IN Part Eight of this series, we noted that in 1923 Dr Sun YatSen the ruler of China and leader of the non-communist KMT party was forced by circumstances to enter into a cooperation agreement with the Communist Party of China (CPC) in order to fend off the Japanese backed government of the northern warlords.
Soon after that Dr Sun YatSen with help of Soviet Russia and the CPC, established the Whampoo Military Academy in Guangzhou.
Both CPC and KMT members were trained there.
The academy held sacred the principles of patriotism and revolution.
It adopted the latest military technology and literature.
A KMT member called Chiang Kai-Shek was appointed president of this academy by Sun YatSen.
The academy trained more than 12 000 students between 1924 CE and 1927 CE. With Guangdong as their revolutionary base, the KMT – CPC cooperation planned a northern expedition that would completely oust the Northern warlords.
To popularise this Northern expedition among the Chinese people, the CPC members did a great deal of work.
On July 26 1924 CE, the National Revolutionary Army began the northern expedition, liberating provinces one by one.
They successfully used their newly acquired skills to liberate Changsha, Hunan, Shanghai and Nanjing.
The expedition was welcomed by the common people, who assisted by supporting the troops with food and intelligence.
Dr Sun YatSen died in Beijing on March 12 1925 after a short illness.
But this was after he had successfully led the country’s revolutionaries into unity and successfully ousted the northern warlords.
It was Sun YatSen who also led the ousting of the Imperial Qing dynasty.
He was mourned by the nation and was buried in Nanjing as he had requested.
Unfortunately, Chiang Kai-Shek, the president of the Whampoo Military Academy, along with the KMT members became increasingly hostile towards CPC members. On April 12 1927 CE, Chiang Kai-Shek successfully staged a coup in Shanghai and appointed himself President of the Chinese nation.
He ended the KMT-CPC cooperation resulting in the death of 300 CPC members, 500 more were arrested and over 1 000 went missing.
Because the thousand were never found, it is now presumed that they too were secretly murdered and their remains buried in hidden graves.
Chiang set up his national government in Nanjing.
A KMT general called Wang Jingmei killed many CPC members in Wuhan.
The CPC members had not seen this coming and it took time for them to organise and resist Chiang’s slaughter of the Chinese communists.
They managed to mobilise a resistance in Wunchang which saved them from total annihilation and also prevented Chiang’s troops from reclaiming the revolutionary base in Guangdong, which would have been a devastating act for the communists.
By August 7 of that year, the CPC members managed to raise their own armed forces which they named the ‘Red Army’.
This was largely a defensive move for the CPC members had previously only participated in the revolution militarily through the KMT – CPC cooperation’s National army.
In 1933 CE, Chiang mobilised a one million-troop strong army and launched what he called the encirclement and suppression campaign against the CPC members. These campaigns had begun in 1930 CE and were conducted frequently till 1932 CE.
This particular campaign was the fifth and the largest of its kind.
It succeeded to the extent that the Red Army retreated the following year.
The Red Army, with no prior planning and no packed food, set forth on a journey on foot remembered as the Long March.
During the march the Red Army were constantly attacked by the KMT forces. Most would succumb to hunger and had to improvise sources of food on the strenuous and dangerous journey.
They ate tree bucks, herbs, anything with leather, including belts and shoes.
In October of 1936 CE, the three major columns of the Red Army converged in Huining, marking the end of the long march.
A year prior to this, Mao Zedong had been made leader of the Red Army.
It is important to note that Chiang and his KMT troops escalated their hunt for CPC members in the beginning of the 1930s, a time during which China was also being attacked by Japan.
China’s civil wars significantly contributed to the country’s inability to defend itself against the foreign enemy a nation divided against itself cannot stand.
The Chinese people inside and outside China demanded and wrote letters, pleading for Chiang to restrain himself from using his troops to hunt down and kill CPC members, who were fellow Chinese people, and rather use all of Chinese human resources to liberate the nation from Japanese and Western colonisation.
Chiang was arrogant, but after some years, some KMT members began to feel the same way as the general Chinese people, and opted to fight the Japanese instead of their own kinsmen who meant them no harm.
KMT generals Zhang Kuliang and Yang Hucheng refused to cooperate with their commander, Chiang and forced him to focus on the Japanese invaders.
On December 9 1935 CE, 10 000 students protested against Chiang’s stance at his residence.
Chiang ordered his generals to disperse them by firing live bullets.
Zhang Kuliang was among these generals and because he sympathised with the peoples’ stance, he chose not to fire at them.
Instead, Zhang saw the people’s uprising as leverage to coerce Chiang into agreeing to pursue the Japanese instead of the CPC members.
He told the people that he would address Chiang personally on the issue and in return they had to disperse, which they did, without the shooting of guns as Chiang had initially requested.
When Zhang spoke to Chiang about it, he remained stubborn.
Three days after this incident, on December 12, Generals Zhang and Yang led a coup against Chiang.
They invited CPC members, including Zhou Enlai, so as to establish the peace and cooperation they once had.
With such pressure, Chiang finally agreed to end the civil war and cooperate with the CPC.
After eight to 10 years of continuous civil warring, the Second KMT – CPC cooperation was established.
In order to effectively fend off the Japanese, the KMT – CPC cooperation united their individual armies, that is KMT’s Eighth Route army and CPC’s Red army, to form a National Chinese army.
This strengthened the position of China.