Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887–April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. He commanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords and emerged victorious in 1928 as the overall leader of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which Chiang's stature within China weakened but his international prominence grew. During the Chinese Civil War (1926–1949), Chiang attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists but ultimately failed, forcing his government to retreat to Taiwan, where he continued serving as the President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the KMT for the remainder of his life.

Rise to power

With the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, Chiang returned to China to fight in the revolution as an artillery officer. He served in the revolutionary forces, leading a regiment in Shanghai under his friend and mentor Chen Qimei. The revolution was ultimately successful and Chiang became a founding member of the Kuomintang.

Related Topics:
Wuchang Uprising - Shanghai - Revolution - Kuomintang

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the Second Revolution and takeover of the Republican government by Yuan Shikai, Chiang divided his time between exile in Japan and haven in Shanghai's foreign concession areas. In Shanghai, Chiang also cultivated ties with the criminal underworld dominated by the notorious Green Gang and later served as an officer in the army of the Cantonese warlord, Ch'en Chiung-ming. On February 15, 1912, Chiang Kai-shek shot and killed Tao Chengzhang, the leader of the Restoration Society, at point-blank range as Tao lay dying in a Shanghai hospital, thus ridding Chen Qimei of his chief rival. In 1915, Chen Qimei was assasinated by agents of Yuan Shikai and Chiang succeeded him as the leader of the Chinese Revolutionary Party in Shanghai.

Related Topics:
Second Revolution - Yuan Shikai - Japan - Shanghai - Green Gang - Cantonese - Ch'en Chiung-ming - February 15 - 1912 - Tao Chengzhang - Restoration Society - Chinese Revolutionary Party

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1917 Sun Yat-sen moved his base of operations to Guangzhou. However, a rift have developed between Sun, who sought to militarily unify China under the KMT, and Chen Jiongming, who wanted to implement a federalist system with Guangdong as a model province. On June 16, 1923, Chen attempted to expel Sun from Guangzhou and had his residence shelled. Sun and his wife Song Qingling narrowly escaped under heavy machine gun fire, only to be rescued by gunboats under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek. The incident earned in Chiang Kai-shek the trust of Sun Yat-sen.

Related Topics:
1917 - Guangzhou - Chen Jiongming - Federalist - June 16 - 1923 - Song Qingling

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sun regained control in Guangzhou with help of the Comintern, and undertook a reform of the Kuomintang and established a revolutionary government aimed at unifying China under the KMT. That same year, Sun sent Chiang Kai-shek to spend three months in Moscow studying the Soviet political and military system. Chiang returned to Guangzhou and in 1924 was made Commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy. The early years at Whampoa allowed Chiang to cultivate a cadre of young officers loyal to him and by 1925 Chiang's proto-army was scoring victories against local rivals in Guangdong province. Here he also first met and worked with a young Zhou Enlai, who was selected to be Whampoa's Political Commissar.

Related Topics:
Comintern - Moscow - 1924 - Commandant - Whampoa Military Academy - 1925 - Guangdong - Zhou Enlai

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925 a power vacuum developed in the KMT. A power struggle ensued between Chiang, who leaned towards the right wing of the KMT, and Sun Yat-sen's close comrade-in-arms Wang Jingwei, who leaned towards the left wing of the party. Though Chiang ranked relatively low in the civilian hierarchy, while Wang had succeeded Sun as Chairman of the National Government, his deft political maneuvering eventually allowed him to emerge victorious. Chiang became Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Forces in 1925, and in July 1926, launched the Northern Expedition, a military campaign to defeat the warlords controlling northern China and unify the country under the KMT.

Related Topics:
Wang Jingwei - Commander-in-Chief - National Revolutionary Forces - 1926 - Northern Expedition

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The National Revolutionary Army branched into three divisions?to the west, Wang Jingwei led a column to take Wuhan, to the east, Pai Ch'ung-hsi led another column to take Shanghai, while Chiang led in the middle to take Nanjing?before they were to press ahead to take Beijing. However, in January 1927, allied with the Chinese Communists and Soviet Agent Mikhail Borodin, Wang Jingwei and his KMT leftist allies, having taken the city of Wuhan amid much fanfare, declared the National Government to have moved to Wuhan. After taking Nanjing in March (and with Shanghai under the control of his close ally General Pai), Chiang momentarily halted his campaign and decided to break with the leftists. On April 12, Chiang began a swift and brutal attack on thousands of suspected Communists in the area he controlled. He then established his own National Government in Nanjing, supported by his conservative allies. The communists were purged from the KMT and the Soviet advisers were expelled. This earned Chiang the support (and financial backing) of the Shanghai business community, but led to the beginning of the Chinese Civil War with the Communist Party. Nevertheless, Chiang was able to win over Wang Jingwei and his leftist government into joining him in Nanjing and the warlord capital of Beijing was taken in June 1928.

Related Topics:
Wuhan - Pai Ch'ung-hsi - Shanghai - Nanjing - Beijing - 1927 - Soviet - Mikhail Borodin - Wang Jingwei - April 12 - Chinese Civil War - 1928

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chiang made gestures to cement himself as the successor of Sun Yat-sen. In a pairing of much political significance, Chiang married on December 1, 1927 Soong May-ling, the younger sister of Soong Ching-ling (Sun Yat-sen's widow, whom he had proposed to beforehand but was swiftly rejected) in Japan and thus positioned himself as Sun Yat-sen's brother-in-law. (To please Soong's parents, Chiang had to first divorce his first wife and concubines and promise to eventually convert to Christianity. He was baptized in 1929.) Upon reaching Beijing, Chiang paid homage to Sun Yat-sen and had his body moved to the capital Nanjing to be enshrined in an grand mausoleum.

Related Topics:
December 1 - Soong May-ling - Soong Ching-ling - Christianity - 1929 - Grand mausoleum

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~