Long March
- This article is about the large-scale retreat. For the rocket, see Long March rocket.
The Long March (Chinese: 長征; pinyin: Chángzhēng) was a massive military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Communist Army to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang army. The Communist Army of the Chinese Soviet Republic, led by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, was on the brink of complete annihilation by Chiang Kai-Shek's troops in Jiangxi Province in October 1934. The communists escaped in circling retreat to the north, which ultimately covered some 8,000 km (4,960 miles) over 370 days. The route branched through some of the most difficult terrain of western China and arrived 9,600 km (5,952 miles) west, then north, to Shaanxi. (In 2003, Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen[1] retraced the route in 384 days[2] and estimated it was actually about 6,000 km (3,700 miles) long.[3])
Beginnings of the retreat
In 1934, the Communist Army had an established base in Jiangxi, including industrial facilities, and the area was a bastion of communism. However, the National Revolutionary Army under Chiang Kai-shek eventually completely encircled Jiangxi and established a perimeter around the area, trapping the Communists inside. Chiang's forces proceeded to besiege Jiangxi in an attempt to starve them out. The Communist Army decided that a strategic retreat would be the best way to avoid annihilation.
The first movements of the retreat were undertaken by He Long, Xiao Ke, Xu Xiangqian, Huang Paikai, and Fang Zhimin. Fang Zhimin was first to break through Kuomintang lines in June, followed by Xiao Ke in August. These movements surprised the Kuomintang, who were numerically superior to the Communists at the time and did not expect an attack on their fortified perimeter.
Despite the importance of these troop movements, they were actually a diversion to allow the retreat of more important leaders from Jiangxi. Thus in October, the 130,000 people under Mao Zedong and Zhu De broke through a line of Kuomintang soldiers. Out of the 130,000, more than 80,000 troops, 11,000 administrative personnel and thousands of civilian porters were actually planned to breakout, and the rest were diversions which were planned to stay and fight after the main force left.
The rise of Mao
After several months of marching westward, harassed by the Kuomintang, the Communist Army was exhausted. In addition, the Communist army suffered huge loss: after breaking through three strong defensive lines of the nationalist force, the Red Army lost more than 5,000 troops, and all of the civilian porters either were lost as well, and there were five more Nationalist strong defensive lines ahead. Under these conditions, the Communists met in Zunyi in Guizhou province January 6–8, 1935. Here, they decided the future of the leadership of the communist party. On January 15, at Zunyi, the meeting which decided the future leadership of the party began. It lasted for three days. Mao was able to cajole the support of enough party leaders to gain power at the conference. Although not elected to the position of General Secretary, Mao gained considerable implicit power which placed him in control of party functions. In addition to that, he replaced Zhou Enlai as the Director of Military Affairs Commission. As a result, by the time they left Zunyi on January 19, 1935, Mao was the dominant figure in the party.
When the Red Army resumed its march north, they found the direct route to Sichuan blocked by Chiang's forces. Mao now aimed to travel north to join Zhang Guotao's Fourth Front Army. However, Chiang easily determined what Mao had planned and moved to stop him. A brilliant series of tactical manoeuvres in Ghuizou enabled Mao to break out to the north and cross the Yangtze on May 8. He had now been on the move for seven months since leaving Jiangxi and had only 25,000 men left.
The Communists decided to head for Shaanxi Province, although the decision was not unanimous. Leaders like Zhang Guotao preferred to establish themselves near the Soviet border. However, Mao had the power to decide the route.
The Communist Army then penetrated into areas populated by non-Chinese who were very hostile to Chinese encroachment. Under these circumstances, they were not only harassed by the Kuomintang, but also ambushed by local warlords allied with the Kuomintang as well as tribes hostile to all Chinese. The terrain was also a large factor: the Communists had to cross mountains, rivers and bridges all while fighting against hostile warlords. The incident at Luding Bridge embodies the struggle during the Long March.
In July, the troops under Mao united with the army from the Fourth Front, which was coming from Henan. After some dissension over the direction in which the troops should move, they split. Mao's troops then traversed several swamps and suffered several ambushes from the Tibetans and the Hui.
Finally in October, the army reached Shaanxi.
All along the way, the Communist Army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and the poor. Nevertheless, only some 8,000 troops made it under Mao's command, the First Front Red Army, and out of the 8,000, less than 7,000 were among the original 100,000 soldiers who had started the march ultimately made it to the final destination of Yan'an in 1935. A variety of setbacks contributed to the loss including fatigue, hunger, coldness, sickness, desertion, and military losses. Because of defeats, membership in the party was also reduced from 300,000 to around 40,000. (Moise 79)
Conclusion
While costly, the Long March gave the Communist Party of China the isolation it needed, allowing its army to recuperate and rebuild in the north of China. It also was vital in helping the CCP gain a massive positive reputation among the peasants, especially due to the determination and dedication of the surviving participants of the Long March. This is epitomized in the policy ordered by Mao for all soldiers to follow the Eight Points of Attention, the main spirit of which being not to harm the peasants in any way or to show them disrespect, despite tempting situations, such as forcible confiscation of food in order to feed themselves. This was probably responsible for winning them most of their followers.
Following the end of World War II, the Communist Army, a.k.a. Eighth Route Army (and later People's Liberation Army), returned to drive the Kuomintang out of Mainland China to the island of Taiwan. Upon the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Long March has since been glorified as the party's symbol for strength and resilience.
The Long March was also a significant event in solidifying Mao's role as the undisputed leader of the CCP. Many participants of the March also went on to become prominent party leaders including Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Lin Biao and Deng Xiaoping.