Chapter 28 Chapter 21 Nationalist Revolts in the Colonial World (Part 2)

Shortly before World War I, Persia had been divided into British and Russian spheres of influence (see Chapter XIV, Section 4).When the Great War broke out, the Shah declared an official policy of neutrality; owing to his lack of strength to carry it out, the northern part of the country was soon occupied by Turkish and Russian armies, and the southern part by the British.The power of the Persian government barely extended beyond the capital's outskirts.The chaos was so severe and widespread that it contributed to the famine of 1918, in which an estimated 2 million people died of starvation.The standard of living of the masses is astonishingly low, as suggested by a report by a foreign observer."There can be no doubt that the misfortune of the famine of 1918 was greatly aggravated by the manipulation of those who possessed the highest power," he said.

At the end of the Great War it was found that the British controlled most of Persia as the Russians were preoccupied with revolution and civil war.The British were determined to maintain this control, partly because of the importance of Persia to the defense of India, and partly because of the Anglo-Persian oil fields; prove.Therefore, the British lured the Prime Minister of Persia and his two cabinet members to sign an agreement on August 9, 1919 through heavy bribes; Adviser, providing British officers to form the Gendarmerie, rebuild the army and lay a railway.These terms were clearly so favorable to Britain that many feared that the control of the two great powers before the war would now be replaced by the control of one great power.After much debate, the Persian parliament refused to ratify the agreement, and the agreement became invalid.

At that time, the Russians were not idle. On January 14, 1918, they announced the abolition of the "British-Russian Agreement" of 1907 and "some treaties before and after (tsarism) that restricted and restricted the right of the Persian people to live freely and independently in any form".More precisely, on June 26, 1918, they announced the cancellation of all Russian concessions and privileges in Persia and all debts of Persia and Tsarist Russia.Presumably, the Bolsheviks made these sweeping concessions in the face of civil war and foreign interference in the hope of appeasing their Persian neighbors and promoting popular uprisings in the colonial world against the West.These intentions may explain similar concessions made by the Bolsheviks to the Turks and Chinese at the time.

The Russians took their policy a step further, signing a formal Persian-Soviet Treaty of Friendship on February 26, 1921.The benefits of this treaty to the Persians were: the formal cancellation of all outstanding debts, the surrender of all tangible trade establishments in Persia, and the abolition of all concessions, extraterritoriality, and other privileges.On the other hand, certain clauses are beneficial to the Russians, including: Persia has no right to give up the concessions of the five northern provinces surrendered by Russia to any other power. If foreign powers use Persian territory as a base of operations against Russia, the Russians The right to send troops into Persia.

While the treaty was being negotiated, political life in Persia was becoming more chaotic.For example, on January 19, 1921, a prime minister resigned, four days later he was reinstated, and on February 3 he formed a cabinet, which resigned on the 6th, and on the 16th he formed another, which The cabinet was overthrown by a coup on the 21st.The coup was planned by Reza Khan, a colonel in the Persian Cossack Brigade organized by the Russians before World War I.The history of Persia for the next twenty years is the history of this ruler, who rose to become the country's great and innovative king.

Reza was a serious, sincere soldier with uncommon courage and determination.Because of his dedication and ability to perform his military duties, he rose from private to officer and won the respect and loyalty of his men. His opportunity came in the fall of 1920 when the British forced the Russian officers of the Cossack division to resign from their posts.Reza entered a power vacuum, and by February 1921 he was strong enough to lead a coup that toppled the government.Since then, his status has risen rapidly.Immediately after the coup, he became commander-in-chief of the Persian army.A few weeks later, he was appointed Minister of War.After creating and dismantling several ministries, he became Prime Minister himself on 28 October 1923.At this time, King Ahmed, the ruler of the Qajar dynasty, left Persia for the Riviera; two years later, on December 15, 1925, Reza accepted the throne and established the Pahlavi dynasty.

