Chinese Civil War

:See Taiping Rebellion for the Chinese Civil War of 1851 to 1864 that killed 20 to 50 million people

Post-war power struggle (1945–1947)

The dropping of the atomic bomb and the Soviet entry into the Pacific War caused Japan to surrender

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much more quickly than anyone in China had imagined. Under the terms of the unconditional Japanese surrender dictated by the United States, Japanese troops were ordered to surrender to KMT troops and not the Communists.

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With the sudden end of WWII in East Asia, Soviet forces flooded into the Manchurian Provinces to seize Japanese positions and to take the surrender of the 700,000 Japanese troops still stationed in the region. Later in the year Chiang Kai-shek came to the painful realization that he lacked the resources to prevent a CPC takeover of Manchuria following the scheduled Soviet departure, he therefore made a deal with the Russians to delay their withdrawal until he had moved enough of his best-trained men and modern material into the region. The Soviets spent the extra time systematically dismantling the entire Manchurian industrial plant (worth up to 2 billion dollars) and shipping it back to their war-ravaged Motherland.

Related Topics:
WWII - East Asia - Soviet - Manchuria

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General George Marshall arrived in China and was part of negotiations over a cease-fire between the KMT and the CPC, the terms of which would build a coalition government that would include all of the contending political/military groups in China. Neither the Communists (represented by Zhou Enlai) nor Chiang Kai-shek?s representatives were willing to compromise on certain fundamental issues or relinquish the territories they had seized in the wake of the Japanese surrender. Notably, however, was the fact that the Nationalists demilitarized 1.5 million troops in an effort to support the Marshall Mission, whereas the Communists did not. The truce fell apart in the spring of 1946, and although negotiations continued, Marshall was recalled in January 1947.

Related Topics:
George Marshall - Zhou Enlai

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