posts of Politburo Standing Committee member, PLA Chief of Staff, and Vice Premier.

The ideological struggle between more pragmatic, veteran party officials and the radicals re-emerged with a vengeance in late 1975. Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, and three close Cultural Revolution associates (later dubbed the "Gang of Four") launched a media campaign against Deng. In January 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai, a popular political figure, died of cancer. On April 5, Beijing citizens staged a spontaneous demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Zhou's memory, with strong political overtones of support for Deng. The authorities forcibly suppressed the demonstration. Deng was blamed for the disorder and stripped of all official positions, although he retained his party membership.

===The Post-Mao Era===
Mao's death in September 1976 removed a towering figure from Chinese politics and set off a scramble for succession. Former Minister of Public Security Hua Guofeng was quickly confirmed as Party Chairman and Premier. A month after Mao's death, Hua, backed by the PLA, arrested Jiang Qing and other members of the "Gang of Four." After extensive deliberations, the Chinese Communist Party leadership reinstated Deng Xiaoping to all of his previous posts at the 11th Party Congress in August 1977. Deng then led the effort to place government control in the hands of veteran party officials opposed to the radical excesses of the previous two decades.

The new, pragmatic leadership emphasized economic development and renounced mass political movements. At the pivotal December 1978 Third Plenum (of the 11th Party Congress Central Committee), the leadership adopted economic reform policies aimed at expanding rural income and incentives, encouraging experiments in enterprise autonomy, reducing central planning, and attracting foreign direct investment into China. The plenum also decided to accelerate the pace of legal reform, culminating in the passage of several new legal codes by the National People's Congress in June 1979.

After 1979, the Chinese leadership moved toward more pragmatic positions in almost all fields. The party encouraged artists, writers, and journalists to adopt more critical approaches, although open attacks on party authority were not permitted. In late 1980, Mao's Cultural Revolution was officially proclaimed a catastrophe. Hua Guofeng, a protégé of Mao, was replaced as premier in 1980 by reformist Sichuan party chief Zhao Ziyang and as party General Secretary in 1981 by the even more reformist Communist Youth League chairman Hu Yaobang.

Reform policies brought great improvements in the standard of living, especially for urban workers and for farmers who took advantage of opportunities to diversify crops and establish village industries. Literature and the arts blossomed, and Chinese intellectuals established extensive links with scholars in other countries.

At the same time, however, political dissent as well as social problems such as inflation, urban migration, and prostitution emerged. Although students and intellectuals urged greater reforms, some party elders increasingly questioned the pace and the ultimate goals of the reform program. In December 1986, student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, staged protests against the slow pace of reform, confirming party elders' fear that the current reform program was leading to social instability. Hu Yaobang, a protégé of Deng and a leading advocate of reform, was blamed for the protests and forced to resign as CCP General Secretary in January 1987. Premier Zhao Ziyang was made General Secretary and Li Peng, former Vice Premier and Minister of Electric Power and Water Conservancy, was made Premier.

===1989 Student Movement and Tiananmen Square===
After Zhao became the party General Secretary, the economic and political reforms he had championed came under increasing attack. His proposal in May 1988 to accelerate price reform led to widespread popular complaints about rampant inflation and gave opponents of rapid reform the opening to call for greater centralization of economic controls and stricter prohibitions against Western influence. This precipitated a political debate, which grew more heated through the winter of 1988-89.

The death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation, provided the backdrop for a large-scale protest movement by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. University students and other citizens camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu's death and to protest against those who would slow reform. Their protests, which grew despite government efforts to contain them, called for an end to official corruption and for defense of freedoms guaranteed by the Chinese constitution. Protests also spread to many other cities, including Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou.

Martial law was declared on May 20, 1989. Late on June 3 and early on the morning of June 4, military units were brought into Beijing. They used armed force to clear demonstrators from the streets. There are no official estimates of deaths in Beijing, but most observers believe that casualties numbered in the hundreds.

After June 4, while foreign governments expressed horror at the brutal suppression of the demonstrators, the central government eliminated remaining sources of organized opposition, detained large numbers of protesters, and required political reeducation not only for students but also for large numbers of party cadre and government officials.

Following the resurgence of conservatives in the aftermath of June 4, economic reform slowed until given new impetus by Deng Xiaoping's dramatic visit to southern China in early 1992. Deng's renewed push for a market-oriented economy received official sanction at the 14th Party Congress later in the year as a number of younger, reform-minded leaders began their rise to top positions. Deng and his supporters argued that managing the economy in a way that increased living standards should be China's primary policy objective, even if "capitalist" measures were adopted. Subsequent to the visit, the Communist Party Politburo publicly issued an endorsement of Deng's policies of economic openness. Though not completely eschewing political reform, China has consistently placed overwhelming priority on the opening of its economy.

===Third Generation of Leaders===
Deng's health deteriorated in the years prior to his death in 1997. During that time, President Jiang Zemin and other members of his generation gradually assumed control of the day-to-day functions of government. This "third generation" leadership governed collectively with President Jiang at the center.

In March 1998, Jiang was re-elected President during the 9th National People's Congress. Premier Li Peng was constitutionally required to step down from that post. He was elected to the chairmanship of the National People's Congress. Zhu Rongji was selected to replace Li as Premier.

===Fourth Generation of Leaders===
[[Image:Commuting to Work.jpg|right|thumb|Tiananmen gate of the [[Forbidden City]]. The Forbidden City used to be the palace of the emperor of China, it is now a tourist attraction.]]
In November 2002, the 16th Communist Party Congress elected Hu Jintao, who in 1992 was designated by Deng Xiaoping as the "core" of the fourth generation leaders, the new General Secretary. A new Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee was also elected in November.

In March 2003, General Secretary Hu Jintao was elected President at the 10th National People's Congress. Jiang Zemin retained the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission. At the Fourth Party Plenum in September 2004, Jiang Zemin retired from the Central Military Commission, passing the Chairmanship and control of the People's Liberation Army to President Hu Jintao.

China is firmly committed to economic reform and opening to the outside world. The Chinese leadership has identified reform of state industries and the establishment of a social safety net as government priorities. Government strategies for achieving these goals include large-scale privatization of unprofitable state-owned enterprises and development of a pension system for workers. The leadership has also downsized the government bureaucracy.

==Further reading==
For a more detailed guide go to the Bibliography below

* Eberharad, Wolfram. ''A History of China'' (2005), 380 pages' [http://books.google.com/books?id=5LgjunIn1CEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:history+intitle:china&num=30&as_brr=1&sig=k1CgHXYb6jQ6BgdwVpUWngov7So full text online free]
* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, and Kwang-ching Liu. ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China'' (1999) 352 pages [http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-China-Histories/dp/052166991X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346890&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. ''China: A New History.'' (2nd ed. 2006). 640 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/China-New-History-Second-Enlarged/dp/0674018281/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346975&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. ''A History of Chinese Civilization'' (1996), called the best one-volume survey; [http://www.amazon.com/History-Chinese-Civilization-Jacques-Gernet/dp/0521497817/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197220627&sr=1-11 excerpt and text search]
* Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. ''The Rise of Modern China,'' (6th ed. 1999), highly detailed coverage of 1644-1999, in 1136pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Modern-China-Immanuel-Hsu/dp/0195125045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197238178&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* [[Kenneth Scott Latourette|Latourette, Kenneth Scott]]. ''The Development of China'' (1917) 273 pages; [http://books.google.com/books?id=fSIPAAAAYAAJ&dq=inauthor:latourette&num=30&as_brr=1 full text online], by a leading Christian scholar
* Michael, Franz. ''China through the Ages: History of a Civilization.'' (1986). 278pp; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/china-through-the-ages-history-of-a-civilization-by-franz-michael.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Perkins, Dorothy. ''Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture.'' (1999). 662 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-China-Essential-Reference-History/dp/0816043744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346428&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Roberts, J. A. G. ''A Concise History of China.'' (1999). 341 pp.
* Schoppa, R. Keith. ''The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History.'' (2000). 356 pp. [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-columbia-guide-to-modern-chinese-history-by-r-keith-schoppa.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Spence, Jonathan D. ''The Search for Modern China'' (1991), 876pp; well written survey from 1644 to 1980s [http://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Jonathan-Spence/dp/0393307808/ref=pd_sim_b_title_2 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/read/98946348 complete edition online at [[Questia]]]
* Wang, Ke-wen, ed. ''Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism.'' (1998). 442 pp.
* Wright, David Curtis. ''History of China'' (2001) 257pp; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-history-of-china-by-david-curtis-wright-john-e-findling-frank-w-thackeray.jsp online edition]