For all his eccentricities and excesses, King Reza's reign was a breath of fresh air in an environment dominated by corruption, incompetence and obscurantism.Indeed, the king was reminiscent of the Kemal he admired and emulated.His first measure was to strengthen and modernize the army in order to eliminate the danger of Persia being partitioned.Before he came to power, the Cossack divisions led by Russian officers controlled the northern provinces, the South Persian rifles led by British officers controlled the southern provinces, and the gendarmerie led by Swedish officers only theoretically safeguarded Persian national interests.After removing the Russian officers through British intervention, King Reza was now freed from his British and Swedish counterparts.He then organized the demobilized troops into a unified modern national army of 40,000 men; he took great care of this army and spent a lot of money on it.With this army at his disposal, King Reza was able to resist undue external pressure and maintain the power of the central government over tribal chiefs who had been virtually independent since the mid-nineteenth century.

King Reza is also trying to modernize his country's economy.The most astonishing manifestation was the laying of the Trans-Iran Railway.This was something the British and the Russians had long dreamed of; the British wanted to connect India to the European railroad network through Iran, and the Russians hoped to extend their line to Tabriz to the Persian Gulf.King Reza devised his own course regardless of the British or the Russians.The route, while economically impractical, was staggering: more than 4,000 bridges and 200 tunnels would be needed along the 870-mile route.Completed in 1939, the railway was destined to play a decisive role in transporting military supplies to the Soviet Union during World War II.

The railway could represent King Reza's economic venture.There was no coordinated plan, so the individual construction projects were not conceived according to the aggregate needs of the country's economy.By the time King Reza abdicated in 1941, quite a few factories had been built, including textile mills, cement factories, sugar factories, and cigarette factories; however, despite the high protective tariffs imposed by the state, almost all of them were at a loss. Like Kamal, King Reza attacked the various creeds of the past.He banned the use of honorary titles, abolished the custom of women wearing the veil, and ordered men to wear European-style hats.Also, and most importantly, nationalism was emphasized and foreign influence was purged wherever possible.Arabic words were purged from Persian, and modern buildings were built in the Achaemenid style found in the ruins of formerly magnificent palaces.Symbolic of this nationalism was the replacement of "Persia" in 1934 by the name "Iran", which dates back to its Indo-European ancestors 3,000 years ago.

King Reza's reign came to an abrupt end with his abdication on September 16, 1941.In previous years he had leaned more and more towards Nazi Germany.The trade with Germany rose to the first place, and the number of German experts, teachers, businessmen and tourists in Iran continued to increase.As a result of Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, King Reza received several joint Soviet-British notes asking him to expel the Germans from Iran.His answers were unsatisfactory, and on August 25, 1941, Soviet and British troops occupied the country. On September 16, King Reza abdicated the throne to his son, the current ruler, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

In retrospect, King Reza's influence on his country was not as profound as Kemal's influence on Turkey.Kemal benefited from a previous military disaster that was so large that it made it easier for Kemal to dismantle those outdated institutions and customs.Therefore, Turks have been influenced by the West for longer and are more receptive to Western influence.Still, Shah Reza was far ahead of his predecessors, and his reign marked a major turning point in Iran's recent history. At the beginning of the 20th century, British rule over India seemed secure for the foreseeable future. In 1912, a grand audience was held in Derry to celebrate the coronation of King George V.The ceremony took place in the audience hall of Shah Jahan (1592–1662), the builder of Taj Mahal.In the magnificent and luxurious hall, King George accepted the unanimous oath of allegiance from the Indian princes and dignitaries. In 1914, India made a concerted effort to support Britain's entry into the war.The maharajas provided substantial financial aid, and at least 900,000 Indians served as combatants in the British army, and another 300,000 Indians worked as laborers.Gandhi was particularly zealous in supporting the British cause.He once wrote to Sir Harding, the Governor of India, saying: "At the critical moment of the empire, I would like India to offer all her strong