Chinese Civil War

2> Chiang Kai-shek went to Taiwan

Along with the comprehensive defeated of KMT, Chiang Kai-shek decided to shift the KMT and government agencies to Taiwan in 1949. Since then, a new stage was started in the history of Taiwan. There was a process of gradual brewing and mature for Chiang Kai-shek to make the decision. As early as August 18, 1918, Chiang Kai-shek went to Shanghai from Hong Kong. When passing Keelung by ship, he reminded of the past history of Taiwan cession by the government in Qing dynasty, and felt a lot. Although he wanted to have a shore excursion, Taiwan had belonged to Japan, and it could not be realized.

¢Ù First stage

In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek paid more attention to Taiwan. After suffered the military failure in Northeast, North China and Central China, he had to establish the anti-communist base in the southeast coastal region. During the period, Chiang Kai-shek began to transfer the power to Taiwan quietly. On November 24, he transferred Ge Xiancai department originally stationed in Hengyang, Hunan to Taiwan. On December 9, he decided to build Jinmen and Matsu fortress. All these were to strengthen the military strength in Taiwan. Meanwhile, Chiang Kai-shek also considered changing the party candidate in Taiwan. An army marches on its stomach. There shall be the economic preparation for Taiwan as the anti-communist bastion. At the end of November, 1938, Chiang Kai-shek formulated the Event Scheduled Table for the next month, and the processing of Central deposit was made in Article 15. In the following, the property was delivered to Taiwan in batches. Some estimated that KMT delivered 8 million liang of gold such as gold, silver and foreign exchange to Taiwan.

¢ÚSecond stage

Since September 12, 1948, the northeast field army directed by Lin Biao attacked the KMT in western Liaoning, Shenyang and Changchun continuously. More than 470,000 KMT armies were wiped out within 52 days. Liaoxi-Shenyang campaign was ended on November 2, northeast field army immediately sent the troops into, and encircled Fu Zuoyi armies guarding the north China in Zhangjiakou, Xinbaoan, Beiping, Tianjin, Tanggu, etc. All signs indicated that the general situation was set, the rapid change in the mainland was curtained. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had to consider more to transfer into Taiwan and build Taiwan and other issues. At the beginning of 1949, Chiang Kai-shek issued the retirement statement, and declared Li Zongren shall exercise the power of president on behalf of himself. He planned the events in the whole year, and scheduled to complete the defense and preparation in Taiwan in July. The plan showed that Chiang Kai-shek¡¯s working focus had shifted to Taiwan.

¢ÛThird stage

There was a description at that time that the defeat speed of KMT was faster than that of train. As KMT was defeated, Chiang Kai-shek sent Chiang Ching-kuo to fly to Xichang on January 25, 1950, and encourage Hu Zongnan to guard the local place, and told Hu that if Taiwan was lost, I would die in Taiwan to do my duty. On March 27, the second field army occupied Xichang, and Hu Zongnan flied to Hainan island for escape again. On April 13, the KMT troops in Xichang region were destroyed. Until then, Chiang Kai-shek¡¯s dream was broken, and there was no land in the mainland.

1. The failures of KMT

During the civil war between CPC and KMT, the following major problems which caused the KMT¡¯s failures.

¢Ù Problems with the inner structures

The problem left over by the Northern War: after the success of the Northern War, Chiang Kai-shiek still failed to unify the military power, with the original army formations still retained. The war lords, including Zhang Xueliang all agreed to be subordinated to KMT; however, the commanding powers of the armies were still in their hands.

¢Ú The jealousness and suspicion between the army groups

Due to the problems with the inner structures, during the civil war between the CPC and the KMT, there existed jealousness and suspicions among the army groups; consequently, when the army groups were aiding each other, what the generals of the various groups first considered were not the interests of the KMT, but rather the interests of the groups themselves. Such a situation caused the delays of the timing of battles; in contrast, there was no suspicion between the armies and the fact that they were extremely united enabled them to have the advantages seizing the opportunities.

¢Û Comparison between Mao and Chiang

One example is that Chiang was very particular about the trivial matters. He was so anxious to handle all the important and trivial matters in the armies. In other words, he was not confident about anybody. Meanwhile, he also believed that nobody could have done a better job than he. In contrast, during battle time, Mao Zedong had the same power as Chiang; however, he also possessed general grasp strategically. He had trust in his troops, and upon the issuance of his specific orders, he usually would not intervene the specific movement deployments of his subordinates.

¢Ü Excellency of the generals

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