GUOMINDANG
Persecution By Yuan Shikai
the Soviet Dimension
The Nationalist Revival
Death of Sun Yat sen
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LinksSun Yat-Sen -superb from Spartacus Schoolnet and includes primary sources
Chiang Kai-Shek -superb from Spartacus Schoolnet and includes primary sources Chiang Kai-Shek -very interesting obituary from the New York Times Learning section BBC History Biography of Chiang Kai-Shek Mikhail Borodin -superb from Spartacus Schoolnet and includes primary sources |
Historiography: Importance of the Russian Role by Michael Dillon
"The first shipment of munitions from Russia arrived at Huangpu on 7 October 1924 and consisted of 8,000 rifles and 4 million rounds of ammunition. Russian instructors at the Huangpu Academy were led by General Vassili Konstantinovich Bluecher, operating at the time under the name of Galen, who was later to become commander-in-chief of the Soviet Red Army in the Far East, the force that defeated the Japanese in Manchuria in the Second World War."
Historiography: Jonathan Fenby on the different roles of the Nationalist leaders
Source A: Fenby on Sun Yat Sen"Sun may have been an ineffective administrator and a continually frustrated dreamer, but he was the figurehead round which the regime in Guangdong and Kuomintang supporters elsewhere in China gravitated....In death, the doctor became a lay saint as he had never been in life, the basis of a new secular religion that rejected both warlords and imperialism." SOURCE C: DIANA LARY ON THE CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP AFTER THE DEATH OF SUN YAT SEN"The new leader turned out to be Chiang Kai-shek, an outsider in Guangdong (he was from Zhejiang, and could not speak Cantonese), a stiff man with only a short career in the revolutionary movement. Chiang was a soldier, the head of the Whampao Military Academy - and a prime example of the soldiers who were to lead the next stage of China's move toward revolution." |
Source B: Fenby on Chiang Kai Shek"Under him (Chiang Kai Shek), Whampoa became a key element in the KMT power structure, producing graduates whose influence would be felt for more than two decades. It combined Russian teaching, Japanese techniques Chiang had experienced as a cadet across the sea, and strands from Chinese tradition. The young men were paid and well looked after, with decent food. They were told to proselytize for the revolution and lead by example, to be austere, daring and brave, not to gamble or visit brothels. Chiang imposed a martinet regime, upbraiding pupils for leaving a button undone. Collective responsibility provided for the execution of units which retreated without orders, including officers." Source D: Rana Mitter on the Death of Sun Yat Sen"For much of the period of the United Front (1923–7), it was often quite hard to distinguish between the Communists and the more left-wing, revolutionary members of the Nationalist Party. A turning point, though it was only clearly perceived as such later on, was the death of Sun in 1925." |