sons as offerings to the empire...We can only silently, sincerely, and wholeheartedly devote ourselves to bringing the empire Rescue work from imminent danger, thereby hastening our progress towards 'home-government' ends." Only 30 years after World War I, British rule in India came to an end.One reason for this unexpected result was the effect of the war itself—the effect of the slogans of national self-determination and the disruptive effect of overseas service on the thousands of soldiers who returned home with new ideas and ideas.A series of disasters in the years immediately after the war also contributed to unrest. Insufficient monsoons in 1918 brought famine to many parts of India.The bubonic plague a year earlier killed many people, but it was nothing compared to the 1918-1919 influenza, which killed at least 13 million people!Another factor contributing to the unrest was, contrary to Gandhi's expectations, the post-war British policy of repression. The Rowlatt Act of March 1919 allowed the government to detain agitators without trial and empowered judges to decide cases without juries.Gandhi fought back by organizing a campaign of passive resistance and non-cooperation.In the riots that followed, British General Dale created the infamous "Amritsar Massacre" on April 13, 1919.He tried to underscore the power of the government to ordinary people, ordering troops to shoot without warning at unarmed citizens at political rallies.Nearly 400 people were killed and 1,000 were injured.A committee of the British House of Commons blamed General Dyer and relieved him of his command.But the House of Lords backed Dyer, raising a £26,000 consolation fund for him through public donations.However, a strong wave of protests immediately swept the country, and Gandhi accused the government of being a "demon". Gandhi was undoubtedly a prominent figure in the post-war anti-British movement.The Indian National Congress, formed in 1885, did not pose a serious threat to the British until 1914 (see Chapter 15, Section 6).It is still essentially a middle-class movement with little rural support.Gandhi's great contribution was that he managed to reach among the villagers, establish friendly relations with them, and involve them in the struggle for independence.Gandhi, though a London-trained lawyer, remained largely Indian and non-Western—indeed, anti-Western—essence, and as such he was able to speak meaningfully to his people communicate ideas. Gandhi's speech was simple and infectious.He pointed out that in 1914, the British ruled 300 million Indians with only 9,000 administrators and 69,000 soldiers.This was possible only because all classes were working with the British in one way or another at the time.If this cooperation were withdrawn, British rule would surely collapse.Therefore, our task is to educate and train the people to practice non-cooperation, that is, non-violent passive resistance.Gandhi also called on the people to boycott the movement, that is, to boycott British goods.Gandhi exhorted people to replace imported machine-made fabrics with home-spun cloth.This would weaken the economic base of British rule and revive rural industry.He himself once wore a homespun belt and operated the spinning wheel in public.Gandhi taught that local self-government was possible by combining non-cooperation and boycott movements.Once the villagers in India understood these teachings and acted on them, the days of British rule would not last long. In an effort to stem the gathering storm, the London government presented the Montague-Chelmsford reforms on December 23, 1919, establishing an administrative system known as "dual politics".This left the central government in Delhi much as it had been in the past, with an appointed governor, an appointed advisory council, and a legislative assembly; the legislative assembly had 140 members, 100 of whom were elected by extremely limited ballots .The principle of two-pronged politics is in effect in provincial governments, each consisting of an appointed governor, a designated advisory council, and a legislative assembly, 70% of which is elected by extremely restricted ballots .Major matters are "reserved" to the governor and his advisory meeting; minor matters such as public health, agriculture, medical relief and education will be "handed over" to Indian ministers.It is speculated that if this "dual politics" or separation of responsibilities proves feasible, more business will be transferred from the "reserve" list to the "transfer" list. Gandhi's Congress Party rejected the British reform proposals, partly as a reaction to the Dyer affair, and partly for practical political reasons—Muslims were willing to cooperate with Hindus for the first time.Indian Muslims were appalled by the Treaty of Sevres, which the British and their allies considered too harsh to impose on the Ottoman Empire.In order to provide support to the besieged Turks, they launched the so-called "Kirafa Movement".Gandhi