Chiang Kai-Shek and the Japanese Invasion of China - Essay Example

Chiang Kai-shek China experienced some shaky political situations in the 19th and 20th centuries due to frequent revolts and invasion by Japanese forces. Chiang Kai-shek was one of Chinese leaders who worked toward building a successful, modern Chinese state. Born in 1887, he made several significant contributions to Chinese the community before he met his death in 1975. Kai-shek naturally succeeded Sun Yat-sen and worked together with Mao Tse-Tung to stabilize China during the first half of the 20th century1. Although his leadership was characterized by several military and political failures, he oversaw notable economic growth in China, and more especially in Taiwan. Although many critics blame him for the atrocities committed during his regime, many people greatly appreciate his achievements with regard to the country’s economic development.   The early years of Chiang Kai-shek were not very smooth but he managed to attend the Japanese Military Staff College. After completing his military education, he served in the Japanese Imperial Army for a number of years. A staunch supporter of Sun Yat-sen, Kai-shek returned to China in 1911 to help in the creation of the nationalists’ army. Sun Yat-sen chose Chiang Kai-shek as a leader of the Guomindang’s Military Academy which was situated in Whampoa2. In the course of time, the he was sent to Moscow to study about the organization of Red Army for a period of six months. As a leader of Guomindang, Chiang favoured his former workmates at Whampoa and consequently appointed them in various ranks within the Guomindang. Sun Yat-sen died in 1925 and there arose a power struggle among his possible successors as noted by Guangdi3. At the death of Sun yat-sen, Chiang was a right wing while Wang Jingwei, Sun Yat-sen’s comrade-in-arms, was a left wing adherent. Wang succeeded Sun Yat-sen as the national government’s Chairman as noted by Shieh4. Chiang was in a better position to succeed him because he was the leader of the Guomindang army. He was seen as a more suitable leader for the position because his disciplined and loyal army was more likely to fight for him rather than fight for others. Politically, Chiang was in a central position in China which gave him the capacity to control a wide region. He organised a fierce campaign against Guomindang warlords and consolidated his leadership position in 19265. He went further to control Nanking, Canton, and Beijing which were the most important Chinese cities at the time. During his tenure as government chairman, he served as party leader as well as commander-in-chief of the army. The Organic Law that was instituted in 1928 gave Chiang dictatorial powers over Chinese nationals. China was a big nation which meant that his appointment as president of the country was not secure. In addition, his army was not represented in all parts of the nation, a factor that rendered his powers limited to only certain parts of the country6. This explains why communists had to select Yanan at the end of the infamous Long march as a safe place. The Japanese invasion of China was successful due to the vastness of China which made it impossible to deploy army officers in every part of the country. Chiang was also more concerned about controlling his party and areas to which his army was in full control. This made him seem to neglect other parts of China. This state of affaires also rendered him incapable of organising a military expedition against Japanese invaders7. Following the Japanese invasion, the international community acknowledged Chiang as China’s legitimate leader, as opposed to the invaders. The support he received from western nations came as a consequence of his respect for public opinion8. This move did not have a positive effect on all members of the Chinese community as some sections of the Chinese army revolted against him in 1930. In 1936, some army officers allied to Chinese communists kidnapped and kept him in their custody for 13 days. He was released after he accepted to use force against the Japanese. Before he was released he was also forced to agree to end the military campaign against communists9. In respect for the agreement, Chiang organised his military against the Japanese who consequently launched a full scale invasion in 1937 against his strong military bases. This made him to relocate his capital to Chungking where he stayed until the end of the 2nd World War10. Since he organized resistance against Japan from Chungking, he was perceived as an ally to the western forces who were fighting Japan. This strengthened his position as China’s post war legitimate leader. Chiang was invited to attend a conference in Cairo in 1943 where he met Roosevelt and Churchill as noted by Samarani11. Even as he represented his nation in Cairo, the Moa and success which made many members of Guomindan’s army to defect. Chiang’s army was adversely affected by corruption in its ranks and, therefore, could not stand strong against the Red Army12. Chiang expected support from America but the then American President, Harry Truman, was advised against supporting him. This was because Chiang’s army was too weak to contend with the Red Army even with American support. Communists took control of Beijing communists were making good progress toward assuming the country’s leadership by fearlessly fighting the Japanese invaders. They perfected their guerrilla warfare tactics which helped them get a clear win during the Chinese civil war. The Red Army managed to unleash organised guerrilla attacks on areas controlled by the Japanese forces and thus helped Chinese nationals out of captivity13. This came to many Chinese nationals as a surprise considering that they were used to barbaric treatment by warlords. The practice was referred to as the Red Army’s mind and heart policy - a policy that went a long way in winning many Chinese to their side. This put the Red Army in a powerful position to carry out attacks on Chiang’ army and a consequently civil war broke out in 1945. The communists registered a huge in 1949 and forced Chiang to resign as the president of China14. Chiang moved to Taiwan with his followers and proceeded to serve as the president