==Detailed Bibliography==
For a long scholarly bibliography through 2001 see [http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/chinesehistory/bibtoc.html "Modern Chinese History: A Basic Bibliography"].
===surveys===
* Eberharad, Wolfram. ''A History of China'' (2005), 380 pages' [http://books.google.com/books?id=5LgjunIn1CEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:history+intitle:china&num=30&as_brr=1&sig=k1CgHXYb6jQ6BgdwVpUWngov7So full text online free]
* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, and Kwang-ching Liu. ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China'' (1999) 352 pages [http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-China-Histories/dp/052166991X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346890&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. ''China: A New History.'' 2nd ed. Harvard U. Press, (2006). 640 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/China-New-History-Second-Enlarged/dp/0674018281/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346975&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. ''A History of Chinese Civilization'' (1996), called the best one-volume survey; [http://www.amazon.com/History-Chinese-Civilization-Jacques-Gernet/dp/0521497817/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197220627&sr=1-11 excerpt and text search]
* Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. ''The Rise of Modern China,'' 6th ed. (Oxford University Press, 1999), highly detailed coverage of 1644-1999, in 1136pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Modern-China-Immanuel-Hsu/dp/0195125045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197238178&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Huang, Ray. ''China, a Macro History'' (1997) 335pp, an idiosyncratic approach, not for beginners; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/china-a-macro-history-by-ray-huang.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Latourette, Kenneth Scott. ''The Development of China'' (1917) 273 pages; [http://books.google.com/books?id=fSIPAAAAYAAJ&dq=inauthor:latourette&num=30&as_brr=1 full text online]
* Michael, Franz. ''China through the Ages: History of a Civilization.'' (1986). 278pp; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/china-through-the-ages-history-of-a-civilization-by-franz-michael.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Mote, Frederick W. ''Imperial China, 900–1800'' Harvard University Press, 1999, 1,136 pages, the authoritative treatment of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties; [http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-China-900-1800-F-Mote/dp/0674012127/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197237736&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Perkins, Dorothy. ''Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture.'' Facts on File, 1999. 662 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-China-Essential-Reference-History/dp/0816043744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346428&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Roberts, J. A. G. ''A Concise History of China.'' Harvard U. Press, 1999. 341 pp.
* Schoppa, R. Keith. ''The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History.'' Columbia U. Press, 2000. 356 pp. [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-columbia-guide-to-modern-chinese-history-by-r-keith-schoppa.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Spence, Jonathan D. ''The Search for Modern China'' (1991), 876pp; well written survey from 1644 to 1980s [http://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Jonathan-Spence/dp/0393307808/ref=pd_sim_b_title_2 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/read/98946348 complete edition online at [[Questia]]]
* Ven, Hans van de, ed. ''Warfare in Chinese History.'' E. J. Brill, 2000. 456 pp. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=109282565 online edition]
* Wang, Ke-wen, ed. ''Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism.'' Garland, 1998. 442 pp.
* Wright, David Curtis. ''History of China'' (2001) 257pp; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-history-of-china-by-david-curtis-wright-john-e-findling-frank-w-thackeray.jsp online edition]
* [http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=30&as_brr=1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_libcat=0&as_brr=1&as_vt=history+china&as_auth=&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=&as_maxy=&as_isbn= full text of older histories (pre 1923)]
===Prehistory and early history===
* Chang, Kwang-chih. ''The Archaeology of Ancient China,'' Yale University Press, 1986.
===Sung Dynasty===
* Hymes, Robert, and Conrad Schirokauer, eds. ''Ordering the World: Approaches to State and Society in Sung Dynasty China,'' U of California Press, 1993; [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1000031p/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
===Ming===
* Brook, Timothy. ''The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China.'' U. of California Press, 1998. [http://www.amazon.com/Confusions-Pleasure-Commerce-Culture-China/dp/0520221540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197246164&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Dardess, John W. ''A Ming Society: T'ai-ho County, Kiangsi, Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries.'' U. of California Press, 1983; uses advanced "new social history" [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft2s2004qh/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
* Farmer, Edward. ''Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society Following the Era of Mongol Rule.'' E.J. Brill, 1995.
* Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chaoying Fang. ''Dictionary of Ming Biography.'' (1976).
* Huang, Ray. ''1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline.'' (1981). [http://www.amazon.com/1587-Year-No-Significance-Dynasty/dp/0300028849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197246303&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Mote, Frederick W. and Twitchett, Denis, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1.'' (1988). 976 pp.
* Schneewind, Sarah. ''A Tale of Two Melons: Emperor and Subject in Ming China.'' (2006). [http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Melons-Emperor-Subject/dp/0872208249/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197246335&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. ''Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle.'' (2001). [http://www.amazon.com/Perpetual-Happiness-Ming-Emperor-Yongle/dp/0295981245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197246363&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Mote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7, part 1: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644'' (1988). 1008 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521243327/ref=nosim/?tag=livseaboo-20&linkCode=asn excerpt and text search]
* Twitchett, Denis and Frederick W. Mote, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 2. '' (1998). 1203 pp.; Twitchett, Denis and Frederick W. Mote, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1.''

===Qing===
* Fairbank, John K. and Liu, Kwang-Ching, ed. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 2: Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911, Part 2.'' Cambridge U. Press, 1980. 754 pp.
* Peterson, Willard J., ed. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800.'' Cambridge U. Press, 2002. 753 pp.
* Rawski, Evelyn S. ''The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions'' (2001) [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft8d5nb4v4/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
* Struve, Lynn A., ed. ''The Qing Formation in World-Historical Time.'' (2004). 412 pp.
* Struve, Lynn A., ed. ''Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm: China in Tigers' Jaws'' (1998) [http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Ming-Qing-Cataclysm-China-Tigers%60/dp/0300075537/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197220627&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]

===Republican Era ===
* Bergere, Marie-Claire. ''Sun Yat-Sen'' (1998), 480pp, the standard biography, based on rigorous modern scholarship
* Boorman, Howard L., ed. ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China.'' (Vol. I-IV and Index. 1967-1979). 600 valuable short scholarly biographies [http://books.google.com/books?id=r3AJFusMHJwC&dq=+Biographical+Dictionary+of+Republican+China&pg=PP1&ots=2vo5nw0qS0&sig=fxzwBb475KIbQBr8KGRDrkVSvl8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA1,M1 excerpt and text search]
** Boorman, Howard L. "Sun Yat-sen" in Boorman, ed. ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China'' (1970) 3: 170-89, excellent starting place. [http://books.google.com/books?id=r3AJFusMHJwC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=+YANG+CH'%C3%9C-Y%C3%9CN&source=web&ots=2vo5nB_pW4&sig=z9_ba59M35GI7n85WvjZR5zS3HU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA170,M1 complete text online]
* Dreyer, Edward L. ''China at War, 1901-1949.'' (1995). 422 pp.
* Eastman Lloyd. ''Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937- 1945.'' (1984)
* Eastman Lloyd et al. ''The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949'' (1991) [http://www.amazon.com/Nationalist-Era-China-1927-1949/dp/0521385911/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204422788&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Fairbank, John K., ed. ''The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, Republican China 1912-1949. Part 1.'' (1983). 1001 pp.
* Fairbank, John K. and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912-1949, Part 2.'' (1986). 1092 pp.
* Gordon, David M. ''The China-Japan War, 1931–1945.'' ''The Journal of Military History'' v70#1 (2006) 137-182; major historiographical overview of all important books and interpretations; in [[Project Muse]]
* Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. ''China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937-1945'' (1992), essays by scholars; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/chinas-bitter-victory-the-war-with-japan-1937-1945-by-james-c-hsiung-steven-i-levine.jsp online from [[Questia]]]; also [http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Bitter-Victory-Japan-1937-1945/dp/156324246X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195984482&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Hsi-sheng, Ch'i. ''Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945'' (1982)
* Hung, Chang-tai. ''War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937-1945'' (1994) [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft829008m5/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
* Rubinstein, Murray A., ed. ''Taiwan: A New History'' (2006), 560pp
* Shiroyama, Tomoko. ''China during the Great Depression: Market, State, and the World Economy, 1929-1937'' (2008)
* Westad, Odd Arne. ''Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950. '' (2003). 413 pp. the standard history