seized this opportunity to reach an agreement with the Muslims, so all Indians at this time united and demanded both the revision of the Treaty of Sevres and Indian self-government. In September 1920, they launched a massive movement of non-cooperation.The response was impressive, but it gradually spiraled out of control.Gandhi insisted on strict non-violence, but strikes and riots broke out in many cities, and in the countryside, farmers also rose up against landowners and moneylenders. The unrest reached its apogee on February 4, 1922, when insurgent peasants attacked the local police station in Chori Chora, killing 22 policemen. Shocked, Gandhi immediately ordered an end to the non-cooperation movement, but he was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison.He was released two years later due to ill health, but by this time the nationalist movement had largely died down due to confusion among Hindus and a cooling of Muslim enthusiasm for Kemal's abolition of the caliphate and strong secularism Frustrated with program. Gandhi stayed out of politics for several years after his release from prison.During this period, new, more radical nationalist leaders emerged, including Jawaharlal Nehru.By this time, Congress leaders were largely upper-middle class in terms of origin and views.By the mid-1920s, workers' groups with a socialist or communist political orientation began to emerge.This trend led to the development of left-wing forces within the Congress Party, which led to the formation of the All India Independence League with Nehru as its chairman.The salient feature of the All India Independence Alliance is that it not only demands complete independence from British rule.And it calls for fundamental social change within India in a socialist manner.As Ganihru writes: "The young men and women in Congress who used to read Bryce's writings on democracy and Morley's, Keith's, Mazzini's are now reading books on socialism, communism, and Russia that I could get my hands on." Nehru himself is a good example of this new trend.The son of a wealthy lawyer, he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1912.After returning home, he devoted himself to the nationalist struggle for freedom and became a follower and admirer of Gandhi.Nehru, however, was nothing like his mystical, ascetic leader.He was a nationalist, a socialist, and a man who firmly believed that science and technology were tools to liberate mankind from long-standing misery and ignorance.Later, Nehru broke up with Gandhi, because Gandhi refused to accept the modern world, he accused, "The way to save India is to forget what India has learned in the past 50 years. Railways, telegraphs, hospitals, lawyers, doctors, etc. All such things must be discarded, and the so-called upper classes must consciously, piously, carefully understand the simple peasant life, and understand that this is a life that gives people real happiness.  … Whenever I get on a train or a bus , I felt that I was violating my conscience by doing so.” Nehru, however, acknowledged Gandhi's excellent work in evoking Indian farmers.Even the Congress party, divided by personal rivalries and doctrinal disputes, relied on Gandhi. In December 1928, Gandhi returned to politics and persuaded the Congress Party to accept a compromise resolution acceptable to both radicals and conservatives.A few months later, the British Labor Party defeated the Conservative Party and formed a new cabinet.The outlook seems promising as Labor has in the past criticized the Conservatives for dragging their feet on allowing India self-government.However, the hopes of Indian self-government did not materialize; the decade 1930-1939 proved to be a disappointing one. One reason is that the government has oscillated between cycles of repression and concessions.Nationalist violence was followed by mass arrests and deportations, followed by attempts to appease by gradually bringing the electoral system into effect.Much of the blame, however, lies with Indians, who are increasingly split into two hostile blocs, Hindus and Muslims.The All India Muslim League was formed as early as 1919, but for many years it had little following.Not only are Muslims less than a quarter of the subcontinent's population, but the Congress party claims it represents all Indians, regardless of their religion.In fact, the Congress Party did have a Muslim wing led by the prominent Abul Kalam Azad.Thus, the Muslim League did not become important until after 1935 when it was led by Mumbai-based lawyer Muhammad Ali Jinnah.Jinnah offered to cooperate with the Congress Party on a coalition basis, but the Congress Party rejected this proposal, preferring to deal only with Muslims who joined the Congress Party in their own name.So Jinnah retaliated by calling out to the Muslim people that "Islam is in danger".The reaction to this has been enthusiastic, as many Muslims in India believe they have more in common with the rest of the