When LBJ did not run for reelection in 1968, peace talks finally began, but even there Maos presence was not hard to find. As an international leader, Mao wasfamously hostile to Western nations, particularly the United States, which he described as a nation of hangmen. He guessed that President Lyndon Johnson would put six hundred thousand men into South Vietnam and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam would reach a strength of half a million. To subscribe, click here. Astrological Sign: Capricorn, Death Year: 1976, Death date: September 9, 1976, Death City: Beijing, Death Country: China, Article Title: Mao Tse-tung Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/political-figures/mao-tse-tung, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 24, 2021, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014. In 1958, Mao launched his second Five Year Plan, dubbed the Great Leap Forward, demanding that Chinas heavy industries and steel production grow to exceed that of Western nations. Both of China's armies fought on; the communists' guerrilla tactics were particularly effective. Biography >> Cold War. Later phases were directed by Jiang Qing (Madame Mao) and her cronies, known as the "Gang of Four.". Impressed by accounts of the rigorous physical regimen of Theodore Roosevelt, Mao had devised a similar program for himself. Mao Zedong Heaven, Chaos, Excellent 16 Copy quote Originally published in the mid-1960s, this iconic book gained immense prominence during the Cultural Revolution in Show more . He seized warlord land, converting it into people's communes. Mao was willing to talk about a unity government, but not Jiang, who had been assured of Trumans support even if the talks failed. On the bottom of Tank 390 was a metal plate that read, Made in China.. Over the next few years, Mao Tse-tung instituted sweeping land reform, sometimes through persuasion and other times through coercion, using violence and terror when he deemed it necessary. Souvenir plates featuring the current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, and late Communist leader Mao . Maoism | Definition, Origins, History, & Facts | Britannica By the mid-1940s, Mao had become the partys political, military and ideological leader. Again the Communists reverted to positional warfare, and by October of that year they faced almost certain annihilation. In 1951, Mao also sent the PLA into Tibet to "liberate" it from the Dalai Lama's rule. Analysts described the rules governing a range of social interactions as unprecedented and something that had not even happened in the Mao Zedong era. 28 Jun 2023 08:19:33 According to Dr. Li, Chairman Mao's personal doctor, the ruler was infertile despite the observed pregnancy of at least one of his young mistresses. They would therefore be outnumbered by roughly four to one. Originally published in the Spring 2007 issue of Military History Quarterly. In 1912 a new government, the Republic of China, formed. Even before representatives signed the armistice at Panmunjom, Mao was ready for another war. Beset by freezing weather, dangerous mountain paths, unbridged rivers, and attacks by warlords and the KMT, only 7,000 of the communists made it to Shaanxi in 1936. Jiangs policy of acquiescing in the Japanese occupation provoked spontaneous protests and military mutinies in areas the Nationalists controlled, and for three years Jiang had to devote his energies to holding his party and army together. Many who survived the initial beatings and humiliation later committed suicide. Chiang Kai-shek's troops surrounded the Red Army in the mountains of Jiangxi, forcing them to make a desperate escape in 1934. The Chinese now hurled themselves, bugles blaring, on MacArthurs leading elements. Agricultural production had not come close to expectations, and reports of massive steel production proved to be false. He rose up through the ranks of the party as a delegate assemblyman and then executive to the Shanghai branch of the party. Hebegan his life as a librarian and teacher while studying both left-wing Western political texts and the writings of ancient Chinese scholars. He feared that those people could start a counter-revolution; hence his decision to execute many of them en masse. Mao considered bureaucrats and wealthy merchants from the previous Kuomintang regime as number one enemy of the people. In the romanization common in his lifetime, it was spelled "Mao Tse-tung". Mao ordered a reign of terror against landlords; perhaps more than 200,000 were tortured and killed. He merely moved his capital to Chongqing, in the remote southeast. There were almost certainly other factors involved: above all, a desire to make Truman pay a price for intervening in their civil war, plus a determination to gain the worlds respect. Copyright: The content on this page may not be republished without our express permission. Known For: Founding father of the People's Republic of China, ruling the country as Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1949 until 1976 Also Known As: Mao Tse Tung, Mao Zedong, Chairman Mao Born: Dec. 26, 1893 in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China Parents: Mao Yichang, Wen Qimei Died: Sept. 9, 1976 in Beijing, People's Republic of China Returning to Hunan, Mao organized a peasant insurrection against the property owners, warlords, and Nationalists in his home province, but the better-armed, better-trained Nationalists quickly routed the Communists. We must be brave and not shrink from our responsibilities.. Soon Mao was back in command. The Cultural Revolution became a sweeping social and political movement, underpinned by one of the strongest personality cults in history. One way or another, North Vietnam would not run out of arms or men so long as it had the will to endure. In a classic autocratic method to gain control, Mao Tse-tung manufactured a crisis that only he could solve. Unlike Sun Yat-sen, Chiang was more conservative and traditional. The leadership theories and practices of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Rebellious and probably spoiled, young Mao had been expelled from several schools and even ran away from home for several days. During the meetings, it became apparent that Mao's health was deteriorating, and not much was accomplished because Mao was not always clear in his statements or intentions. This is also known as the "rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", a phrase that has been closely tied with Xi since he first came to power in 2012. . Mao finally had enough firepower and mobility to fight Jiangs well-equipped soldiers on equal terms, which was not Stalins intention or expectation. Known as the "Little Red Book," copies were made available to all Chinese. September 9, 1976 (aged 82) Beijing China Title / Office: head of state (1949-1959), China Political Affiliation: Chinese Communist Party Nationalist Party Notable Family Members: spouse Jiang Qing See all related content Top Questions Who was Mao Zedong? He left a controversial legacy in both China and the West as a genocidal monster and political genius. After graduation, Mao followed his professor Yang Changji to Beijing, where he took a job at the Beijing University library. His youthful followers formed the Red Guards and led a mass purge of the "undesirables." On the other hand, Mao ran an authoritarian government that quashed dissidence and caused years of terror, suffering, and famine for its . In 1911, when he was just 18, the Qing dynasty, better known in the West as the Manchu, was overthrown. Chiang Kai-shek's second wife, Soong Mei-ling, became a significant political figure in her own right. Beijing, China's sprawling . The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history. The KMT crushed Mao's peasant army, killing 90% of them and forcing the survivors out into the countryside, where they rallied more peasants to their cause. Eros in Greek Mythology: Origin story, myths, symbols, depiction, and powers, Thutmose III: Biography, Military Campaigns, and Greatest Accomplishments, Chinese Civil War: History, Causes & Effects. Almost one million people were killed between 1950 and 1952. All the same, after the talks with Jiang ended and Marshall returned home, Mao renamed the Red Army the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Mao Zedong has a complex legacy, neither wholly good nor wholly bad. The results were disastrous; an estimated 30-40 million Chinese starved in the Great Famine of 1958-60. There were only sixteen thousand Chinese troops in North Korea, MacArthur informed the Pentagon (one-sixth the actual number). Having achieved what he wanted in Vietnam, Mao temporarily lost interest, but in 1960 South Vietnamese insurgents began to fight against the rule of the American-backed and repressive Ngo Dinh Diem. Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, had had . Mao Zedong - Wikipedia To prevent a repeat of the rejection he received during the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao ordered the closure of China's schools, and young intellectuals living in the cities were sent into the countryside to be "re-educated" through hard manual labor. Shortly afterward, diplomats from half a dozen nations, including the United States, agreed to meet in Geneva to talk about policing the armistice in Korea and to explore ways of bringing an end to the fighting in Indochina. Mao Zedong facts. The turning point was the 1948 Siege of Changchun, in which the Red Army, now called the People's Liberation Army (PLA), defeated the Kuomintang's army in Changchun, Jilin Province. On its face, Jiang had more than enough arms, ammunition, weapons, and troops to defend Formosa. He is known as the "Founding Father of Modern China," and serves to inspire 21st-century rebellions like the Nepali and Indian Maoist movements. He advised Mao to abandon the revolutionary struggle, make the best deal he could with the Nationalists, and disband the Red Army. Chiang Kai-shek - HISTORY How Joshua Chamberlain saved Andrew Toziers life after the war. What is Mao Zedong most known for? - Quick-Advices At this point Truman decided to do what Kim had attemptedunify the peninsula by force of arms. Truman committed American forces to defend South Korea impulsively and emotionally, without first consulting the Joint Chiefs. His assignment was to try to get the Chinese to form a unity government. 