===Communist era, 1949- present===
* Barnouin, Barbara, and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Zhou-Enlai-Political-Barbara-Barnouin/dp/9629962446/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200477281&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Baum, Richard D. "'Red and Expert': The Politico-Ideological Foundations of China's Great Leap Forward," ''Asian Survey,'' Vol. 4, No. 9 (Sep., 1964), pp. 1048-1057 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-4687(196409)4%3A9%3C1048%3A%22AETPF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23 in JSTOR]
* Becker, Jasper. ''Hungry Ghosts: China's Secret Famine'' (1996), on the "Great Leap Forward" of 1950s
* Chang, Jung and Jon Halliday. ''Mao: The Unknown Story,'' (2005), 814 pages, ISBN 0-679-42271-4
* Dittmer, Lowell. ''China's Continuous Revolution: The Post-Liberation Epoch, 1949-1981'' (1989) [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft3q2nb24q/?&query=&brand=ucpress online free]
* Dietrich, Craig. ''People's China: A Brief History,'' 3d ed. (1997), 398pp [http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-China-History-Craig-Dietrich/dp/0195106288/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197238522&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Kirby, William C., ed. ''Realms of Freedom in Modern China.'' (2004). 416 pp.
* Kirby, William C.; Ross, Robert S.; and Gong, Li, eds. ''Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History.'' (2005). 376 pp.
* Li, Xiaobing. ''A History of the Modern Chinese Army'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Chinese-Army/dp/0813124387/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200477281&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]
* MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K., eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 15: The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution, 1966-1982.'' Cambridge U. Press, 1992. 1108 pp.
* Meisner, Maurice. ''Mao's China and After: A History of the People’s Republic,'' 3rd ed. (Free Press, 1999), dense book with theoretical and political science approach. [http://www.amazon.com/Maos-China-After-History-Republic/dp/0684856352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197238473&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Spence, Jonatham. ''Mao Zedong'' (1999) [http://www.amazon.com/Mao-Zedong-Penguin-Life-Lives/dp/0670886696/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200477500&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Shuyun, Sun. ''The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth'' (2007)
* Wang, Jing. ''High Culture Fever: Politics, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Deng's China'' (1996) [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0489n683/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
* Wenqian, Gao. ''Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Zhou-Enlai-Last-Perfect-Revolutionary/dp/158648415X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200477281&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
====Cultural Revolution, 1966-76====
* Clark, Paul. ''The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History'' (2008), a favorable look at artistic production [http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Cultural-Revolution-History/dp/0521875153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214281188&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Esherick, Joseph W.; Pickowicz, Paul G.; and Walder, Andrew G., eds. ''The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History.'' (2006). 382 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Revolution-Shorenstein-Asia-Pacific-Research/dp/0804753504/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197221379&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; and Zhou, Yuan. ''Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.'' (2006). 433 pp.
* MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K., eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 15: The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution, 1966-1982.'' Cambridge U. Press, 1992. 1108 pp.
* MacFarquhar, Roderick and Michael Schoenhals. ''Mao's Last Revolution.'' (2006).
* MacFarquhar, Roderick. ''The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961-1966.'' (1998). 733 pp.
* Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao. ''Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution.'' (1996). 736 pp.

===Economy and environment===
* Chow, Gregory C. ''China's Economic Transformation'' (2nd ed. 2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Economic-Transformation-Gregory-Chow/dp/1405156244/ref=pd_sim_b_img_3 excerpt and text search]
* Elvin, Mark. ''Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China.'' (2004). 564 pp.
* Elvin, Mark and Liu, Ts'ui-jung, eds. ''Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History.'' (1998). 820 pp.
* Ji, Zhaojin. ''A History of Modern Shanghai Banking: The Rise and Decline of China's Finance Capitalism.'' (2003. 325) pp.
* Naughton, Barry. ''The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth'' (2007)
* Rawski, Thomas G. and Lillian M. Li, eds. ''Chinese History in Economic Perspective,'' University of California Press, 1992 [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6489p0n6/?&query=&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
* Sheehan, Jackie. ''Chinese Workers: A New History.'' Routledge, 1998. 269 pp.
* Stuart-Fox, Martin. ''A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence.'' (2003). 278 pp.

===Intellectual, social and cultural history===
* de Bary, William Theodore, et al., ''Sources of Chinese Tradition'' (1960), primary sources
* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. ''Women and the Family in Chinese History'' (2002) [http://www.questia.com/library/book/women-and-the-family-in-chinese-history-by-patricia-buckley-ebrey.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Fung, Yu-lan. ''A History of Chinese Philosophy,'' (2d ed. 2 vol., University Press, 1963)
* Goldman, Merle and Lee, Leo Ou-fan, ed. ''An Intellectual History of Modern China.'' Cambridge U. Press, 2002. 607 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Intellectual-History-Modern-China/dp/0521797101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196913935&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Mair, Victor H., ed. ''The Columbia History of Chinese Literature.'' Columbia U. Press, 2001. 800 pp. [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-columbia-history-of-chinese-literature-by-victor-h-mair.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Mote, Frederick W. ''Intellectual Foundations of China,'' (2d ed. 1989)
* Needham, Joseph; Robinson, Kenneth Girdwood; and Huang, Ray. ''Science and Civilisation in China: V. 7, Part 2: General Conclusions and Reflections.'' (2004). 283 pp. the last volume of a monumental series
* Schwartz, Benjamin. ''The World of Thought in Ancient China'' (1985)
* Spence, Jonathan D. ''The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution'' (1982), 560pp' intellectual history of politics, 1895-1930s [http://www.amazon.com/Gate-Heavenly-Peace-Chinese-Revolution/dp/0140062793/ref=pd_bbs_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197244812&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]
* Temple, Robert, and Joseph Needham. ''The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention,'' (2007), summarizes Needham's massive multivolume history
* Watson, William. ''The Arts of China, 900-1620.'' (2000). 304 pp.
* Watson, William. ''The Arts of China to A.D. 900'' 2000. [http://www.amazon.com/Arts-China-D-900/dp/0300082843/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346730&sr=8-10 excerpt and text search]
* Xinian, Fu, Guo Daiheng, Liu Xujie, and Pan Guxi. ''Chinese Architecture'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Architecture-Fu-Xinian/dp/0300095597/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197224144&sr=1-6 excerpt and text search]
* Xu, Guoqi, and William C. Kirby. ''Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008'' (2008)
===Religion===
* Charbonnier, Jean, David Notley, and M. N. L. Couve de Murville. ''Christians in China: A.D. 600 to 2000'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Christians-China-d-600-2000/dp/0898709164/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197346428&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]
* Seiwert, Hubert. ''Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History.'' Brill, 2003. 548 pp.