Muslim world than they do with their neighboring Hindus.Jinnah's electoral success made possible the later creation of an independent Muslim Pakistan. In the meantime, the Governor-General, Lord Owen, had announced in October 1929 that Britain had clearly formulated plans for the dominion of India and that a conference would be called to make arrangements.However, the Congress Party passed a resolution calling for full independence on December 31, 1929. On March 12, in order to force the British to withdraw from India, Gandhi launched another national resistance movement.His tactic was the great salt march 170 miles out to sea.At the seashore, he scooped up seawater and boiled it over a fire—a symbolic act of challenging a government salt tax he denounced as grossly unjust.Not only was the movement well publicized and exciting, but it was also violent because the peasantry at large hated the salt tax and actively supported Gandhi.Widespread unrest broke out: people attacked government saltworks, terrorists attacked officials, and unemployed workers, hit hard by the severe worldwide economic depression, rioted. On May 5, Gandhi was arrested and imprisoned again, along with about 60,000 followers. Lord Owen knew that force alone would not solve the problem.After somewhat restoring order, he released Gandhi on January 26, 1931, and persuaded Gandhi to sign the Delhi Agreement on March 4.The government agreed to release political prisoners not guilty of violent crimes in return for the Congress party to end the resistance movement.It will also take part in the roundtables that started a few months ago.Gandhi himself attended the meeting in London, but no agreement was reached, in part because the Labor government had been replaced by a less flexible "National Government" dominated by the Conservatives.After returning to India, Gandhi was arrested again in January 1932.The resistance broke out again, but by this time the country was so exhausted that it faded away after a few months. Finally, on 2 August 1935, the British Parliament passed the Organic Act of the Government of India as part of a dual policy of curbing violence and promoting self-government.The organic law stipulated that Burma and Aden would be separated from India and become colonies directly administered by the British government.India itself, with the assent of the princely states, would be a federation of provinces and princely states.As in the 1919 Constitution, the Governor-General retains powers over foreign affairs and defence, but all other business of the Union is entrusted to a bicameral Parliament, most of whom are elected by a constrained electorate of about 6 million of.In the provinces, nearly 38 million Indians have been given the right to elect provincial assemblies, which will have the right to handle their own affairs, by replacing the dichotomous politics with provincial assemblies and ministries accountable to them. absolute autonomy.If a provincial government fails for any reason, the local British Premier has the power to conduct public affairs. Federal certification provided by the Organic Act of 1935 was unsuccessful.Indian maharajas distrust nationalists and refuse to cooperate.Thus, the central government established in 1919 continues to function.However, new arrangements for the provinces were implemented with the 1937 provincial council elections.Nationalists took control of 7 of the 11 provinces and immediately set about releasing political prisoners, restoring civil liberties, and preparing for land reform. It all came to an abrupt end in 1939 when the Viceroy declared India's entry into a new world war.Since the matter was not discussed with the Indians at all, the nationalist ministers of the seven provinces all resigned.As a result, the British governors took over the seven provinces and ruled them by decree.Again the nationalists raised the slogan of total independence, while the Muslims led by Jinnah demanded the division of the subcontinent into two states, one for Hindus and the other for Muslims, the so-called Pakistan. China, despite being nominally independent, also experienced an anti-Western movement after World War I comparable to India. In 1917, China entered World War I, hoping to recapture Shandong Province, which had been occupied by Japan in 1914.When the mediators at Versailles failed to return the lost province to China, huge demonstrations broke out among students and intellectuals in Beijing.Protests soon spread to other cities, and businessmen took part in the protest by going on strike.This movement later developed into a boycott of Japanese goods, accompanied by conflicts with the Japanese diaspora.Newly formed trade unions also joined the protest movement by going on strike.In short, the movement proved to be the strongest and most pervasive expression of national sentiment in Chinese history. Since the Western powers were willing to allow Japan to keep its spoils in mainland China, they too