The role of armed forces during the Chinese revolution (Essay Sample)

THE ROLE OF THE ARMED FORCES DURING THE CHINESE REVOLUTION Name Course: Date: Introduction The state of nations today did not just sprout out of nowhere but are results of revolutionary actions by the populations against past regimes oppressed democracy. The democracy was not granted peacefully but through sacrifice and wars by armies who fought through the political oppressors. It was the results of these revolutionary actions that countries become unified under a common national agenda. The role played by the soldiers of the revolutionary armies has produced significant results, and this explains why unity and cohesion exist among the people. While many lives have been lost under the course, the greatest casualties for the revolutionary wars were the soldiers and their families. Thus, even though the armed forces fought in the revolution for a good course, the soldiers have been the victims under the different political forces during the revolutions that aimed to unite China. The Empirical Rule of the Qing Dynasty The People’s Republic of China was under the empirical rule of the Qing Dynasty and ruled by Manchus from 1644. In the 19th century, the empire began to experience economic challenges which were resulting from illegal importation of opium into the economy mainly from India. Because of the importation, the country started losing millions of financial resources that were flowing outside the economy due to the foreign influx of opium. The effects if the trade weakened the economy, threatened national security, and the legitimacy of the dynasty to protect the country’s interest from foreign invasion. Similarly, there was an increment in unemployment cases among the population which led to an increased migration as people searched for work outside the Chinese territory.[Julie Wei, "The life and times of Sun Yat-sen," in Prescriptions for Saving China (California: Hoover Institution Press, 1994), 13.] Various attempts to overthrow the Qing Dynasty had been initiated by 1911, but none of them had succeeded. Revolutionists who led the war against the empirical rule included Sun Yat-sen, who led a failed rebellion in 1895. Thereafter, Sun Yat-sen took his revolution war to various countries including Japan and in the process converted many foreign Chinese students into his revolutionary army. He founded the League United army front in 1905 by merging with other revolutionary movements and recruiting hundreds of Chinese students who were studying in Japan. The students on returning to China joined the armed forces especially Yat-sen’s United league and executed numerous failed rebellions until 1911 when the armed forces joined the army in Wuchang and ended the empirical rule of the Qing Dynasty.[Wei, "The life and times of Sun Yat-sen," 18.] Before Civil War in China The people of China did not taste victory and transform into a leading economy yet. When Sun Yat-sen was elected the president of the Republic of China after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, December 11, he declared the country a republic and installed the solar calendar. Previous regimes in the country had adopted the lunar system. However, Yuan Shih-k’ai, a prominent figure in the military and possession of the strongest military base in the country conquered Peking and made it his power base, starting a local power grip by warlords in the new republic. He was immediately appointed the Prime Minister of the Republic of China, bringing about a division between the South, which had a provisional president, Sun Yat-sen, and Yuan’s north with a premier. In 1913, Sun proposed a deal with Yuan Shih-k’ai in which he proposed to hand over power to Yuan but under the condition that Yuan followed the principles that had been set for the republican government. Yuan agreed, and Sun stepped down as the provisional president, with Yuan being appointed to the position. The other conditions that Sun initiated included the dissolving of the leadership of Yuan and spearheading reforms that would see China form the first Parliament and election of a new president. Sun, also, turned his League United into a democratic movement named Kuomintang (KMT) to provide its members with opportunities to run for elective posts in the new parliament. The man appointed by Sun to manage KMT was Sung Chiao-Jeng, but he was assassinated, a move that was believed to be orchestrated by Yuan. The aftermath saw power struggle emerge between the KMT and Yuan’s government over economic management, which saw Yuan initiate a purge against the military officials of KMT.