===Historiography===
* Braester, Yomi. ''Witness against History: Literature, Film, and Public Discourse in Twentieth-Century China.'' Stanford U. Press, 2003. 264 pp.
* Crossley, Pamela Kyle. ''A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology'' (2002) [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft7n39p1f5/?&query=Ming&brand=ucpress complete text online free]
* Duara, Prasenjit. ''Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China.'' U. of Chicago Press, 1995. 275 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Rescuing-History-Nation-Questioning-Narratives/dp/0226167224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196914090&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Huang, Ray. ''Broadening the Horizons of Chinese History: Discourses, Syntheses and Comparisons.'' M. E. Sharpe, 1999. 274 pp. [http://www.questia.com/library/book/broadening-the-horizons-of-chinese-history-discourses-syntheses-and-comparisons-by-ray-huang.jsp online edition from [[Questia]]]
* Huters, Theodore; Wong, R. Bin; and Yu, Pauline, eds. ''Culture and State in Chinese History: Convention, Accommodations, and Critiques.'' Stanford U. Press, 1997. 500 pp.
* Johnston, Alastair Iain. ''Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History.'' Princeton U. Press, 1995. 307 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Realism-Strategic-Culture-Strategy/dp/0691002398/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197221105&sr=1-17 excerpt and text search]
* Lach, Donald F. "China in Western Thought and Culture," in Philip P. Wiener, ed. ''The Dictionary of the History of Ideas'' (1974) [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhiana.cgi?id=dv1-48 online edition]
* Ng, On-Cho and Wang, Q. Edward. ''Mirroring the Past: The Writing and Use of History in Imperial China.'' U. of Hawai`i Press, 2005. 306 pp.
* Van Kley, Edwin J. "Europe's 'Discovery' of China and the Writing of World History," ''The American Historical Review,'' 76 (1971), 358-85. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762(197104)76%3A2%3C358%3AE%22OCAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W in JSTOR]
* Wang, Ben. ''Illuminations from the Past: Trauma, Memory, and History in Modern China.'' Stanford U. Press, 2004. 311 pp.
* Wang, David Der-wei. ''The Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in Twentieth-Century China.'' U. of California Press, 2004. 402 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Monster-That-History-Twentieth-Century-Lilienthal/dp/0520238737/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197221105&sr=1-20 excerpt and text search]
* Wang, Q. Edward. ''Inventing China Through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography.'' State U. of New York Press, 2001. 304 pp.
* Wilkinson, Endymion. ''Chinese History, A Manual, Revised and Enlarged.'' Harvard U. Asia Center, 2000. 1181 pp. Standard research guide to 4300 books and sources (most in Chinese) covering all major topics; for advanced users only
* Xia, Yafeng. "The Study of Cold War International History in China: A Review of the Last Twenty Years," ''Journal of Cold War Studies''10#1 Winter 2008, pp. 81-115 in [[Project Muse]]
* [http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/chinesehistory/pgp/index.html Studies of Modern Chinese History: Reviews and Historiographical Essays]

[[Category:Chinese History]]

Chiang Kai-shek

2009-04-11T22:45:56Z

HappyPerson: /* Conclusion of the Chinese Civil War */

'''Chiang Kai-shek''' (or '''Jiang Jieshi''' in the [[pinyin]] version)<ref> His last name is Chiang, his first name is Kai-shek. When the Communists came to power they changed the system of translation and made his name Jiang Jieshi in English. Most English language books call him Chiang Kai-shek. ([[Traditional Chinese]]: 蔣介石; [[Simplified Chinese]]: 蒋介石; [[Hanyu Pinyin]]: Jiǎng Jièshí; [[Jyutping]]: Zoeng2 Gaai3 Sek6)</ref> (1887-1975) was the leader of the the [[Chinese Nationalists]], controlling the [[Kuomintang]] or '''"KMT"''' party from 1925 following the death of [[Sun Yat-sen]]. In command of the KMT armies, he unified all of China (except Manchuria) in 1927-29. From 1928 until his death in 1975 was the paramount leader and (with brief interruptions) president of the [[Republic of China]]. Chiang converted to Christianity when he married [[Soong May-ling]], a [[Methodist]] educated in the U.S. The husband and wife became widely popular in the U.S., and under Chiang's leadership China received very strong U.S. support during World War II in order to fight the Japanese who took over most of China in 1937. Although Chiang was nominally in charge of the "China-Burma-India" theater, actual command was held by American and British generals, especially [[Joseph Stilwell]]. Relatively little fighting took place in China. Nevertheless, Chiang gained world stature, and China was given a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 1945. Chiang became an ardent opponent of Communism in the late 1920s, but lost to [[Mao Zedong]] in the Chinese civil war, fleeing with his government and army to Taiwan in 1949. American conservatives greatly admired and supported Chiang and his wife.

=== Early life ===

Chiang was born in the port city of Ningbo in 1887, and like many educated and patriotically-minded youths in the dying days of the [[Qing]] dynasty chose to follow a military career. He studied at a military academy in Japan between 1908 and 1910, where Chiang joined the Tongmenghui (United League) - which was shortly to merge with other revolutionary groups to become the Kuomintang, usually called the KMT or Nationalist Party. At the time of the 1911 revolution Chiang was based in [[Shanghai]] and at that time became involved with the local secret societies and gangs who were to aid him later in his career. During the 'Second Revolution' of 1913 (against the reactionary rule of [[Yuan Shikai]]) Chiang led an attack on an arsenal in Shanghai but the bungled operation was a disastrous failure and Chiang was forced to flee. He attached himself to the entourage of the KMT leader [[Sun Yat-sen]] and to the ramshackle KMT government which Sun set up in the southern metropolis of Canton. When Sun concluded an alliance with the [[Comintern]] in 1923, brokered by the Soviet agent Adolph Joffe (the 'Sun-Joffe Agreement'), Chiang was appointed commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy at Canton, established with Soviet aid and with Soviet and other foreign communist advisers. The purpose of the Academy was to train a Nationalist army capable of uniting China under KMT rule.

=== Northern Expedition ===

As commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy, Chiang had to work closely with Soviet advisors and [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) officials (the KMT and the CCP had formed a "united front" as a result of the Sun-Joffe Agreement). Communist leader [[Chou En-lai]] was a senior political commissar at the academy. However, Chiang was very suspicious of his Communist allies. Following the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925, Chiang became the most powerful individual KMT leader, and on March 11 1926 launched a limited purge of communists in Canton (the "Canton Coup"), as a result of which all his Soviet advisors were expelled from China. However, he did not dissolve the united front, and the CCP, under orders from Moscow, also continued to maintain the status quo.

===Northern Expedition, 1926-1927===
On July 1, 1926, Chiang launched the Northern Expedition. His armies marched north from Canton in a bid to free China from the warring warlord factions which had been the sole fluctuating authority in the country since the death of [[Yuan Shikai]] in 1916, and to unify the country under KMT rule. However, Chiang was aided by the 'Guangxi Clique' of nationally-minded warlords; and the northern progress of the expedition was aided by carefully-timed popular uprisings planned by the CCP against local warlords.

By September 1926 his KMT armies had captured [[Wuhan]] on the middle [[Yangtse]], and a KMT government was established there. Instead of continuing to press north, Chiang turned east and in March 1927 occupied [[Nanjing]], which was to become the Nationalist's capital city, and [[Shanghai]]. "Gui clique" (Guangxi warlords) in 1929 depended mainly on his successful military strategy. Before the war broke out he sought to settle the dispute peacefully, insisting on striking only after the enemy had struck first, leaving the impression that he was forced to accept a challenge. This bought him time to prepare for military action and won the support of the people. Just before the outbreak of hostilities he took well-thought-out steps to deploy troops, strengthen discipline, win over friendly forces, and split the enemy forces. After the war broke out he applied flexible strategy and tactics, effectively containing [[Feng Yuxiang]]'s intended attack on [[Wuhan]] and thereby safeguarding the security of the city. These steps created favorable conditions for the armies from [[Hunan]] and Canton to eventually occupy the Gui clique's base in [[Guangxi]].

After destroying the Communists' main base of power in Shanghai in April 1927, Chiang was now the undisputed leader of the Kuomintang and the most powerful man in China. In 1928 two northern warlords, [[Yan Xishan]] and Feng Yuxiang, pledged their loyalty to him, and Yan's troops drove the last major warlord opponent, [[Zhang Zuolin]], out of [[Beijing]]. The Northern Expedition was over, and Chiang was master of China.

=== President of the Republic of China ===

The period of the 'Nanjing Republic' (1928-37) was too short and too troubled to enable a full assessment of what established Kuomintang rule might have brought China. Chiang was faced by a series of serious internal and external problems:

Although President of China, his direct rule only extended to the lower Yangtse provinces; the rest of China continued to be ruled by warlords expressing greater or lesser degrees of loyalty to Chiang. In 1929-30 his erstwhile allies Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan rebelled against him and his rule was saved by the intervention of [[Zhang Xueliang]], heir of the assassinated north-eastern warlord Zhang Zuolin.

Chiang married into the wealthy Soong family, his wife, Song Meiling (1897-2003), was American-educated Methodist sister of Sun Yat-sen's leftist widow, Song Qingling (1892-1981)). One brother in law, T.V. Soong, was to become Chiang's Finance Minister and chief negotiator with the U.S.

