the Long March

It’s the CCP! Catch them and kill them!!!

The 5th CampaignThe fifth campaign began in Autumn 1933, and this

time with a new method of exterminating the Communists.

All of my extermination campaigns have failed… We should try again with the same method!

Hmm… Why don’t we try a new method this time? We can surround the Jiangxi Soviet and build blockhouses.

Chiang Kai ShekGeneral Hans von Seeckt

The campaign went through 4 phases to get rid of the Communists. The Nationalists attacked several times and got the majority of the Communist’s land.

First Phase

First GMD attack on CCP.

In 3 days they got Lichuan.

Xiaoshi was handed to the GMD, because of the CCP failing to attempt to take Xiaoshi themselves.

CCP attack on fortifications.

CCP with heavy casualties, after failing again.

Second Phase

11th December 1933 GMD attack again.

Loss of CCP again.

CCP lose more land because they are attacked by the Nationalists and Warlords.

They get squeezed into a smaller region.

Third Phase

10th April 1934 GMD attack again.

11 divisions of GMD VS 9 divisions of CCP

GMD win again, and CCP lose more land.

27th April GMD last attack on Guangchang.

GMD succeed. 5500 casualties of CCP defenders.

Remaining Communists flee to the South & West.

Last Phase

GMD attack again on the CCP, and take more land from them. (North of Yiqian)

By late September 1934, CCP is left with only 7 towns.

The fifth campaign was successful.

By October 1934The CCP lost over half their territory

AndThere were 60,000 casualties in the Red Army.

In the CCP…Otto Braun Mao Ze Dong

Fighting against the GMD head-on is better than the Red Army retreating and allowing peasants in these areas to be captured and killed. Mao’s tactics are POLITICALLY WRONG!

The Russian leaders from the Jiangxi Soviet helped Otto Braun win his new tactics over Mao’s, and eventually Mao was expelled from the Party’s Central Committee.

Disagreement between the two

However…Otto Braun’s new tactics were not so

successful.

NEW PLAN Instead of heading straight like they used

to, they twisted and turned, split into groups and reformed so that the GMD now wouldn’t be able to predict their movements.

In order to cross the Dadu River the CCP had to capture the Luting Bridge. The Luting bridge was a suspension bridge held up by 13 iron chains.

22 brave soldiers swung across the Dadu river to the other end by using the iron chains while under machine gun fire.

PROBLEMS

Mao faced a small range of high mountains, called the Snowy Mountains. He could have chosen a route to the east of the range but that might have exposed the Red Army to attack by Chiang's forces.

Other Troubles The Red Army was also attacked by hostile

Tibetans and Warlords who feared of the Red Army taking over their territory.

The Long March finally ended in October 1935, when the Red Army reached Yanan.

CCP’s View on the Long MarchThe communist who survived the long march were filled

with a renewed sense of hope. Most of the communist principles were born on the long march, for example their opinions on unending struggle and how they believed that they were unfairly targeted, their unselfishness and how they were fighting for the peasants and their heroic sacrifices for the people. The power struggles within the party all fell to Mao, because in the view of the common workers of the party, Mao had saved them from total annihilation. Those who survived believed that through some divine intervention they were chosen to carry on the legacy of communism, so due to these factors on general the communists believed that the long march was worth all the toil, and along the way they were able to successfully spread the ideals of communism to the workers and the peasants. Survival was now a viable option, so in their opinion the long march was a success. 

Mao Zedong’s view on the Long

March

Mao Zedong viewed the Long March to be a victorious part of the communist revolution. Many details of his opinion can be found in the speech he made in December 1935. In his speech he refers to the long march as ‘the first of its kind in history’. He also says that it shows to the rest of the world that the ‘Red Army is an army of heroes, while Chiang Kai-shek and his like are powerless’.

PROPAGANDA

• Mao also referred to the march as a great form of propaganda. He said in his speech that ‘ It (the long march) has announced to 200 million people in eleven provinces that the road of the Red Army is their only road to liberation.’

Poem by Mao ‘The Red Army fears not the trials of the March,

Holding light ten thousand crags and torrents. The Five Ridges wind like gentle ripples And the majestic Wumeng roll by, globules of clay.

Warm the steep cliffs lapped by the waters of Golden Sand, Cold the iron chains spanning the Dadu River. Minshan's thousand li of snow joyously crossed, The three Armies march on, each face glowing.’

How the GMD felt about the long march 

• Initially when the CCP escaped from the JiangXi area the GMD probably considered it a great victory for the GMD because the encirclement campaign had forced the CCP to abandon their base area.

• But the Long March also was a great loss for the GMD because they no longer had the CCP army trapped.

• Although many lives were lost on both sides, the long march turned into a great propaganda victory for Mao because he was able to spread the word of communism across China. This made Chang Kai Shek incredibly angry, and also made the GMD realize that they could not wipe out communism by simply killing enough people but that they had to win the people over.

• By 1936 Chang Kai Shek was still trying to wipe out communists even though his allies, including people in the GMD, wanted to unite with the communists to fight the Japanese.

Opinions of other historians

• Some historians, even Chinese ones, consider the Long March to be a legend, similar to that of America’s Valley Forge.

• Most Taiwanese historians believe that the long march is just a great retreat of the communists as they were pushed to extinction by the GMD.

• There are many that believe that the Long March was a defining moment in China’s history, and a defining moment in Mao’s career.

• “…Mao was a genius. He saw the propaganda value of the Long March -- for the party and his own legacy," said Edmund Jocelyn, coauthor of the 2006 book "The Long March."

This PPT is by

Derek, Samantha

Ye Lin, Muhammad

Fernando, Alicia