In October 1934, The Long March occurred. It was a series of marches by the Chinese communists, who were led by Mao Zedong. Before the Long March even started, the communists were losing badly to the nationalists. The communists needed to make a plan. They also wanted the nationalists to relax a little, and then they would eventually launch a surprise attack on them, therefore winning the war. This is how the Long March created success for the Communists.
Mao Zedong knew that his team couldn’t win without forming a plan. He planned the march in order to buy enough time for his troops to form an idea to destroy the nationalists. Zedong created the idea of the Long March, but at that time he only wanted to retreat. Eventually, he realized the benefits of the recession. However, at first, his idea sounded very silly. It was obvious that the communists would lose tons of soldiers, but Zedong was willing to take the risk. After all, without a plan nobody could win a battle. They walked for 370 days, covering 6,000 miles.
The communists couldn’t control the war without making the nationalists relax a little. The Long March happened partly so that the nationalists would loosen up. The communist’s plan was to make the nationalists sit back and watch them “withdraw”. Miraculously, their assumption worked. It appeared that the nationalists had their own problems. Even though nationalist’s soldiers outnumbered the communist’s by a ratio of 3:1, It was costing more than ever. They needed time to draw back to reorganize, and thought it would be when the communists were at their lowest point too. As a result, they receded slightly when the Long March started. But little did they know that Mao’s team wasn’t destroyed yet.
With these two things combined, the communists knew exactly what to do. They would also have no trouble attacking the nationalists, because they were still wondering where the enemies were. In October 1936, Mao Zedong ended the Long March. He made an incredible sacrifice in the time of the Long March. Less than 10% of people from the Long March even survived. Nevertheless, 8,000 soldiers were still enough to dominate the shocked nationalists who thought they had control. The communists started attacking the nationalists with what they had left, and Chiang Kai-shek’s army was unprepared for the ambush. The communists defeated their opponents in 1951. The Long March created victory for the communists. First, they needed to form a plan. Then, the nationalists would have to play slightly nicer. With one and the other, Mao Zedong launched the nationalists with a surprise attack, and won the war when Chiang Kai-shek surrendered. Zedong named China “People’s Republic of China”. He didn’t want to go to war, but he explained how it is inevitable, through just a single sentence: “War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.”