===Dealing with the Communists===
On April 12, 1927 Chiang again turned on the communists in the 'Shanghai Coup'. Chiang's troops and police, assisted by police of the foreign concessions in Shanghai and gunmen of the city's notorious 'Green Gang', rounded up and executed hundreds, probably thousands of communists and trade unionists.

Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s the KMT was engaged in a Civil War with the Communist Party of China and its Red Army. Chiang Kai-shek used as system of repeated encirclement of the communists to try to eliminate them, only for the communists to out-maneuver and escape the snare each time.

The Communists, defeated in Shanghai April 1927 and in a number of ill-planned urban uprisings later that year, regrouped in the countryside and established a number of "base areas" (most notably that of [[Mao Zedong]] in southern [[Chiangxi]] province). These bases were expanding, and efforts to eliminate the Chiangxi Soviet in a series of "encirclement campaigns" in the early 1930s had failed. However Chiang's fifth encirclement campaign of 1933-34 succeeded in destroying the Chiangxi base, and the communist Red Army went into retreat on the "Long March"; only a fraction of the Communists survived. Mao Zedong now became the leader of the Communists.

In December 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, two KMT generals, kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in Xi’an. This has since been referred to as the "Xi’an Incident." At the beginning of the incident, the Communist leaders planned to kill Chiang but Stalin intervened and forced the Communists to cooperate with him, in hopes a united China would tie down Japanese forces and thus reduce the threat to the Soviet Union.<ref>[http://en.epochtimes.com/news/4-12-13/24830.html ''On the Beginnings of the Chinese Communist Party''], The Epoch Times, Dec 13, 2004.</ref>
The Red Army was soon turned into the Eighth Route Army and grew bigger and more powerful than before.

When Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, Chiang gave precedence to defeating the internal threat posed by the Chinese communists over resisting the Japanese invasion. In any case he had no army or base that could challenge Japan, and appealed instead to the [[League of Nations]], which was also powerless. Chiang argued that "communism was a disease of the internal organs, the Japanese a disease of the skin," and that to build a strong China it was necessary to defeat communism first.

In December 1936, Chiang was captured by General Chang Hsüeh-liang in what is now called the [[Xi'an Incident]]. The captors tried to force Chiang to stop fighting the Communists and to unite with them in fighting Japan. After lengthy negotiations, Chiang was released. The [[Second United Front]] between KMT and Communist leaders was formed soon afterward. This tentative truce between to the two parties was always uneasy and actual cooperation on a united military front was rare.

===Rural policies===
Chiang took an instrumentalist view of rural cooperatives. He saw these rural institutions as mechanisms of political control on the one hand, and as social engineering instruments for mitigating class conflict in rural society on the other. Rooted in these views, the rural cooperative movement promoted by Chiang and the KMT government, from 1927 onward was aimed at countering the influence of the land reform policies implemented by the Chinese Communists in the areas under their control.

===Relations with Japan===
After the "Mukden Incident" of September 18, 1931 and Japan's rapid seizure of Manchuria, Chiang realized that the vast disparity in national strength and military power between China and Japan put China at great risk. Therefore he rejected advice to fight back by people who called him an appeaser and did his best to avoid all-out war, using "peace" as a way to postpone war. On the other hand, he gathered allies widely, adjusted policies, maintained domestic order, built "national defense strongholds," organized a southwestern base area, and prepared to fight against Japan. However, the Japanese began negotiating with regional Chinese leaders and promoted a "north China autonomy movement" for the five northern provinces that weakened Nationalist control. <ref>Stephen G. Craft, "Opponents of Appeasement: Western-educated Chinese Diplomats and Intellectuals and Sino-Japanese Relations, 1932-37." ''Modern Asian Studies'' 2001 35(1): 195-216. Issn: 0026-749x [http://www.jstor.org/pss/313092 in Jstor ] </ref>

Full scale war — the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] began at the Marco Polo bridge near Peking in July 1937.

==1937-1948==
Chiang was in full charge of the KMT after 1927, with the title of "generalissimo"; he thus ruled that part of China controlled by the KMT. With the Japanese gaining more Chinese territory, the policy of "trading space for time" (Chinese: 以空間換取時間) was adopted. Chiang moved, not only his government, but much of China's industrial production, several hundred miles west to the interior city of Chunking, in the remote mountains of [[Sichuan]] province.

In September 1943, Chiang Kai-shek formally became president of the central executive committee of the KMT, and was recognized as the head of state and head of government of free China. In November 1943 Chiang attended the [[Cairo Conference]], where he, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] drafted the Cairo declaration proclaiming Allied war objectives for the Far East. China was assured a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council when it formed in 1945.<Ref> Chiang and his son controlled the seat until 1970, when the UN voted to give it to the Communist regime.</ref>

Chiang was elected tsung-tsai (director-general) of the Kuomintang on May 17, 1945. After 1927 he never had a serious contender who might threaten his control of the party.
===Support from U.S.===
The U.S. was eager to use China to defeat Japan. The idea was that millions of Chinese soldiers, equipped and trained by the U.S. Army and heavily funded by the U.S. Treasury, would eventually overrun the Japanese invaders. The strategy never came close to working. Chiang was far too weak to fight the much stronger Japanese army, and he lacked even basic supplies. Chiang expected the Americans would defeat the Japanese without his help (as in fact they did), while Chiang saved up his resources for the coming showdown with the Communists.

President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and his top advisers, such as Treasury Secretary [[Henry Morgenthau]] and [[Lend-Lease]] administrator [[Harry Hopkins]], were strongly committed to support China against Japan. Public opinion was strongly hostile to Japan; isolationism (opposition to war in Europe) played little role. [[Lend Lease]] aid in began in 1940 with the goal of building a large powerful Chinese army that would hold down most of the Japanese army, and after the war play a role as a major world power in the United Nations. That goal was highly unrealistic, as Japan controlled the financial, economic and transportation centers in China, and most of the people, leaving the Nationalists in control in poor, remote mountainous regions, with their capital in Chungking. In addition, the Communists controlled their own remote sphere in the northwest. China was unable to feed or clothe its soldiers, who lacked equipment, discipline, and skilled sergeants, junior officers, and senior officers. Nevertheless, cost was no object and dollars poured in. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. and Britain agreed to set up a [[CBI|China-Burma-India theater]], with Chiang as supreme commander, and an American as chief of staff, and in command of American forces in China and Lend Lease supplies. The U.S. sent in General [[Joseph Stilwell]], an energitic fighter who spoke Chinese but lacked diplomatic skills. Stilwell feuded incessantly with Chiang, and with his air commander Air Force Major General [[Claire Chennault]], head of the Flying Tigers operation. Chiang supported Chennault.

[[Image:58742big.jpg|thumb|350px|Japanese expansion into China, 1931-45]]

The American strategy was to build up air power in China, but not send significant numbers of American combat troops because they could not be easily supplied. Japan had long since cut off the coastline, and in March 1942 it cut the only overland road into China, the [[Burma Road]]. Supplies had to be flown in "over the Hump" (over the Himalayan mountains) from India at fantastic cost until the [[Ledo Road]] cutoff could be built and the Burma Road reopened. The British, meanwhile, had a low opinion of China's capabilities and gave minimal cooperation to Chiang and Stilwell. They considered Burma important not because it was a link to China, but because Japanese conquest threatened India. The British therefore conducted numerous large-scale campaigns in Burma, as did Stilwell. Coordination was weak. All were failures before the summer of 1944.

Chiang in 1942 gave Stilwell command of two Chinese divisions, while often overuling Stilwell. The recovery of Burma became an obsession for Stilwell, and he began to think of himself as the one man who could save China. With few American ground troops available Stilwell decided to rebuild the Chinese army and use it to attack the Japanese in Burma. He demanded, with scant success, that airlifted supplies go to these operations, and not to Chennault's Air Force. The Chinese government desperately needed American aid just to survive, and realized that only the Americans could defeat Japan. Indeed, Chiang and his KMT saw that after the Japanese were defeated then the Communists would be their main foe, and they sought to hoard their military resources. Stilwell was given control of several Chinese divisions that had escaped to India, and which could be supplied with American equipment. He set out to systematically retrain them along American lines, with the long-term goal of eventually recruiting, training, and equipping sixty divisions in China.

