Chiang Kai-shek: Difference between revisions
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'''Chiang Kai-shek''' (jyäng kī-shĕk) (1887–1975) was the leader of the Republic of China, 1927-1975. He headerd the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party ([[KMT]]). His KMT controlled mainland China after he defeated regional warlords in the 1920s. The Japanese took over Manchuria in 1931, and invaded the rest of China in 1937, quickly controlling the major cities and seacoast. | '''Chiang Kai-shek''' (jyäng kī-shĕk) (1887–1975) was the leader of the Republic of China, 1927-1975. He headerd the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party ([[KMT]]). His KMT controlled mainland China after he defeated regional warlords in the 1920s. The Japanese took over Manchuria in 1931, and invaded the rest of China in 1937, quickly controlling the major cities and seacoast. Chiang was the Supreme Commander of the China-Burma-India ([[CBI]])Theater for the Allies in 1942-45, but was ineffective in driving back the Japanese. After the defeat of Japan in 1945 the KMT battled the Chines Communists under [[Maz Zedong]], who won in 1948, forcing Chiang and his KMT to the offshore island of Taiwan, which Chiang ruled until his death. A modernizer who embraced Christianity and built a strong and lucrative alliance with the United States, Chiang could not overcome the corruption tolerated by the KMT. After relocating to Taiwan, he overcame the corruption and made the island a model of economic prosperity, capitalism. | ||
==Early Career== | |||
Born Chiang Chungcheng near Ningbo, in the coastal province of Zhejiang (Chekiang), October 31, 1887, his father was local manager of the government salt monopoly and a wine merchant, who died when Chiang was nine years old. Chiang was shop owners, but ran away and joined the provincial army. At the age of 18, he entered the prestigious Baoding Military Academy. Meanwhile, he had married a Miss Mao of nearby Fenghua in a traditional union arranged by matchmakers; they had one son. | |||
After a year at Baoding, Chiang was sent to the even more prestigious Japanese Army Military State College at Tokyo. In Japan he joined with [[Sun Yat-sen]], then in exile and organizing a revolution against the Manchu monarchy of China. After the revolutionary outbreak in 1911 he returned to China as commander of a brigade, fighting the Manchus in the Shanghai area. Following Sun Yat-sen's disillusioned withdrawal from the first republican government, Chiang followed him to Japan. He returned to Shanghai in 1915, was unsuccessful in banking, and moved to Canton to join Sun Yat-sen's separatist republican government. In 1923, after Dr. Sun had formed an entente with Chinese Communists and engaged Soviet advisers, Chiang went to Moscow for a year to study Soviet military methods and political institutions. | |||
[[Image:Chiang1949.jpg|thumb|250px|Chiang in 1949]] | [[Image:Chiang1949.jpg|thumb|250px|Chiang in 1949]] | ||
Revision as of 15:24, 21 June 2008
Chiang Kai-shek (jyäng kī-shĕk) (1887–1975) was the leader of the Republic of China, 1927-1975. He headerd the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party (KMT). His KMT controlled mainland China after he defeated regional warlords in the 1920s. The Japanese took over Manchuria in 1931, and invaded the rest of China in 1937, quickly controlling the major cities and seacoast. Chiang was the Supreme Commander of the China-Burma-India (CBI)Theater for the Allies in 1942-45, but was ineffective in driving back the Japanese. After the defeat of Japan in 1945 the KMT battled the Chines Communists under Maz Zedong, who won in 1948, forcing Chiang and his KMT to the offshore island of Taiwan, which Chiang ruled until his death. A modernizer who embraced Christianity and built a strong and lucrative alliance with the United States, Chiang could not overcome the corruption tolerated by the KMT. After relocating to Taiwan, he overcame the corruption and made the island a model of economic prosperity, capitalism.
Early Career
Born Chiang Chungcheng near Ningbo, in the coastal province of Zhejiang (Chekiang), October 31, 1887, his father was local manager of the government salt monopoly and a wine merchant, who died when Chiang was nine years old. Chiang was shop owners, but ran away and joined the provincial army. At the age of 18, he entered the prestigious Baoding Military Academy. Meanwhile, he had married a Miss Mao of nearby Fenghua in a traditional union arranged by matchmakers; they had one son.
After a year at Baoding, Chiang was sent to the even more prestigious Japanese Army Military State College at Tokyo. In Japan he joined with Sun Yat-sen, then in exile and organizing a revolution against the Manchu monarchy of China. After the revolutionary outbreak in 1911 he returned to China as commander of a brigade, fighting the Manchus in the Shanghai area. Following Sun Yat-sen's disillusioned withdrawal from the first republican government, Chiang followed him to Japan. He returned to Shanghai in 1915, was unsuccessful in banking, and moved to Canton to join Sun Yat-sen's separatist republican government. In 1923, after Dr. Sun had formed an entente with Chinese Communists and engaged Soviet advisers, Chiang went to Moscow for a year to study Soviet military methods and political institutions.
Bibliography
see also China, history/Bibliography
- Dreyer, Edward L. China at War, 1901-1949. (1995). 422 pp.
- Eastman Lloyd. Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937- 1945. (1984)
- Eastman Lloyd et al. The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949 (1991) excerpt and text search
- Fairbank, John K., ed. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, Republican China 1912-1949. Part 1. (1983). 1001 pp. ; Fairbank, John K. and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912-1949, Part 2. (1986). 1092 pp.
- Fenby, Jonathan. Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost (2004) excerpt and text search
- Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937-1945 (1992), essays by scholars; online from Questia; also excerpt and text search
- Hsi-sheng, Ch'i. Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945 (1982)
- Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. The Rise of Modern China, 6th ed. (Oxford University Press, 1999), highly detailed coverage of 1644-1999, in 1136pp. excerpt and text search
- Li, Laura Tyson. Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady (2007) excerpt and text search
- Rubinstein, Murray A., ed. Taiwan: A New History (2006), 560pp
- Shiroyama, Tomoko. China during the Great Depression: Market, State, and the World Economy, 1929-1937 (2008)
- Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China (1991), 876pp; well written survey from 1644 to 1980s excerpt and text search; complete edition online at Questia
Primary Sources
- Chiang Kai-Shek. The Collected Wartime Messages of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, 1937-1945, (1946) online edition
- Chiang Kai-Shek. All We Are and All We Have: Speeches and Messages since Pearl Harbor (1948) online edition
- United States Department Of State. United States Relations with China: With Special Reference to the Period 1944-1949 (1949) online edition