Battles & Wars › Between the wars › Chinese Civil War
Mao Zedong
1893–1976· Person· Asia & Pacific
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Chinese Communist leader who won the civil war, founded the People's Republic in 1949 and ruled it until his death.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Son of a prosperous peasant in Hunan, Mao was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. Unlike orthodox Marxists who looked to city workers, he built his base among peasants. He rose to leadership during the Long March of 1934–35 and wrote influential works on guerrilla and protracted war. After 1949 his campaigns included the Great Leap Forward (1958–62), whose famine killed an estimated 15 to 45 million, and the Cultural Revolution (1966–76).
Why it matters
His peasant-based 'people's war' became a model for insurgents worldwide, from Vietnam to Latin America, and the state he founded is today's China.
Legacy and how we know
His collected writings, Party documents, accounts by colleagues and foreign visitors such as Edgar Snow, and partly opened archives. China's official 1981 verdict holds his achievements outweigh his mistakes.
Still debated
Death tolls from his rule are bitterly debated, as is how far he knew of and drove the famine.
Connections (2)
▸Mao Zedong won Chinese Civil WarWell documented
The connection
Mao led the Communists from the mid-1930s. He built rural base areas, redistributed land to win peasant support, and kept his forces intact while the Nationalists bore the brunt of fighting Japan. In 1946–49 he and commanders such as Lin Biao turned guerrilla armies into mass conventional forces that defeated the Nationalists.
When and how
From the Zunyi Conference of January 1935, which raised Mao toward leadership, to his proclamation of the People's Republic in Beijing on October 1, 1949.
How we know
Party documents, battle records and accounts by colleagues and enemies document his leadership; his role is undisputed, though his generals did much of the fighting.
Debates and open questions
How much credit goes to Mao's strategy, versus Nationalist failures, Soviet help in Manchuria and his generals, is debated.
▸Mao Zedong theorized Guerrilla and insurgent warfareWell documented
The connection
From fighting in the Jinggang Mountains in the late 1920s, Mao and Zhu De drew rules for weaker forces: when the enemy advances, retreat; when it camps, harass; when it tires, attack; when it retreats, pursue. In 1937–38 Mao set out On Guerrilla Warfare and On Protracted War, turning tactics into a full theory of 'people's war'.
When and how
The Jiangxi base areas and Yan'an, China, late 1920s to 1938; the works were later translated and studied worldwide.
How we know
His writings survive in many editions, and insurgent leaders from Vietnam's Võ Nguyên Giáp to Che Guevara studied them.
Debates and open questions
Scholars debate how original Mao's ideas were, given older guerrilla traditions and the contributions of comrades such as Zhu De.