Time and again Stilwell was frustrated and vehemently angry with the Chiang (whom he called "peanut") and the Chinese government. They refused to provide the soldiers and instead supported Chennault's plans. Chennault indeed obtained long-range [[B-29]] bombers, and they started making raids on Japanese cities. The Japanese response, as Stilwell had long predicted, was an overland campaign (code-named "ICHI-GO") inside China to overrun Chennault's air bases in late summer 1944. Chiang finally forced the U.S. to recall Stilwell, who left in disgust in October, 1944, and was replaced by General Albert Wedemeyer (1897-1989), who got along much better with Chennault and Chiang.

=== Conclusion of the Chinese Civil War ===

General [[George C. Marshall]] was sent in late 1945 by President Truman to resolve the Chinese civil war, hopefully by creating a new shared power arrangement between the Communists and Chiang's Nationalists. His specific instructions from Secretary of State [[James Byrnes]] were to insist on a coalition government as a condition for continued aid to the Nationalists. <ref>Forrest C. Pogue, ''George C. Marshall, Statesman, 1945-1959'', (1987), p. 61.</ref> Communist leader Mao Zedong had already said publicly in April 1945 that a coalition government with the Chinese Nationalists would result in the defeat of "reactionary American imperialism." <ref>"On Coalition Government," address to the April 1945 Seventh National Convention of the Chinese Communist Party, quoted in Anthony Kubek, ''How the Far East Was Lost'', (1963), p. 238.</ref> In the summer of 1946, Truman told Chiang to be more willing to compromise. Chiang replied that first the Communists must abandon "their policy to seize political power through the use of armed force, to overthrow the government and to install a [[totalitarian]] regime such as those with which [[Eastern Europe]] is now being engulfed." <ref>Tang Tsou, ''America's Failure in China, 1941-1945'', (1964), p. 429.</ref>

American policy in China was largely being shaped by the so-called "China Hands" in the U.S. State Department: [[John Stewart Service]], [[John Paton Davies]], [[John Carter Vincent]], and others. Because they knew the Chinese language and had been in China for years, their recommendations carried much weight, and they played a major part in the fall of China.

The [[U.S. War Department]] however, had more realistic and clearer view of the situation. In July 1945, a memorandum entitled, ''The Chinese Communist Movement'', gave a depiction of the true nature of the Communist movement. The report stated the Maoists were more rigidly controlled than the KMT, allowed no opposition groups to exist in their areas (in contrast to the KMT), and were part of the [[Comintern|international Communist]] movement. <ref>Anne W. Carroll, [http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/FR89102.TXT ''Who Lost China''], 1996. Retrieved from www.ewtn com/library/ August 16, 2007.</ref>

The main reason why Chiang lost was because some of his top generals, such as Wei Li-huang in Manchuria and Hu Tsung-nan in Yenan, were communist spies. Plus, during the 1946 ceasefire, the Soviets sent Mao's forces captured Japanese arms, Russian-made equipment, and even captured Nazi weapons.

Without committing U.S. combat troops and without supporting a coalition government, the [[Truman Doctrine]] saved Greece from Communism. Greece received weapons and financial support and, most importantly, operational advisers at the battalion level, who ensured that American aid was used effectively. Marshall himself testified that similar aid might have worked in China, but General David Barr's military mission to China was specifically instructed not to supply this kind of assistance. <ref>Military Situation in the Far East, Hearings before the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, 82nd Congress (Washington, 1951), p. 558.</ref> General [[Albert C. Wedemeyer]] recommended this approach in his report on his 1947 fact-finding mission, but Marshall personally suppressed the report. <ref>Tang Tsou, ''America's Failure in China, 1941-1945'', Chicago 1964, pg. 457.</ref> Chiang believed that the Truman Doctrine to [[Containment|contain]] the spread of International Communism directed from Moscow would be extended to China, and ordered an offensive as soon as word of the new policy reached him. <ref>Richard C. Thornton, ''China: A Political History, 1917-1980'', (1982), pg. 208.</ref> Truman however, made no effort to save China from Communism.

Chiang was forced from the Chinese mainland to the island of [[Taiwan]] in 1949, where he resumed his position as president, albeit of a massively reduced territory.

== Poetry ==

Chiang was also known for his poetry. He wrote a poem expressing exultation after his victory over the Communist Party, in 1928:

The yellow crane has long since gone away, 
All that here remains is Yellow Crane Tower. 
The yellow crane once gone does not return, 
White clouds drift slowly for a thousand years.

==see also==
* [[Kuomintang]]
==Bibliography==
===Biography===
" Boorman, Howard L. "Chiang Kai-shek'' in Howard L. Boorman, ed. ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China'' (1967) 1: 319-38; excellent starting place.
* Fenby, Jonathan. ''Chiang Kai-shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost'' (2004), 592pp [http://www.amazon.com/Chiang-Kai-Shek-Chinas-Generalissimo/dp/B000T9VO2U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214082451&sr=8-5 excerpt and text search]
* Huang, Grace C. "Chiang Kai-shek's Uses of Shame: An Interpretive Study of Agency in Chinese Leadership." PhD dissertation U. of Chicago 2005. 282 pp. DAI 2005 66(6): 2370-A. DA3181356 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses ] ]
* Li, Laura Tyson. ''Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Chiang-Kai-shek-Chinas-Eternal/dp/0802143229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214082451&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Taylor, Jay. ''The Generalissimo's Son: Chiang Ching-kuo and the Revolutions in China and Taiwan. '' (2000). 496 pp.
* Weinberg, Gerhard L. ''Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders. '' (2005), chapter on Chiang.