50+ Surprising Mao Zedong Facts You Need to Know for School The march resumed, but now it had a destination. The child studied Confucian classics at the village school for five yearsbut left at the age of 13 to help out full-time on the farm. He spent that time plotting a return to power and revenge on Liu and Deng. Unknown to Nixon and Kissinger, it was Mao who, through Zhou Enlai, persuaded the North to finally agree to negotiate an end to the presence of American troops in Vietnam, albeit on terms that doomed South Vietnam. Maos failed insurrection convinced him that for the party to survive, it needed a trained army. Truman dispatched George Marshall to China to make yet another attempt at bringing the Communists and Nationalists together. While Stalin and Jiang were still negotiating their treaty, a furious three-sided scramble was underway for the military and economic riches of Manchuria. For the next 12 months, more than 100,000 Communists and their dependents trekked west and north in what became known as the "Long March" across the Chinese mountains and swampland to Yanan, in northern China. At the end of World War II, the Joint Chiefs had written off Formosa. Within the Chinese Communist Party under Deng, Mao was declared to be "70% correct" in his policies. Everything was now in place for provoking the tiger. Mao had set idealistic, some would say improbable, expectations for both agriculture and industrial production, believing the country could make a century's worth of advancement in a few decades. There have been few people in the twentieth century with greater experience of war than Maoor who gave more thought to the subject. While his emphasis on China's self-reliance and the rapid industrialization that he promoted is credited with laying the foundation for China's late 20th century development, his harsh methods and insensitivity to anyone who didn't give him full faith and allegiance have been widely rebuked as self-defeating. Life was difficult for many Chinese citizens at the time, but Mao's family was better off than most. Instead of making a stand, Jiang fled to Formosa (Taiwan), abandoning the war to other GMD commanders. While Mao attended a small school in his village when he was eight years old, he received little education. As GMD troops moved in, Mao waited until they were only half an hour away, then got on his pony and rode off to another town. In January 1954, with the advice of two Chinese generals, Giap began situating his 105s on hilltops within range of Dien Bien Phu. Mao and the Communists continued to set up peasant Soviets in the southern Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces, however. Only high-level Communist Party leaders knew, and Mao's protective inner circle kept many of the famine's details from him. Nonetheless, Mao Thought continues to guide policies to this day. They named the boy Mao Zedong. Between 1913 and 1918, Mao studied at the Teachers' Training School, where he began to embrace ever more revolutionary ideas. The choice was either to go with the Soviets or with the capitalists, said Mao. Title: Mao Zedong All Rights Reserved. By October 1, 1949, Mao felt confident enough to declare the establishment of the People's Republic of China. It was called the "Little Red Book" and was made available to all. Mao Zedong Biography: Revolutionary, or Tyrant? Stalin turned him down not once but more than a dozen times. Maoism - Wikipedia In addition to her address of Congress in 1943, the Wellesley-educated "Madame. He moved tens of thousands of tons of military supplies across the border into Vietnam. Occupation: Leader of the Communist Party of China Born: December 26, 1893 in Shaoshan, Hunan, China Died: September 9, 1976 in Beijing, China Best known for: Founding Father of the People's Republic of China Biography: Mao Zedong (also called Mao Tse-tung) founded the People's Republic of China and was the primary leader of the country from its establishment in 1949 . Nevertheless, he became a soldier of the revolution. One year and more than four thousand miles later, the retreating Red Army reached Shaanxi province. Jiang knew his Nationalist army could never defeat the Japanese, but he intended to crush the Communists. Mao is perhaps best known as the architect of the Great Leap Forward (1958-61), an ambitious but disastrous economic program that produced a widespread national famine in China, causing the deaths of an estimated 30 million people. American and South Korean forces kept a toehold on the peninsula, in and around the port of Pusan, until September 15, when General of the Army Douglas MacArthur outflanked the overstretched North Koreans by landing the 1st Marine Division at the port of Inchon, on the western side of the peninsula. Undeniably, it was on the Long March that Mao took over the premier leadership position, one he never relinquished until his death. The Long March marked the emergence of Mao Zedong (1893-1976) as the undisputed leader of . Even a tea-room owner like President Hu Jintao's father could be targeted as a "capitalist.". A local warlord in Changsha captured Mao's wife, Yang Kaihui, and one of their sons in October 1930. Mao Zedong was born in December 1893 in Hunan, a