were targeted by this violent outburst.In contrast, the Soviet Union enjoyed the sympathy and admiration of the Chinese.One reason is the understandable appeal of Lenin's anti-imperialist teachings.Another reason was that the Soviet government gave up the tsarist privileges in China, as it did in Turkey and Persia at the time.It is not difficult to understand that Chinese nationalists were now relying more and more on the Soviet Union than on the Japanese and Westerners. These changes gave Sun Yat-sen the opportunity to restart the revolution with new policies and methods.After the revolution of 1911 that established the republic, he had a hard time (see Chapter 16, Section 5).Yuan Shikai brushed him aside, while the provincial warlords ignored the central government and ruled the provinces as independent authorities.At this time, Sun decided that in order to defeat the warlords and create a unified and modern country, the strength of the Kuomintang must be strengthened.He appealed for international aid, but was rejected by Western governments, but the Soviet Union responded positively, thus beginning the "KMT-Communist Cooperation" that lasted until 1927. In January 1923, Sun Yat-sen and Adolf Yuefei, the representative of the Soviet Union, agreed that the purpose of the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was not to establish communism in China, but to "realize national unification and complete national independence." The Russians then sent capable Mikhail Borodin went to Canton, where he became Sun's right-hand man.Together they achieved three fundamental changes: reorganizing the KMT along Communist lines, organizing a powerful modern army, and developing a more effective and attractive political ideology. In the process of reorganizing the KMT, Sun began to gain control of the party through the Central Executive Committee, which was elected by the KMT National Congress.The Kuomintang was now able to function for the first time as a disciplined unit from headquarters to the smallest section.Meanwhile, a new army was being created with the help of Russian weapons and Russian officers headed by General Vasily Blücher. In May 1924, to train military officers, the Whampoa Military Academy was established in Guangzhou.The official principal of the Whampoa Military Academy was Sun's chief of staff, Chiang Kai-shek, who had just returned from his studies at the Red Army Academy in Moscow, but the real leader was Blücher.It may be worth noting that the director of the political department at the school was Zhou Enlai, who later became the foreign minister and premier of Communist China.In the end, Sun Yat-sen transformed the ideology of his party into the famous Three People's Principles: Nationalism, Civil Rights, and People's Livelihood.Civil rights aimed at democratic politics, however, a period of tutelage under one-party rule was deemed necessary.Minshengism seeks economic improvement for the people through equal distribution of land and state management or control of industry. In 1925, just as Sun Yat-sen was making tools to realize his ambition, he passed away.He did not live to see the defeat of the warlords and the unification of the country, but today both mainland Communists and Taiwanese nationalists recognize him as one of the great creators of modern China.Sun Yat-sen's death made it possible for Chiang Kai-shek to become the leader of the Kuomintang. In May 1926, he served as the commander-in-chief of the "Northern Expedition," a war aimed at eliminating the Northern Warlords and unifying China.Led by the Propaganda Mission, the Kuomintang army marched forward at a rapid pace and reached the Yangtze River in October.At this time, the capital was moved to Hankou, which was controlled by leftists and communists. This was a clear indication of the growing split within the KMT between left-wing elements in Hankow and right-wing elements under General Chiang.Chiang Kai-shek favored nationalism over social revolution.He became alarmed by the activities of the left propaganda corps that had been marching in front of his divisions.These propagandists operate among peasants and urban workers.A revolutionary movement was launched against the landed gentry, the urban bourgeoisie and the Western corporate world.Although Chiang Kai-shek had worked closely with his Russian advisers, he was certainly anti-communist, determined to prevent leftist control of the KMT. Given the prevalence of this situation, there was no doubt that the final contest between the two opposing forces of the Right and the Left was bound to take place; this contest finally came when Nanking was captured on March 24, 1927.As happened in other cities, workers and students formed ranks as the Nationalist troops approached.They launched a general strike and were able to take over control of the city in the interval between the departure of the warlord's army and the arrival of Chiang Kai-shek's army.Chiang Kai-shek was not at all happy to be welcomed by the Revolutionary Committee, which included Zhou Enlai.With the support of KMT conservatives and Shanghai's financial circles, Chiang Kai-shek now carried out a bloodbath against the Communists and their leftist allies.Borodin returned to Russia, Chiang Kai-shek reorganized the Kuomintang, so he became the undisputed head of the Kuomintang. In June 1928, his army occupied Beijing, destroyed the forces of the Beiyang warlords, and completed the official reunification of the country.The capital of this new China was moved to Nanking. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek visited the Buddhist temple outside Beijing, where Sun Yat-sen's body was buried.He reported to the spirit of the deceased leader that he had won.Compared with the years immediately after the First World War, the situation in China at this time has indeed improved greatly.Over the next 10 years, China made remarkable progress under Chiang's guidance.The number of miles of railroads has nearly doubled, and the number of miles of modern roads has tripled. In 1932, domestic customs checkpoints, of which there used to be about 500, were abolished.And, for the first time, a unified currency was created.Significant advances have also been made in government procedures, public health, education, and industrialization.Equally striking is the government's achievements in the field of diplomacy.The government regained control of customs duties, some territories ceded to foreign countries, and many privileges taken away by Western powers.By 1943, all foreign countries had renounced their extraterritorial rights in China. However, Chiang Kai-shek's reform program had serious loopholes that proved fatal in the end.Much-needed land reform was neglected because the Kuomintang in rural areas was dominated by landowners who opposed any reform.Chiang Kai-shek's one-party dictatorship prevented the development of democracy; therefore, it was impossible for the opposition parties to assert their rights through legal means; Ge Yu was the only option.In the end, the KMT failed to develop ideas that would win the support of the people.The appeal of nationalism has little appeal to land-hungry farmers and impoverished urban workers.Realizing that something was missing, Chiang Kai-shek turned to the ancient Confucian teachings on etiquette and proper behaviour.These teachings seemed ineffective and bizarre in China in the 20th century. If the Kuomintang regime enjoys long-term peace, these weaknesses may gradually be overcome.However, it has no such opportunity because it has two sworn enemies: the Communists at home and the Japanese abroad. In July 1921, the Communist Party of China was established in Shanghai, and in the following years, its branches spread all over the country.Many students and intellectuals joined the Communist Party, attracted by the Party's call to action and the promise of a proletarian, egalitarian society in the future.It is well known that the Communist Party initially cooperated with Sun Yat-sen and then broke with Chiang Kai-shek in 1927.Most of the leaders of the Communist Party were killed by Chiang Kai-shek, but some managed to escape into the mountains of South China.One of their leaders was Mao Zedong, who was now ignoring the Third International in Moscow and devising a new revolutionary strategy.He rejected the traditional Marxist principle that the revolution could only be carried out by the urban proletariat.Based on direct surveys of the countryside, he concluded that the poor peasants, who accounted for 70 percent of the population, were “the vanguard of the revolution. . . . The South established an independent army and government. Chiang Kai-shek responded by launching five so-called "bandit suppression campaigns."The communists survived with the support of the peasants, as the communist policy of confiscating the landowners' large estates and distributing them to the peasants won them over.The Fifth Siege did succeed in driving the Communists out of their base areas, when they were surrounded by Kuomintang troops.In the end, of the 90,000 people who managed to break through, fewer than 7,000 of these people survived the astonishingly difficult 6,000-mile trek.During the 368-day "Long March" (October 16, 1934 to October 25, 1935), which is of great historical significance, they clashed with the Kuomintang army of more than 300,000 on average almost every day.Finally, the Communist survivors reached the northwestern provinces, where they fought hard and established bases.Their land reform policy won the support of the peasants, so they were able to expand their power and eventually developed into an important opponent of the Nanjing Kuomintang regime. While Chiang Kai-shek was involved in this civil war with the Communists, he was also attacked by the Japanese from abroad.我们以后将看到（见第二十四章第一节），这一侵略从1931年占领满洲开始，一直继续到第二次世界大战初期日本人控制整个东部沿海地区时。共产党的颠覆和日本人的侵略加在一起最终使蒋介石于1949年逃往台湾，让毛泽东在其新首都北京统治大陆。