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Long March
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== Background == {{more citations needed section|date=October 2016}} ===The Red Army in 1934=== The divisions of the Red Army ({{lang-zh|c=中國工農紅軍|p=Zhōngguó gōngnóng hóngjūn|l=Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army}}) were named according to historical circumstances, not strictly according to the chronological order of their formation. Indeed, early Communist units would often form by defection from existing Kuomintang forces, and they kept their original designations. By the time of the Long March, numerous small units had been organized into three unified Armies: the First, the Second, and the Fourth.<ref>Peoples Liberation Army Daily (August 14, 2006) [http://english.pladaily.com.cn/site2/special-reports/2006-08/14/content_554037.htm Notes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212212710/http://english.pladaily.com.cn/site2/special-reports/2006-08/14/content_554037.htm |date=December 12, 2008 }} Retrieved 2007-02-17</ref> To distinguish them from earlier organizational divisions, some translations opt to refer to these same units as the "Front Red Armies", correspondingly numbered. The First Red Army under the command of [[Bo Gu]] and [[Otto Braun (communist)|Otto Braun]] formed from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Army Corps in southern Jiangxi. When several units formed the Fourth Red Army under [[Zhang Guotao]] in the [[Sichuan]]–[[Shaanxi]] border area, no standard naming system yet existed, in part lending to limited central control by the CCP over separate Communist-controlled enclaves. After these first two forces were organized, the Second Red Army was formed in eastern [[Guizhou]] by unifying the 2nd Army Corps under [[Xiao Ke]] with the 6th Army Corps under [[He Long]]. A Third Red Army was briefly led by He in the area straddling the Hunan–Hubei border, but its defeat in 1932 led to its merger with the 6th Army Corps in October 1934. These three armies would maintain their historical designations until the formation of the [[Second United Front]] with the [[National Revolutionary Army]] during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], which nominally integrated the Communist forces into the NRA, forming the [[Eighth Route Army]] and the [[New Fourth Army]]. === Civil War === {{Main|Chinese Civil War}} The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 by [[Chen Duxiu]] with Soviet support. The CCP initially collaborated with the nationalist Kuomintang, founded by the revolutionary republican [[Sun Yat-sen]]. However, after the unexpected death of Sun in March 1925, a power struggle within the KMT led to the shift in the party's authority to Chiang Kai-shek, whose [[Northern Expedition (1926–1927)|Northern Expedition]] forces succeeded in wresting control of large areas of China from local [[Warlord Era|warlords]] and establishing a unified government in [[Nanjing]] in April 1927. Unlike other nationalist leaders, like [[Wang Jingwei]], Chiang was opposed to the idea of continued collaboration with the CCP. The initial period of cooperation to unify China and end the [[Unequal treaty|unequal treaties]] broke up in April 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek [[April 12 Incident|struck out against the Communists]]. Unsuccessful urban insurrections (in [[Nanchang Uprising|Nanchang]], [[Wuhan]] and [[Guangzhou]]) and the suppression of the CCP in Shanghai and other cities drove many party supporters to rural strongholds such as the Jiangxi Soviet, which was organized by Mao Zedong. By 1928, deserters and defecting Kuomintang army units, supplemented by peasants from the Communist rural soviets, formed the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The ideological confrontation between the CCP and the KMT soon evolved into the first phase of the Chinese Civil War. ===The Jiangxi Soviet=== {{main|Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet}} By 1930, the Red Army had established the Chinese Soviet Republic in the provinces of Jiangxi and [[Fujian]] around the city of [[Ruijin]], including industrial facilities.<ref>Ruth Rogaski, PhD, in Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006: [http://encarta.msn.com/text_761559589___5/Mao_Zedong.html Mao Zedong, III. Rise to Power] (Retrieved November 25, 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20091029085314/http://encarta.msn.com/text_761559589___5/Mao_Zedong.html Archived] 2009-11-01.