IGCSE HISTORY: Events and Importance of the Long March

The Long March

CAUSES

Growth of Jiangxi Base Area

After the Shanghai massacre, many Communists regrouped in rural areas as Chiang Kai-shek did not control the Jiangxi province.
Survivors of the massacres retreated into the Jiangxi province to set up the "Chinese Soviet Republic".
Mao Zedong was their political leader while Zhu De led the armed forces of the Soviet.
Communists gained support of the millions of peasants who reside there because of the Land Law which the Communists passed in 1930 which divided up the cultivated land among the farming population. This reduced taxes on land, set up schools, abolished old-fashioned practices like arranged marriages, Peasant Councils was created to allow communities a say in the running of their affairs.

KMT Extermination Campaigns

The growth of the base area began to concern Chiang and so he decided to launch a series of "extermination camps" to cleanse the communists.
Between 1930-34 he launched 5 massive extermination campaigns.
They were failures but over 1 million civilians died with brutality on both sides.

They were failures because Mao and Zhu De used guerilla tactics. Instead of fighting them on the battlefield, they lured the KMT into deep Communist-held territory and attacked each unit separately before knocking them out in deadly ambushes.
This is a setback for Mao as the process of luring in KMT into Communist-held areas, communist villagers have to fall victim.

The fifth campaign in Summer 1933, was finally successful due to the 'blockhouse' tactics of German General Hans von Seeckt.

Instead of invading the Red areas and trying to capture them by fighting battles, the blockhouse method was to surround the Jiangxi soviet with 500,000 troops who advanced slowly by building blockhouses (concrete shelters), digging trenches and putting up barbed wire fences as they went.
This stops all movement in and out of the soviet, starving the communists of food, fuel, weapons and ammunition, thus slowly reducing the area they controlled.
By October 1934, Communists lost half their territory. 60,000 soldiers in the Red Army had been killed. Area under their control was shrinking as GMD advanced.

EVENTS

Planned by Zhou Enlai on the night of 16th October 1934, 80 000 Communists started to cross the Gan River and break out westwards towards Guangxi province.
As they retreated, Reds took all the equipment of the Jiangxi Soviet that would be needed for setting up a new government in Hunan-Hubei.
Thousands of bearers carried office furniture, files, a printing press, radio equipment, gold bars, telephone wires etc.
The Reds also carried as much weaponry and ammunition as it could carry.

It took 6 weeks for the Reds to break through the blockhouse rings circling Jiangxi.
In Dec 1934, the CCP faced a major defeat on the Xiang River, on the border on Hunan.
The CCP lost most of their baggage and 45,000 of their troops. The losses had been partly due to the amount of equipment they were carrying which slowed them down, giving the KMT time to prepare attacks. The Red Army was also travelling in a straight line, making it easy for the KMT to predict its movements.
This forced the CCP to change direction westward to Zunyi.
The Wu River was crossed on 7th Jan 1935, and the city of Zunyi captured where a meeting was held.
The Zunyi Conference criticised Otto Braun for their mistakes (retreating in straight lines, carrying too much equipment), and Mao was made a full member of the Politburo.
Under Mao, the columns changed routes and split up, trying to avoid KMT and warlord forces.
On 25th May 1935, they crossed the Dadu River which would later be turned into a propaganda event.
By Oct 1935, they had reached the communist base at Yanan at Shaanxi province where they were safe.
They had ;

EFFECTS

Survival

The Long March had seemed like a disaster but it enabled the CCP to survive and rebuild for the next 12 years.
It was remote enough to be safe from Japanese attack.

Propaganda Victory

The March was vital in helping the CCP gain a positive reputation amongst peasants due to the determination and good nature of the Red Army.
The 'Eight Points of Attention' issued by Mao instructed the army to avoid harm or disrespectful to peasants.
Land redistribution along the way also helped gain support.

Strengthened Mao's position

IMPORTANCE

IGCSE HISTORY