[Wei, “The life and times of Sun Yat-sen,” 21.] Yuan was a strong supporter of the monarchial system of governance which he tried to reinstate in 1915 by creating the Society for Planning Stability. Boosted by his strong military alliance and loyal military commanders, Yuan adopted a new calendar called the Hungsien which began in 1916 as a symbol of his reign. However, the step angered many foreign democracies and sprouted rebellions from the military officials located in the Southwest region of China. Yuan died in 1916 because of increased military and political pressure. After his death, war broke out in China, initiated by warlords, who fought for control of territories in the country. The internal feuds, the need to maintain the status quo in mainland China by foreign democracies, and the years of oppression under the Qing Dynasty provided a challenge for revolutionists to unite the country.[Ch'ung-chi Kuei, "Dr. Sun's Policy," in The Kuomintang-Communist Struggle in China, 1922-1949 (Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1970), 1.] The Whampoa Military Academy With the spirit to free the people of China from the civil wars initiated by warlords, Sun formed the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924 with the help of the Soviet Union to train soldiers who were unified and loyal towards the unity of China. The military commanders including Chiang Kai-shek, who had been appointed by Sun as the commander of Whampoa received intensified training from Russia and aided in suppressing rebellions that arose because of Sun’s turning to a Communist nation for help. Sun initiated talks with the warlords in the Northern regions to streamline the future of China. However, he died in 1925 before the talks would materialize, but not without a political will that bonded KMT members to the spirit of the revolutionary army.[Wei, “The life and times of Sun Yat-sen,” 22.] The Northern Expedition The death of Sun Yat-sen threw the KMT into power wrangles which undermined the members’ ability to unite China. 1927 saw the birth of a Nationalist regime in China after a purge initiated by youths in the country led to the execution of Communists in Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek had seen leadership strangles in the Nationalist party leading to the end of a united front he had inherited from Sun. the nationalist government was sworn into power six days after the Shanghai massacre.[Brian Tsui, "Purifying the Revolution," in China's Conservative Revolution: The Quest for a New Order, 1927–1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 26] By now, all hope of forming a nationalist government which united the people of China had ceased to exist, and the country was in the verge of returning to the decentralized rule that had oppressed the country in the past. Political power was now possessed by military warlords who depended on their military prowess to oppress the people. The nationalist government was a new dawn for the people of China for the country to redeem itself from economic and political reforms that would restore the pride of the citizens. However, the dream began to fade by 1929 as the government was faced with internal leadership wrangles within the party. There were two powerhouses in the KMT, the nationalist government lead by Kai-shek, and the communists in the Left-Kuomintang, each backed by a strong military from strong military warlords. The militarists, however, had no national agenda in their support, but rather political maneuvers which they hoped would protect their interests.[Lloyd E. Eastman et al., "The Nationalist China during the Nanking Decade 1927-1937," in the Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 1.] The Second Sino-Japanese War During the Nationalist regime, the China Communist Party had been devastated and purged by the Nationalists from power. However, under the youthful leadership of Chu Chiu-Pai and Li Li-san, the party began to gain popularity. The leadership of the International Faction between 1931 and 1935 however reconstructed the party into a powerful revolutionary regime. The regained power gave the Communists the control of China and victory over the invasion of Japan in the longest standing eight years second Sino-Japanese war.[Eastman, "The Nationalist China," 54.] The Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1937 following a crash between the Kuomintang government forces and the Japanese people living in Manchuria. The sight of the crash was the Marco Polo Bridge. The war had erupted when efforts to force the Chinese government surrender a Japanese soldier who had disappeared in Manchuria failed and Japanese military forces began bombing the territories of China. China, however, received foreign military aid from the Soviet Union and the United States which aided it to defeat the Japanese forces. The war persisted from 1937 to 1945 and saw eight years of destruction and deaths in the two countries. However, atomic bombing in Nagasaki and Hiroshima forced the Japanese forces to surrender.[Hakan Gustavsson, "Initial Clashes," in Sino-Japanese Air War 1937-1945: The Longest Struggle (Fonthill Media, 2017), xx] As the nationalist government was fighting the Japanese, there was a period of unity between the Nationalists and the Communists in an effort to lead a united front against a common enem...