</ref> After the establishment of the Jiangxi Soviet, Mao's status within the Party declined. In 1930, Mao claimed a need to eliminate alleged KMT spies and Anti-Bolsheviks operating inside the Jiangxi Soviet and began an ideological campaign featuring torture and guilt by association, in order to eliminate his enemies. The campaign continued until the end of 1931, killing approximately 70,000 people and reducing the size of the Red Army from 40,000 to less than 10,000. The ''de facto'' leader of the party at the time, [[Zhou Enlai]], originally supported Mao's purges as necessary to eliminate KMT spies. After Zhou arrived in Jiangxi in December 1931, he criticized Mao's campaigns for being directed more against anti-Maoists than legitimate threats to the Party, for the campaign's general senselessness, and for the widespread use of torture to extract confessions. During 1932, following Zhou's efforts to end Mao's ideological persecutions, the campaigns gradually subsided.{{sfn|Barnouin|Yu|2006|p=49–52}} In December, of 1931 Zhou replaced [[Mao Zedong]] as Secretary of the First Front Army and political commissar of the Red Army. Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai all criticized Mao's tactics at the August 1932 Ningdu Conference.<ref>Whitson, William W. and Huang, Chen-hsia. ''The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927–71''. New York: Praeger, 1973. pp. 57–58</ref> The most senior leaders to support Mao in 1932 were Zhou Enlai, who had become disillusioned with the strategic leadership of other senior leaders in the Party, and Mao's old comrade, [[Zhu De]]. Zhou's support was not enough, and Mao was demoted to being a figurehead in the Soviet government, until he regained his position later, during the Long March.{{sfn|Barnouin|Yu|2006|p=52–55}} ===Chiang's Encirclement Campaigns=== {{main|Encirclement Campaigns}} In early 1933, Bo Gu arrived in Jiangxi with the German Comintern adviser [[Otto Braun (communist)|Otto Braun]] and took control of Party affairs. Zhou at this time, apparently with strong support from Party and military colleagues, reorganized and standardized the Red Army. Under Zhou, Bo, and Braun, the Red Army defeated four attacks by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops.<ref>Wilson 51</ref> Chiang's fifth campaign was much more difficult to contain. In September 1933, the [[National Revolutionary Army]] under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] eventually [[Fifth Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet|completely encircled]] Jiangxi, with the advice and tactical assistance of his German adviser, [[Hans von Seeckt]].<ref>Vercamer, Arvo. [https://www.feldgrau.com/ww2-german-military-mission-china/ The German Military Mission to China: 1927–1938]. (Retrieved November 23, 2006)</ref> A fortified perimeter was established by Chiang's forces, and Jiangxi was besieged in an attempt to destroy the Communist forces trapped within. In July 1934, the leaders of the Party, dominated by the "[[28 Bolsheviks|Twenty-Eight Bolsheviks]]", a militant group formed in Moscow by [[Wang Ming]] and Bo Gu, forced Mao from the [[Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo of the CCP]] in Ruijin and placed him briefly under house arrest. Mao was replaced by Zhou Enlai as leader of the military commission.<ref>{{cite book | last = Kampen | first = Thomas | year = 2000 | title = Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and the Evolution of the Chinese Communist Leadership | publisher = Nordic Institute of Asian Studies | pages = 58–61 | isbn = 87-87062-76-3}}</ref> Chiang's strategy of slowly constructing a series of interlinking blockhouses (resembling medieval castles) was successful, and Chiang's army was able to capture several major Communist strongholds within months. Between January and March 1934, the Nationalists advanced slowly. Bo and Braun continued to employ orthodox military tactics, resulting in a series of Kuomintang advances and heavy Communist casualties. In October 1934 KMT troops won a decisive battle and drove deep into the heart of the Central Soviet Area. When Ruijin became exposed to KMT attack, Party leaders faced the choice of either remaining and perishing or of abandoning the base area and attempting to break through the enemy encirclement.{{sfn|Barnouin|Yu|2006|pp=56-57}} In August 1934, with the Red Army depleted by the prolonged conflict, a spy, [[Mo Xiong]], who had been placed by Zhou Enlai in the KMT army headquarters in Nanchang, brought news that Chiang Kai-shek was preparing a major offensive against the Communist capital, Ruijin. The Communist leadership decided on a strategic retreat to regroup with other Communist units, and to avoid annihilation. The original plan was to link up with the Second Red Army commanded by He Long, thought to be in [[Hubei]] to the west and north. Communications between divided groups of the Red Army had been disrupted by the Kuomintang campaign. During the planning to evacuate Jiangxi, the First Red Army was unaware that these other Communist forces were also retreating westward.
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