of the republic of China. He ruled the Republic of China between 1st March, 1950 and 1975 when he died. He was hopeful that America would come to his aid in regaining the control of Mainland communist China but this did never saw the light of day15. During his tenure in power, Chiang remained allied to Japan and America which had a naval base at the shores of the island. During his leadership, Taiwan prospered more compared to Mainland Communist China16. Chiang’s leadership was characterized by widespread killing and destruction of properties belonging to his critics. He crushed those who opposed his leadership and those who sided with the communists’ party. In spite of these atrocities, Chiang’s leadership established an environment that saw Taiwan become one of the economic super powers in the region17. Although Taiwan people had many reasons to blame Chiang for many ills and atrocities committed under his nose, he was revered for the economic success of Taiwan. Chiang’s rise to power was surrounded by many issues that sparked tension nationally and internationally. He was known as the Red General by both the west and the Soviet Union. Movie theatres often showed his clips and news stories in the Soviet Union18. His portraits were also hanged on the walls in Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. This worried the western powers and consequently who never really wanted Chiang to gain control of China. To ensure this, they supported Zhili Clique. This was aimed at stopping Chiang’s Kuomintang and Japan-allied Fengtian clique from taking control of mainland China. Japan, western powers, and the Soviet Union threw their weight behind their respective preferred candidates to gain control over China19. In 1927, Chiang carried out a country wide massacre where thousands of communists were killed. Close to 12,000 communists were killed in Shanghai alone. This was incident came to be known as White Terror. The massacre of communists took place throughout 1927 and more than 3,000 people were killed. Chiang was carrying out military expeditions on his enemies with advice from Soviet Union military officers and advisors. After gaining control over China, Chiang was surrounded by warlords. Although these warlords had surrendered, their territories remained autonomous. He became the leader of China and was ready to carry out Sun Yat-sen’s plans of rebuilding China. Sun Yat-sen had planned to rebuild China through constitution rule, military rule, and political tutelage. This was dedicated to embracing democracy in China even though many people believed that it was not possible due to the disunity that prevailed among nationals at the time20. In 1928, the first objective of this plan was achieved as the Kuomintang took control over the nation. Political tutelage started almost immediately and oversaw development of many features of the modern China. Chiang’s leadership between 1928 and 1937 was characterized by foreign concessions, imperialism and privileges21. These were moderated through diplomacy. Chiang’s government modernized the penal and legal systems, acted to stabilize prices and improved public health facilities. It also constructed railways and roads; improved agricultural and industrial sectors; reformed the currency and banking systems; and passed law against narcotics trafficking. Chiang’s government was devoted to improving the quality of education among the Chinese as well as unifying all citizens. This gave rise to the New Life Movement which encouraged personal discipline and Confucian moral values22. Communication facilities such as radio were established and helped to encourage Chinese nationalism. In as much as Chiang’s government had many achievements, it was also faced with various challenges and limitations. Military and political upheavals were common during his rule. His government could only control urban centres to the extent that rural areas were left to the warlords and communists who had been weakened but not defeated. Chiang used military action to suppress their uprisings but this was costly in terms of material and man power. For example, the Central Plains War almost caused Chiang’s government to suffer bankruptcy and claimed roughly 250, 000 lives. This made some of his supporters to publicly admit failure of the national government. HU Hanmin was at the front line in criticizing Chiang’s government. He defected from government and established his own government at Guangzhou23. This prompted military confrontation between Hanmin’s and Chiang’s armies. Chiang’s government won the war because some of the most powerful warlords at Hanmin’s side defected and joined Chiang. Arguably, the greatest dream that Chiang had was to completely eradicate communists from within China. This made him to crash every communist group reported within his territory. In 1934, he attacked the Chinese Soviet Republic which had just been established24. With the help of foreign military advisors, he was able to surround and defeat them in the Long March. Chiang was both a nationalist and believer in Confucianism25. He was against the May Fourth movement because it was based on western ideologies which he thought were of no value to China. He accused followers of the May Fourth movement of corrupting the morals of Chinese youth26. Although communists accused him of being capitalist, he showed that he was against capitalists. He occasionally attacked Shanghai capitalists and took their assets by force. At the same time, he would attack the communists. To this end, he was against both capitalism and communism as noted by Eastman27. Chiang directed the media in the Kuomintang to attack capitalism and advocate for government controlled industry. At the beginning of his leadership, Chiang was supported by the capitalists because they were afraid of the communists. He, however, intimidated them starting from 1928 and prevented them from securing political positions or voicing their views. This clearly shows that Chiang was neither capitalist nor communist. Japanese invasion of China was a common phenomenon in the first half on the 20th century. The fiercest invasion during Chiang’s leadership occurred in 1937 when Japan wanted to conquer and rule China. Chiang did