province in central China. Mao pressed Giap hard to make a do-or-die effort to take it quickly. Less than twenty-four hours after MacArthur unleashed his attack, more than two hundred thousand Chinese and some fifty thousand North Korean troops launched their own win-the-war offensive. In 1912 a new government, the Republic of China, formed. Time and again the Nationalists were informed that Mao was to be found in such and such a town or village, and it was true. Mao Zedong is the Latin-alphabet version of Mao's name now used by most people. Mao Tse-tung (also spelled Zedong) was the principal Chinese Marxist theorist, soldier and statesman who led his nation's Cultural Revolution. Under increasing KMT pressure, Mao was demoted from his leadership role. Pannikar, Indias ambassador to China, to his office. URL: https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/mao-zedong/ Later, he and his closest aides choreographed a series of public rallies involving thousands of young supporters. For much of the 1920s, he worked as a party functionary in Shanghai and as a regional leader in his native Hunan. Szczepanski, Kallie. As with all myths, there were and are endless arguments about the details, furious scholarly disagreements over whether this story or that was true, some obviously exaggerated claims, and more than a little propaganda. Ralph White had a harrowing adventure to save his Vietnamese colleagues. The final years of Maos reign were marked by illness and incapacity. On matters of war and peace his unmatched prestige was usually enough for him to get his way, but not every time, and although Mao had thought Chinese intervention might prove necessary almost from the start of Kims invasion, war preparations had not begun. He was laying the foundations of Maoism. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. With the defeat of Japan, Stalin promptly concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance with Jiang. By 1959, some of Maos fellow party leaders were criticising the Great Leap Forward and urging a more moderate approach. This amounted to a blank check for Hanoi, but Ho did not cash it right away. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. At first, reports were promising, with accounts of overwhelming advancement. He rose from humble beginnings to rule China for nearly three decades. Spurred on by the promise of a new future for China and himself, Mao reveled in the political and cultural change sweeping the country. Mao's "Great Leap Forward" and the Cultural Revolution were ill-conceived and had disastrous consequences, but many of his goals, including stressing China's self-reliance, were generally laudable. Required fields are marked *. The Russians could not lose in Korea once China put an army over the Yalu, and the Americans could not use nuclear weapons against China so long as the Russians were involved. Even after Japanese soldiers razed the Nationalist capital, Nanjing, while slaughtering up to three hundred thousand Chinese, Jiang declined to fight back. Authors: Glenn Kucha, Jennifer Llewellyn The Chinese Communists and the KMT halted their civil war to meet this new threat, which lasted through Japan's 1945 defeat in World War II. Soon afterward, however, and under intense pressure from Josef Stalin, Mao and Jiang finally forged a united front to fight the Japanese. Madame Mao and the other Gang of Four members were arrested and tried, essentially for all of the crimes associated with the Cultural Revolution. Mao codified his ideas in a number of pamphlets, including On Guerrilla Warfare and On Protracted War. By 1959, China's relationship with the Soviet Union had deteriorated markedly. In 1918, Mao Tse-tung graduated from the Hunan First Normal School, becoming a certified teacher. That same year, his mother died, and he had no desire to return home. (2023, April 5). Mao was also the figurehead of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), a disruptive and sometimes violent mass campaign driven by political radicals. On Dec. 26, 1893, a son was born to the Mao family, wealthy farmers in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China. This epic journey, marked by costly battles and personal tragedies, became known as the Long March, the foundation myth of modern China. Mao Zedong Love, Crush, Chinese Revolution Zedong Mao (2007). Termed as the most controversial figure of China, Mao Zedong was a Chinese communist revolutionary, politician and socio-political theorist. Efforts were made by the United States in particular to establish a coalition government, but China slid into a bloody civil war. During the Long March (1934-36) and the Yanan period (1936-46), Mao became the undisputed leader of the party, as well as its leading strategist and ideological mentor. The strategy that Ho and Mao hammered out was that any American invasion above the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Vietnam would be met by a North Vietnamese counteroffensive. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. Mao Zedong, also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founding father of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled as the chairman of the Chinese.