===National studies===
* Bergere, Marie-Claire. ''Sun Yat-Sen'' (1998), 480pp, the standard biography
* Boorman, Howard L., ed. ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China.'' (Vol. I-IV and Index. 1967-1979). 600 short scholarly biographies [http://books.google.com/books?id=r3AJFusMHJwC&dq=+Biographical+Dictionary+of+Republican+China&pg=PP1&ots=2vo5nw0qS0&sig=fxzwBb475KIbQBr8KGRDrkVSvl8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA1,M1 excerpt and text search]
* Botjer, George. ''A Short History of Nationalist China, 1919–1949'' (1979). 312pp
* Chu, Shao-Kang. "On Chiang Kai-shek's Position on Resisting Japan: An Analysis of `Domestic Stability Takes Precedence over Resisting Foreign Invasion' Policy, 1928-1936." PhD dissertation U. of British Columbia (2000). 234 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 1989-A. DANQ48621 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Coble, Parks. ''Facing Japan: Chinese Politics and Japanese Imperialism, 1931-1937.'' (1992) 475pp
* Dorn Frank. ''The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-41 '' (1971). 477pp
* Dreyer, Edward L. ''China at War, 1901-1949.'' (1995). 422 pp.
* Eastman, Lloyd. ''The Abortive Revolution: China under Nationalist Rule, 1927-1937'' (1974); and ''Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937- 1945.'' (1984)
* Eastman Lloyd et al. ''The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949'' (1991) [http://www.amazon.com/Nationalist-Era-China-1927-1949/dp/0521385911/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204422788&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Fairbank, John K., ed. ''The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, Republican China 1912-1949. Part 1.'' (1983). 1001 pp. ; Fairbank, John K. and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912-1949, Part 2.'' (1986). 1092 pp.
* Ch'i, Hsi-sheng. ''Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945'' (1982), 309pp
* Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. ''China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937-1945'' (1992), essays by scholars; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/chinas-bitter-victory-the-war-with-japan-1937-1945-by-james-c-hsiung-steven-i-levine.jsp online from [[Questia]]]; also [http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Bitter-Victory-Japan-1937-1945/dp/156324246X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195984482&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. ''The Rise of Modern China,'' 6th ed. (1999), detailed coverage [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Modern-China-Immanuel-Hsu/dp/0195125045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197238178&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Jordan Donald A. ''The Northern Expedition: China's National Revolution of 1926-1928.'' (1976).
* Liu F. F. ''A Military History of Modern China, 1924-1949.'' (1956).
* Morley, James William, ed. ''The China Quagmire: Japan's Expansion on the Asian Continent, 1933-1941.'' (1983).
* Rubinstein, Murray A., ed. ''Taiwan: A New History'' (2006), 560pp
* Shiroyama, Tomoko. ''China during the Great Depression: Market, State, and the World Economy, 1929-1937'' (2008)
* Spence, Jonathan D. ''The Search for Modern China'' (1991), 876pp; well written survey from 1644 to 1980s [http://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Jonathan-Spence/dp/0393307808/ref=pd_sim_b_title_2 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/read/98946348 complete edition online at [[Questia]]]
* Sun, Youli. ''China and the Origins of the Pacific War, 1931-1941.'' (1993).
* Ven, Hans van de. ''War and Nationalism in China: 1925-1945'' (2003), negative on Stilwell [http://www.questia.com/read/107990148?title=War%20and%20Nationalism%20in%20China%201925-1945 online edition]
* Westad, Odd Arne. ''Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950. '' (2003). 413 pp. the standard history
===Relations with U.S.===
* Byrd Martha. ''Chennault: Giving Wings to the Tiger.'' (1987).
* Ch'i, Hsi-sheng. "Chiang Kai-shek and Franklin D Roosevelt," in C. A. van Minnen and J. F. Sears, eds. ''FDR and his contemporaries'' (1992)
*Levine, Steven I. "A New Look at American Mediation in the Chinese Civil War: the Marshall Mission and Manchuria." ''Diplomatic History'' 1979 3(4): 349-375. Issn: 0145-2096
* Liang, Chin-Tun. ''Gen. Stilwell in China, 1942-1944'' (1972), a pro-Chiang view
*May, Ernest R. "1947-48: When Marshall Kept the U.S. out of War in China." ''Journal of Military History'' 2002 66(4): 1001-1010. Issn: 0899-3718 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0899-3718%28200210%2966%3A4%3C1001%3A1WMKTU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T in Jstor]
* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), official U.S. Army history [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]
* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Command Problems'' (1956) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Command/index.html online edition]
* Schaller Michael. ''The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938-1945.'' (1979). [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-us-crusade-in-china-1938-1945-by-michael-schaller.jsp online edition]
* Tsou, Tang ''America's Failure in China, 1941-50'' (1963).
* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,'' (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is titled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [http://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search], very hostile to Chiang
* Young, Arthur N. ''China and the Helping Hand, 1937-1945.'' (1963).
* Young, Arthur N. ''China's Wartime Finance and Inflation, 1937-1945.'' (1965).

===Memory and historiography===
* Gordon, David M. ''The China-Japan War, 1931–1945.'' ''The Journal of Military History'' v70#1 (2006) 137-182; major historiographical overview of all important books and interpretations; in [[Project Muse]]
* Jespersen, T. Christopher. ''American Images of China, 1931-1949.'' (1996).
* Lee, Lloyd, ed. ''World War II in Asia and the Pacific and the War's aftermath, with General Themes: A Handbook of Literature and Research.'' (1998) [http://www.questia.com/library/book/world-war-ii-in-asia-and-the-pacific-and-the-wars-aftermath-with-general-themes-a-handbook-of-literature-and-research-by-loyd-e-lee.jsp online edition]
* Li, Laura Tyson. ''Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Chiang-Kai-shek-Chinas-Eternal/dp/0802143229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214082451&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Taylor, Jeremy E. "The Production of the Chiang Kai-shek Personality Cult, 1929-1975." ''China Quarterly'' 2006 (185): 96-110. Issn: 0305-7410
* Ven, Hans Van De. "Stilwell in the Stocks: the Chinese Nationalists and the Allied Powers in the Second World War." ''Asian Affairs'' 2003 34(3): 243-259. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]], revisionist argument that Stilwell was incompetent, had no command training or experience, and did not appreciate air power. Ven suggests that Roosevelt's needs in the presidential election of 1944, the strategic decision to defeat the Nazi menace in Europe before giving full attention to Japan, and the unwise yielding to the needs of the Soviet Union during World War II all led to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists.
===Primary Sources===
* Chiang Kai-shek. ''The Collected Wartime Messages of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, 1937-1945,'' (1946) [http://www.questia.com/read/79830145?title=The%20Collected%20Wartime%20Messages%20of%20Generalissimo%20Chiang%20Kai-Shek%2c%201937-1945 online edition]
* Chiang Kai-shek. ''All We Are and All We Have: Speeches and Messages since Pearl Harbor'' (1948) [http://www.questia.com/read/9750466?title=All%20We%20Are%20and%20All%20We%20Have%3a%20Speeches%20and%20Messages%20since%20Pearl%20Harbor online edition]
* Marshall, George Catlett. ''The Papers of George Catlett Marshall. Vol. 5: "The Finest Soldier," January 1, 1945-January 7, 1947.'' ed. by Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens, (2003). 822 pp. [http://76.7.58.34/gsdl274/cgi-bin/library?e=d-00000-00---off-0themarsh--00-1--0-10-0---0---0prompt-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---01-3-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=themarsh&cl=CL2.5 online]
* Stilwell, Joseph Warren. ''The Stilwell papers'' edited by Theodore H. White, (1958).
* United States Department of State. ''United States Relations with China: With Special Reference to the Period 1944-1949'' (1949) [http://www.questia.com/library/book/united-states-relations-with-china-with-special-reference-to-the-period-1944-1949-by-united-states-department-of-state.jsp online edition]

==Online resources==
* [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/sino-japanese/sinojapaperbib2.pdf Steven Phillips, "English-Language Sources on China at War, 1937-1945: Bibliography"]
* [http://hua.umf.maine.edu/China/republic.html "The Republican Era: 1911-1949"], comprehensive bibliography
====notes====
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiang, Kai-shek}}

[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Chinese Warlords]]
[[Category:Chinese History]]
[[Category:World War II Commanders]]

Mao Zedong

2009-04-11T22:43:04Z

HappyPerson:

[[Image:Ncvjgfu.jpg|right|thumb|Mao Zedong]]
'''Mao Zedong''', the worst mass murderer of all time, lived from December 26, 1893, to September 9, 1976. He was a [[Communism|Communist]] [[Atheism|atheist]] and an early member of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] in 1921. In 1935, Mao was elected to the Executive Committee of the [[Comintern]] in Moscow and remained on this committee until it was publicly disbanded in 1943.<ref>''While You Slept : Our Tragedy in Asia and Who Made It'', John T. Flynn, New York : The Devin - Adair Company, 1951, [http://www.mises.org/books/whileyouslept.pdf pgs. 21 - 22] pdf.</ref>

Mao was the author of ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao]],'' published in 1966, informally known as "the little red book." During his lifetime, almost everyone in the [[People's Republic of China]] was expected to have a copy. One of his most well known statements was that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".

[[Image:Little red book.jpg|left|200px|thumb|During the [[Cultural Revolution]], it was required for every Chinese citizen to own, read, and carry at all times ''Quotations from Chairman Mao'', also known as "the little red book".]]

[[Edgar Snow]] introduced Mao and [[Zhou Enlai]] to American readers in 1937 in his book, ''Red Star Over China'', shortly after the [[Chinese Red Army]]’s rout by [[Chiang Kai-shek]] in 1934 and their year long retreat to [[Yenan]] known as the [[Long March]]. Snow wrote, "The political ideology, tactical line and theoretical leadership of the Chinese Communists have been under the close guidance, if not positive detailed direction, of the Communist International, which during the last decade has become virtually a bureau of the Russian Communist Party." And he further declared that the CCP had to subordinate itself to the "strategic requirements of [[Soviet Russia]], under the leadership of [[Stalin]]."<ref>Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow, New York, 1937.</ref>

Mao defeated [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s Nationalists, taking control of the Chinese mainland and establishing the People's Republic of China. As the leader of China, Mao initiated the [[Great Leap Forward]], an economic plan intended{{fact}} to rapidly industrialize China's then largely rural economy. In the end it proved a ruinous failure, preventing the peasants from producing needed food and causing massive famines; up to 38 million starved to death or were killed for opposing against the economic plan. In 1966, Mao instigated the [[Cultural Revolution]], in which those disloyal to the Chairman were killed or humiliated in order to solidify Mao's control. [[Richard Nixon]] was the first United States president to meet with Mao, and thus the first to acknowledge the existence of the People's Republic of China, as opposed to [[Taiwan]]'s Republic of China.

