Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War 國共內戰 (Kuomintang-Communist Civil War)
Clockwise from the top: Communist troops at the Battle of Siping, Muslim soldiers of the NRA, Mao Zedong in the 1930s, Chiang Kai-shek inspecting soldiers, CPC general Su Yu investigating the front field shortly before the Menglianggu Campaign
Date 1 August 1927 – 22 December 1936      (9 years, 4 months and 3 weeks) 31 March 1946 – 1 May 1950      (4 years and 1 month) Location China Result Chinese Communist victory Communist takeover of mainland China and Hainan People's Republic of China established in mainland China Government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan Combat ended, but no armistice or peace treaty signed
Belligerents
1927–36; 1946–47  Republic of China Kuomintang National Revolutionary Army Allied warlords Supported by:  Nazi Germany (1930s)	1927–36 Communist Party Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Chinese Soviet Republic (1931–37) Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet (1931–34) Fujian People's Government (1933–34) Supported by:  Soviet Union Communist International
1947–49  Republic of China Kuomintang Republic of China Armed Forces Supported by:  United States	1946–49 Communist Party Pre-PLA troops and militia People's Liberation Army East Turkestan Republic (1944–46) Ili National Army Supported by:  Soviet Union
1949–50  Republic of China Republic of China Armed Forces Nationalist loyalist guerrillas, militias and regular troops left in Mainland China and Burma Supported by:  United States	1949–50  People's Republic of China People's Liberation Army Supported by:  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Chiang Kai-shek Bai Chongxi Chen Cheng Li Zongren Yan Xishan He Yingqin Hu Zongnan Gu Zhutong Wei Lihuang Du Yuming Sun Li-jen Fu Zuoyi Liu Chih Xue Yue Wang Yaowu Tang Enbo Huang Baitao † Zhang Lingfu † Zhang Xueliang Feng Yuxiang (until 1930)	Mao Zedong Zhu De Peng Dehuai Zhou Enlai Lin Biao Liu Bocheng He Long Chen Yi Luo Ronghuan Xu Xiangqian Nie Rongzhen Ye Jianying Deng Xiaoping Su Yu Chen Geng Wang Jiaxiang Ye Ting Bo Gu Li De Zhang Guotao (until 1936)
Strength
4,300,000 (June 1946) 3,650,000 (June 1948) 1,490,000 (June 1949)	1,200,000 (July 1945) 2,800,000 (June 1948) 4,000,000 (June 1949)
Casualties and losses
c. 1.5 million (1948–49)	c. 250,000 (1948–49)
1928–36: c. 2 million military casualties 1945–49: c. 6 million (including civilians)

Chinese Civil War
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaning	Kuomintang-Communist Civil War
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guó-Gòng Nèizhàn Wu Romanization gho-gon-ne-tsan Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gwok3 gung6 noi6 zin3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ kok-kiōng lāi-chiàn
War of Liberation (mainland China)
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng Wu Romanization chia-fhon-tsan-zen Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gaai2 fong3 zin3 zang1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ kái-hòng chiàn-cheng
Anti-Communist Counter-insurgency War (Taiwan)
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fǎngòng Kānluàn Zhànzhēng
Chinese People's Liberation War (mainland China)
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng
Third Internal Revolutionary War (mainland China)
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dìsāncì Guónèi Gémìng Zhànzhēng

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Guó-Gòng Nèizhàn
Wu
Romanization	gho-gon-ne-tsan
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	gwok3 gung6 noi6 zin3
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	kok-kiōng lāi-chiàn

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng
Wu
Romanization	chia-fhon-tsan-zen
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	gaai2 fong3 zin3 zang1
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	kái-hòng chiàn-cheng

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Fǎngòng Kānluàn Zhànzhēng

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Dìsāncì Guónèi Gémìng Zhànzhēng

Chinese Communist victory

The Chinese Civil War was a civil war in China fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China, and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China (CPC). The war began in August 1927, with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, and essentially ended when major hostilities ceased in 1950. It can generally be divided into two stages; the first being from 1927 to 1937, and the second being from 1946 to 1950 with the Second Sino-Japanese War separating them. The war was a major turning point in modern Chinese history, with the CPC gaining control of almost the entire of Mainland China, establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC) to replace the KMT's Republic of China (ROC). It also caused a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of all of China.

The war represented an ideological split between the Communist CPC and the KMT's brand of Nationalism. It continued intermittently until late 1937, when the two parties came together to form the Second United Front to counter the Japanese threat and prevent the country from crumbling. China's full-scale civil war resumed in 1946, a year after the end of hostilities with Japan. Four years later came the cessation of major military hostilities, with the newly founded People's Republic of China controlling mainland China (including Hainan) and the Republic of China's jurisdiction being restricted to Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, Matsu and several outlying islands.

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