Guide Note

The Long March, was in fact a series of simultaneous marches in which the Chinese Communists' Red Army enacted a large-scale military retreat from their strongholds in the Jiangxi Province. They were on the brink of total defeat by the Nationalist Kuomintang army, and proceeded to march some 8000 miles to regroup in the more remote Shaanxi Province to the north. Although the various divisions of the Red Army faced huge privation and stiff military resistance they succeeded in fleeing and regrouping, although they faced huge casualties along the way.

Fast Facts

Date: October 1934 - October 1936
Traveled from Jiangxi Province to Shaanxi Province
Total distance: 12,500km (~8,000 mi)
Geographic Range: Traversed 11 provinces, 18 mountain ranges, and 24 rivers
War: Chinese Civil War
Commanders:
- Nationalist Party of China: Chiang Kai-shek
- Communist Party of China: Mao Zedong

Casualties

Nationalists: Unknown
Communists: ~93,000

Numerical Defeat, Ideological Triumph

The marches cost the Communists a huge percentage of their armed forces, from desertion as well as death due to hunger, fatigue, exposure, or military action. But ultimately, the Long March proved to be a strategic success in that the Communists successfully regrouped in more remote regions of northern China. More importantly it was a huge ideological success, the dedication of the Red Army winning over the hearts of the peasants whose lands it passed through.

Categories

History | Asian History | China

View Note History

The Long March

The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Long March
Paul Noll: History of the Long March
China Daily: The Long March Begins (2004)
Asia Times: "Long March to Mythology" (2006)
Indiana University South Bend: The Long March
China Internet Information Center: The Long March -- 70 Years On
Video: Clips of Mao Zedong (Time 2:49)

The Long March Background and Causes

Idealogical Conflict

The Corner of the World: China in Ideological Reorganization
Maoist International Movement: Mao's Works: Suggested Reading
iBiblio: The Nationalist Movement

The April 12th Incident

Wikipedia: April 12th Incident
Tales of Old Shanghai: The Communist Purge
Asia Times: "Nationalists, Communists Mend Fences in China" (2005)

The Long March Central Figures

Mao Zedong

Wikipedia: Mao Zedong
TIME 100: "Mao Zedong" (1998)
Marxists Internet Archive: Mao Zedong Reference Archive

Zhou Enlai

Wikipedia: Zhou Enlai
Questia.com: Zhou Enlai: The Early Years
Marxists Internet Archive: Zhou Enlai Reference Archive

Chiang Kai-shek

Wikipedia: Chiang Kai-shek
New York Times: "The Life of Chiang Kai-shek" (1975)
TIME Person of the Year: "Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek" (1938)

The Long March Images and Media

China Internet Information Center: Map of the Route of the Long March
BBC Woman's Hour: Sun Shuyun on China's Long March (Time 8:58)
History Channel: China's Long March (Time 0:53)
Google Image Search: Long March

The Long March Books and Research

Marx to Mao: Mao Zedong Internet Library
Google Books: Women of the Long March
Amazon.com: The Long March: Eyewitness Accounts
Barnes & Noble: Red Star Over China

The Long March Blogs and Message Boards

History Channel Message Boards: Nationalist China
China History Forum: How was the Art of War employed in the Long March?
Simon World Weblog: Deconstructing the Long March

The Long March Today

People's Daily: "Chinese Farmer to take Long March" (2001)
Xinhua News Network: 70th Anniversary of Long March
The Telegraph: "British Pair Under Attack for Doubts over Mao's March" (2006)
Long March Space: The Miniature Long March
Yahoo News: Retracing Mao's Long March (2006)

The Long March Timeline

1927: April 12, Chiang Kai-shek orders the "April 12 Anti-revolutionary Coup"
1931: November 7, The Chinese Soviet Republic is founded by Mao Zedong
1933: September 25, Chiang Kai-shek initiates the Fifth Encirclement Campaign
1934: July, The Twenty-eight Bolsheviks replace Mao Zedong with Zhou Enlai
1934: October 16, 130,000 soldiers in the People's Liberation Army, under the leadership of Bo Gu attempt to break through the Kuomintang blockade
1935: January 15-17, The Communist Party of China reconvened in Guizhou at the Zunyi Conference
1935: May 8, The First Red Army, led by Mao Zedong finally crosses the Yangtze River
1936: October 22, The "Union of the Three Armies" takes place in Shaanxi province
1935-1948: Yan'an serves as an important, isolated, center for the Communist Party

Related Searches

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