The Chinese Civil War

“The massacre in Shanghai widened the gulf between the ideological factions that had emerged within the KMT”

WHAT WAS THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR?

The Chinese Civil War was a series of conflicts between the Communist Party of China and the country’s Nationalist government. The war is regarded as having been fought in two distinct stages: between 1927 and 1937, and then again between 1946 and 1949 (the latter a phase often referred to as the Chinese Communist Revolution). Hostilities were largely halted between 1937 and 1945 as the two sides formed a begrudging alliance against Japan, which invaded China and then attempted to create a Pacific empire during World War II.

WHAT WAS THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN CHINA BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR?

After more than 2,000 years of imperial rule, China’s last dynasty – the Qing – was overthrown in 1912 and the country became a republic. The new president, Yuan Shikai, imposed a dictatorship and declared himself emperor, but