1. 1919 - 1935 Important events Timeline by Howard Liu and Isabel Chun
2. 1919 - The May Fourth movement A protest movement against the decisions made in the Paris Peace Conference. China joined WW1 in 1917 on the Western Allies side. They expected to withdraw the twenty-one demands, end the ‘unequal treaties’ and get the port of Kiaochow back. In the end, China gained none of these. 10,000 Beijing students organized a protest
3. 1921 - Chinese Communist Party Librarian at Beijing University named Mao Zedong set up a society that studied Communism Members then set up the Chinese Communist Party
4. 1922 – Help from USSR for Guomindang Sun Yatsen needed foreign help to defeat the warlords. Sun turned to the USSR which recently became communist. Abram Joffe came to help to Guomindang Sun allowed members of Chinese Communist Party to join the Guomindang because they both wanted revolution In 1923, USSR also sent General Galen which helped set up a military academy. Sun’s brother-in-law was in charge of the academy. Chiang Kai-shek
5. 1926-Northern Expedition Sun Yatsen died of cancer in 1925, left Chiang Kaishek as commander-in-chief. They wanted to unify China There was little fighting because: Armies mutinied and joined the Guomindang. Poor peasants and workers welcomed the Guomindang Chiang also used cash to win support from warlords
6. 1927 Communist – Guomindang split Now Communists and Guomindanghad conquered much of China The alliance between the two broker Guomindang armies arrived Shanghai to attack. In Shanghai, a rebellion against the ruling warlord was led by the Communists. Chiang Kaishek killed all the Communists they could find in Shanghai. The Communists retreated to Jiangxi and Hunan provinces. Shanghai Massacre
7. 1928- Second Northern Campaign Chiang Kaishek made an alliance with two powerful warlords, FengYuxiang and Yan Xishan. They wanted to capture the area of Zhang Zuolin, the greatest warlord. He had Beijing in his control. Zhang Zuolin was killed in a train with a bomb as Chiang entered Beijing. Zhang’s successor surrendered to Chiang. Set up a National Government in Nanjing. Chiang became Chairman of the Council of State, making him the ruler of China.
8. 1930 - The Jiangxi Soviet Communists retreated to the countryside Communists in the Jiangxi province set up the Jiangxi Soviet to govern the place Mao Zedong was their leader They gained support of the peasants by: The Land Law –which gave peasants their own land Reduced taxes Created Peasant Councils to allow communities to govern their own affairs
9. 1930-4 The Extermination Campaigns Campaigns Chiang Kaishek organized to wipe out Communists There were 5 campaigns The first 4 were failures even though Chiang’s armies outnumbered Mao’s armies. This was because of Mao’s tactics. Mao lured them into Communist territories and attacked each unit separately.
10. 1933 - The fifth campaign The fifth and biggest campaign of the extermination campaigns General Hans von Seekt from Germany gave the Guomindang a new method of attack. They surrounded the Jiangxi Soviet with half a million troops. They made blockhouses and put up barbed wire as they advanced They blocked the Communists from food, fuel, weapons and ammunition.
11. 1933 - New Communist Tactics Advisor from Russia, Otto Braun Otto’s tactics replaced Mao’s Mao got expelled from the Party’s Central Committee His tactics were that the Communist army should not retreat but instead should fight with the Guomindang
12. 1934 - Otto Braun’s retreat, Long March Otto Braun planned a retreat. The Communists would go through the blockhouse lines and head for a Communist base. The Red Army took a lot of equipment as they broke out of the blockhouse rings. It slowed them down. The army walked in a straight line and made it easy to attack them. They lost many men as they retreated In 1935, Mao Zedong and Zhu De was given back control due to Otto Braun’s poor tactics.
13. 1935 - The Long March Communist March from Zunyi to Shaanxi province They faced many obstacles along the way The Long March took the Red Army over mountains and through deep marshes. Many men died on the way due to hunger, sickness, attacks, accidents and desertion. The march was 368 days long. Second front and Fourth Front army met them at Yanan and created a good fighting force.