Overall, historians believe that around 43 million people died under Mao's rule, due mostly to starvation from disastrous socialist economic policies such as the [[Great Leap Forward]]. This is 7 times the common figure given for the Holocaust but it is much less known.

Name: ([[Traditional Chinese]]: 毛澤東; [[Simplified Chinese]]: 毛泽东; [[Hanyu Pinyin]]: Máo Zédōng; [[Wade-Giles]]: Mao Tse-tung)

==Legacy==
Mao made some improvements to China, such as improving education, health care, and industry. But his ultimate aim was to rule the world, and so he deliberately sent food to Russia which starved the Chinese populace. In his rule he killed around 70 million people. This shows he was the most devilish person in history.
==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mao Zedong}}
[[Category:China]]
[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Communists]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]
[[Category:Atheists]]

Benito Mussolini

2009-04-11T22:39:56Z

HappyPerson: /* Alliance with Hitler */

'''Benito Andrea Amilcare Mussolini''' was a journalist and politician from [[Italy]]. Self-proclaimed "socialist heretic", he was nominated prime minister by Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoia, King of Italy, in the time of [[World War II]]. He was head of one of the strong forms of government seen in Europe in this time. He created the political structure Fasci Italiani di Combatimento, which is what later would be known as [[Fascism]], a term which was later used to describe the merging of government and corporation. He was responsible for several war crimes in [[Ethiopia]] and [[Yugoslavia]].

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:Mussolini.gif|150px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: red no-repeat scroll top left;"|Benito Mussolini
|-
|Born
|July 29, 1883
|-
|Died
|April 28, 1945
|-
|}

==Early Life==
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born July 29, 1883 and died April 28, 1945. Mussolini was born in the north Italian town of Pergine Valsugana in the northern Italian province of Trento. His father was a cobbler and his mother a washerwoman. The Mussolinis were a relatively poor family in comparison with the majority of their neighbors and it is believed that Mussolini was ridiculed by his peers at Valsugana Elementary School due to his shabby clothes and dirty appearance. Many historians attribute Mussolini's aggressive nature to this mistreatment. His father was a socialist and raised Mussolini as a socialist. He was named after Mexican president [[Benito Juarez]]. At the age of 12 Benito was sent to an Italian military academy in Turin where he completed his secondary education. Mussolini graduated from school in 1901 and then went on to study at the University of Rome where he completed a degree in Social Sciences. It was during his university days that Mussolini first became exposed to politics. It is reported that Mussolini would spend long afternoons in the university library reading the memoirs of various European kings and other books about political ideologies. At one time he was the editor of "Avanti" (a self declared socialist paper).
==Benito Mussolini and Atheism==
In his work entitled Mussolini Denis Mack Smith wrote the following:
{{cquote|From his father he [Mussolini] had learnt to be a thoroughgoing anti-clerical. He proclaimed himself to be an [[Atheism|atheist]] and several times tried to shock an audience by calling on God to strike him dead. He forcibly denounced those socialists who thought religion a matter for individual conscience or had their children baptised. [In Mussolini's opinion] Science had proved that God did not exist and the Jesus of history was an ignorant Jew whose family thought him mad, and who was a pigmy compared to the Buddha. Religion, he said, was a disease of the psyche, an epidemic to be cured by psychiatrists, and Christianity in particular was vitiated by preaching the senseless virtues of resignation and cowardice, whereas the new socialist morality should celebrate violence and rebellion."<ref>"Mussolini", by Denis Mack Smith, Vintage Books, 1983, page 8.</ref>}}

Though privately hostile to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], Mussolini oversaw the [[Lateran Treaties]] in 1929, which recognized the independence of the Vatican and even contained a provision that outlawed any display of disrespect for the [[Pope]].{{who says}}{{fact}}

==Break with Socialism==
He graudally began to have a falling out with his fellow socialists. His final break with socialism came during World War 1, since he changed his former position of neutrality and supported Italy's involvement in the war. He then grew to despise socialism. By February 1918, he was calling for the emergence of a leader "ruthless and energetic enough to make a clean sweep." In May, he hinted in a speech in Bologna that he might be that leader.

==Rise to Power==
In 1923 after rising through the ranks Mussolini became the elected member for Tuscany in the Italian Parliament. In 1927 he took over from Mario Felloni as the leader of Cullo Cappelli who were the opposition. Leading up to the 1928 election Mussolini began to begin his campaign. During this time Italy was in an economic slump and the Italian public were not satisfied with the president of the time, Francisco Delosini and his Treasurer Guido Michenelli's management of the federal budget. Mussolini preyed on this dissatisfaction and promised to eliminate all debt within the government. In 1922, Mussolini was invited by King Vittorio Emanuele III to form a new Italian government. A law passed on Christmas Eve 1925 changed Mussolini's title from "president of the Council of Ministers" (prime minister) to "head of the government." He was no longer responsible to Parliament, and could only be removed by the king.

==Alliance with Hitler==
In 1931 Mussolini first came into contact with [[Adolf Hitler]] at a meeting of European leaders, and an alliance was formed. For the rest of the 1930's Mussolini began to recklessly spend Italy's money on obsolete arms which he planned to issue to the army if Hitler ever attempted to take over Europe. In 1935, he invaded Ethiopia with this army and using poison gas defeated the imperial troops. The world was horrified at his use of weapons of mass destruction (i.e. poison gas).

==World War II==
In September 1939 when [[England]] and [[France]] declared war on [[Germany]] after Hitler invaded [[Poland]], Mussolini announced that Italy would join Germany in the war effort against the allied forces. He waited however, until after France had surrendered before invading southern France and officially entering the war. During World War 2, he increased his military, limited free speech and pushed his political views on all of his countrymen even more so.

===Mussolini Deposed===
When the [[Allies]] invaded the Italian island of [[Sicily]] in 1943, King [[Vittorio Emmanuel III]] panicked at the thought of an Allied invasion of the Italian mainland. He immediately stripped Mussolini of his power and ordered Mussolini to be arrested.

===Reinstatement===
He was rescued through covert operations by German special forces (most notably [[Otto Skorzeny]]) without a single casualty occurring during the rescue operation. Mussolini was then installed as the head of the German puppet state, Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI) based at Salo in northern Italy - hence its alternative name of the Salo Republic.

===Capture and Death===
Mussolini was later recaptured at the end of the war by partisans. He and his mistress were shot and hanged upside down.

== War crimes ==
Mussolini is responsible for several war crimes during the Italian occupation of Abyssinia (today Ethiopia) and Yugoslavia.

During the second [[Italo-Abyssinian war]], Italian troops commited atrocites such as the use of mustard gas, the bombing of Red Cross hospitals and ambulances, the execution of captured prisoners without trial, the [[Graziani massacre]], the killings at Däbrä Libanos monastery, and the shooting of "witch-doctors" accused of prophesying the end of fascist rule.<ref>Richard Pankhurst, ''Addis Ababa University'', Italian Fascist war crimes in Ethiopia ([http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/northeast_african_studies/v006/6.1pankhurst.html])</ref>

During the Italian occupation of Yugoslavia in WWII, Italian troops used draconian measures to intimidate the native Slavic population into silence, such as summary executions, hostage-taking, reprisals, internments and the burning of houses and villages.<ref>An independent report on Italo-Slovenian relationships in the 1941-1945 period ([http://www.kozina.com/premik/poreng4.htm])</ref>

Many historians consider both of the forementioned an attempt of [[genocide]].

==Family Members==
His legacy is continued by his neo-fascist granddaughter Alessandra Mussolini, who is a current member of the European Parliament. His daughter-in-law, Anna Maria Scicolone, was the sister of actress [[Sophia Loren]].

==See Also==
* [[Margherita Grassini]]

== References ==
<references/>

== External links ==

*[http://www.nndb.com/people/468/000045333/ Benito Mussolini] NNDB.

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[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Fascists]]
[[Category:Dictators]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]
[[Category:Italian People]]