not let the Japanese forces occupy his territory and therefore staged a war against them. In August of the same year, Chiang sent 600,000 soldiers to defend Shanghai28. These soldiers were highly trained and equipped. Chiang’s army suffered 200,000 casualties and eventually lost the battle. The Japanese army learnt that the Chinese army was not as weak as they had earlier thought. The war made it clear to the western powers that the Chinese were ready to protect their territory. The Japanese forces went ahead to capture several places and important centres from Chiang’s army29. Chiang moved further in the mainland to prevent Japanese forces from capturing him. Chiang authorized the use of scotched earth tactics which ensured that Japanese soldiers got no food from the places they captured from Chiang’s army30. This policy, however, led to the death of many civilians even as others lost their belongings. Chiang’s army also destroyed dams in Nanjing to cut the supply of water to Japanese forces. At the end of the war, about 500,000 civilians died in what was known as Yellow River Flood31. As part of the scotched earth tactics, the nationalists army started Changsha fire which destroyed the whole city leaving 20, 000 civilians dead and hundreds of thousands of people homeless. The nationalists blamed three local commanders for starting the fire and eventually executed them. Newspapers across China blamed the non-Kuomintang for the fire but contributed to nationwide lack of support for the Chiang and his followers. Chiang sent several Muslim leaders to Turkey, Egypt, and Syria to appeal for military support against Japan. He also toured north western China and met all Muslim generals32. In 1942, Tibet announced their intention to secede but Chiang and Muslim generals attacked and defeated them. The relationship between Chiang’s leadership and other global powers was not clearly defined. After the attack on Pearl Harbour, China became sided with the allied powers and waged war against Japan33. Chiang was helped by his American wife to obtain support from the United States. He became the Supreme Commander of Allied military forces in the China as a war zone. The American generals criticised Chiang for incompetence and abject corruption. President Roosevelt authorized the bombing of Japan in support of Chiang34. He also financed the construction of a Chinese airbase but Chiang and his generals embezzled half of the total money that the nation was given. After the 2nd World War, Chiang wanted to get the most from both the United States and Soviet Union without taking side35. He objected to both imperialism and communism which were advocated by the two super powers36. He even ordered the execution of some American officers after suspecting that they were planning to overthrow his regime. He played the two powers such that no one of them gained full control of Chinese politics. United States did not want the French to regain Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia37. She offered them to Chiang’s administration but Chiang refused to take them over38. This worsened the relationship between China and United States. Chiang left his name firmly written in the books of Chinese history. His father having died at the age of five, he went ahead to acquire military education. With many competitors aiming to succeed Sun Yat-sen, Chiang managed to defeat them due to his position as a leader of the forces. In his leadership, he adopted nationalistic, anti-communism and anti-capitalism ideologies. He, however, did not protect China fully due to its vastness which made it easy for Japanese forces to attack. He was further limited by the fact that his officials were very corrupt. Although he never won battle against Japanese, he lobbied for support from the Allied powers which helped him regain the whole China from Japanese rule. He was later ousted by the communists and fled to Taiwan. He applied dictatorial leadership in Taiwan while keeping hope of regaining leadership of communist China. This made him be labelled a brutal leader but he led Taiwan to economic prosperity. By his death in 1975, Taiwan was ahead of mainland China economically. Bibliography Chang Jung and Halliday, Jon. The Unknown Story. New York: Knopf, 2005. Crozier, Brian. The Man who Lost China. The First Full Biography of Chiang Kai-shek. London-Sydeney-Melbourne-Singapore-Manila: Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1976. Eastman, Lloyd E. “Who Lost China? Chiang Kai-shek Testifies” The China Quarterly, 88 (1981): 658-668 Guangdi, Chen. Zhonghua minguo fendou liushinian (The Chinese Republics Sixty Years of Struggle). Taipei: Guangdi, 1972. Huang, Ray. “Chiang kai-shek and His Diary as a Historical Source. Proposals for the Revision of Modern Chinese History” Chinese Studies in History, 29 (1996):1-2 Huang, Tzu-Chin. “Chiang Kai-shek in East Asia: The Origins of the Policy of Magnanimity toward Japan after World War II”. Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica 45, (2004): 143-194, Jay Taylor. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, Eng-land: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Harvard, 2009. Kai-shek Chiang. Essentials of the New Life Movement, (1934-speech). Columbia: Columbia University, n.d. Kai-shek, Chiang. Soviet Russia in China: A Summing-Up at Seventy. Taipei: The Belknap Press, n.d. Mitter Rana. China’s War with Japan 1937-1945. New York: Allen Lane, 2013 Samarani, Guido. “Shaping the Future of Asia. Chiang Kai-shek, Nehru and China–India Relations during the Second World War Period”. Working Paper No 11 2005. Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies Lund University. Sweden, 2005. Samarani, Guido. “The Asian Connection. Dynamics of Colonialism, Nationalism and Identity in East and South Asia, 1915-1945” European Journal of East Asian Studies 3(2004): 1-15 Shieh, Joseph. “The Kuomintang: Selected Historical Documents, 1894-1969”. New York: St. Johns University Press, 1970. Taylor, Jay. “The Generalissimos’ Son. Chiang Ching-kuo and the Revolutions in China and Taiwan”. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2000. Yufa, Zhang. Zhongguo xiandai shi (Chinese Contemporary History). Taipei: Allen Lane. 1977. Read More