A Look into the Life of Chiang Kai-Shek

There are only a few great men known in history. Chiang Kai-Shek was certainly one of them. Helping to overthrow the oppressive Manchu Dynasty and instate a Nationalist government, Chiang was widely popular. Living through a difficult childhood, Chiang forsakes the family tradition and instead becomes a military man. Gaining favor in the revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang is eventually able to become leader of a united China. He is at odds with the communists but eventually joins hands to defeat their common enemy of Japan that was encroaching on Chinese land in Manchuria and slowly pushing into the mainland. His efforts to stem the advance of Japan in World War II greatly helped the allies in their victory. Chiang's conduct of the war against Japan made Chiang an invaluable asset to the world during World War II.

Chiang Kai-Shek was born October 31, 1887 in Zhejiang. Given the name Jui-tai at birth, Chiang would later choose his own name as was customary in Chinese tradition. Chiang was born the son of a salt merchant and his father passes away when he was only nine years old. Raised only by his mother, Chiang was a very poor student at school. He did not interact well with others but his concentration was unmatched. At age 14, his mother sets up an arranged marriage for him and he acquiesces to appease his mother. However, he has no interest in his wife. He chose his name "Kai-shek" which means "clean as a stone." Not long after he is married, he left to attend school in Hangchow. It was there that he first hears of Sun Yat-sen, a revolutionary who dreamed of overthrowing the Manchu Dynasty and of making China into a republic. Chiang finally found a determination in his life. He desperately wishes to go to Japan and attend the Tokyo Military Staff College. However, upon arrival, he was turned down because the quota for Chinese students had already been met. Undeterred, Chiang stayed in Japan to look up other young Chinese and first came into contact with Chen Qimei there, a lifelong friend and who introduces Chiang to the "Revolutionists." Determined more than ever to attend the Tokyo Military Staff College, Chiang went back to China to first attend Paoting school in order to secure a spot in the quota for TMSC. At around the same time, he had a son. On the day of the entrance exam to Paoting school, Chiang received the highest grade of all the examinees that passed the exam. In school, Chiang had a passion for infantry tactics and military sciences and he excelled in those classes.

At age 18, Chiang Kai-shek was accepted into Tokyo Military Staff College. For the next few years, Chiang stayed in Japan and studied before heading back to China again in 1911 when Chen calls on him to participate in the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty and establish a Chinese republic. For Chiang, the revolution provided valuable experience for his rise to power. His primary role in the revolution was to subjugate the governor of Hangzhou. On November 5^th of 1911, he leads a strike team of 100 men and attacked the governor's headquarters in a pincer. The demoralized defenders were quickly subdued. As the nation fell apart, with each province going its own way, Sun Yat-Sen was elected provisional leader of China under the new constitution which promised China's first national parliamentary election. Chiang joins the Chinese Nationalist Party (Known as the Kuomintang) founded and led by Sun Yat-sen. Chiang embarks on a journey to the Soviet Union to study military, social systems, and to look for funds for China. Chiang caught the attention of Sun Yat-sen with his leadership in military affairs, who appoints him commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy in Canton in 1924, where he trained new recruits for the Nationalist Army. After Sun Yat-sen's sudden death in 1925, Chiang became leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party. His first task after becoming leader was to establish a force to eliminate the final opposition against the central government. He formed eight divisions to subdue opposition in Northern and Central China. This act would later be known as the "Northern Expedition." In the first year of its inception, Chiang purged the KMT of the communists that had been a part from the beginning. In 1927, Chiang married again into the power Soong family. He married Soong Mei-ling, daughter of a prominent Shanghai publishing tycoon, and later converted to her Christian faith. Soong Mei-ling would help Chiang greatly as she toured American, rallying support for the Nationalist Party. Leading the Northern Expedition, Chiang was able to gather most of China under the banner of the Nationalist Party. Its headquarters were in Nanjing. By 1928, Chiang was head of a national government and a unified China, incidentally the same year that the communists began to struggle for power. Chiang was at the head of the suppression.

For a good part of the 1930s, Chiang's only enemies were the communists, who were lead by Mao ZeDong. After the communists are defeated, the nationalists force them into the "Long March." When the Japanese launch an invasion of the Chinese Mainland in 1936, Chiang ignored their initial push into Manchuria. However, after he is captured by Communist forces, they force him to sign an agreement to form an alliance with the communists to combat the Japanese presence. In 1937, Chiang enters World War II on the side of the allies. Even though they were mainly unsuccessful on the battlefield, Chiang's forces provided a necessary distraction for the Japanese forces to prevent them from confronting U.S. naval forces in their island hopping campaign in the Pacific. In keeping the Japanese forces occupied in China, the Japanese forces were spread very thinly, allowing U.S. to take control of the islands in the Pacific.

In order to prevent Japanese encroachment into Chinese territory, Chiang attacks Shanghai on August 13 and bombs Japanese naval forces on August 14 of 1937. Though the Japanese forces were outnumbered in Shanghai, they hold out until an expeditionary force relieved them. Beset from all side by better troops, Chiang's forces fall apart and Shanghai falls under Japanese control by November 8. From there, Japan rapidly pushed west. Japan was able to capture the Nationalist capital of Nanking on December 12, 1937 and Japanese generals let their troops loose on the city, permitting abhorrent actions such as looting, burning, rape, and mass murder. This vicious attack performed by the Japanese would come to be known as the "Rape of Nanking."

Chiang and his forces are strengthened by the Japanese's actions. They are more determined to drive the Japanese out of their homeland. Chiang moved the capital farther west to Chungking. Though Chinese forces secure a strategic victory for China at Taierchwang on April 9, 1938, they are quickly pushed into the defensive again. Finally, Chiang was able to maintain headquarters at Chungking in southwest China. From there, any further Japanese advance was halted.

Chiang's combined effort with Mao ultimately fails because of the extensive fighting and weakening of both forces that took place before World War II started. Weakened by the fighting and with a lack of trained and well-armed troops, Chiang could not adequately fight the Japanese army and allowed the Communists to do most of the fighting. As China slowly lost the battle to Japan, the U.S. sent General Stillwell to keep China in the war. He became the Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang and was in charge of the India Theatre, and all of the supplies provided by the Lend-Lease Act that was going into China. Along with General Stillwell, China received aid in the form of the Flying Tigers, a mercenary group that was formed of ex pilots of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. They trained in India and were for the purpose of supporting China in the war against Japan. Additionally, the Chinese effort against Japan could have been improved if there was left infighting between the Chiang and the Communists. Preparing for the eventual showdown with Communist forces, Chiang took a more defensive position and chose to stockpile arms. Communist forces employed a similar strategy. The funds from the U.S. allowed both Chiang and Mao to amass large numbers of weapons that they used to fight each other immediately after World War II concluded.

Chiang contributed greatly to the war. At the head of the Nationalist Party, Chiang created a new sort of Chinese nationalism that surprised Japanese forces fighting in China. He refused to accept colonial status. As the U.S. and the allies eventually triumphed over the Axis powers at the end of the war, Chiang was elevated to the same status as the Big Three leaders of the Allies, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Though he eventually lost his battle with the communists, his contribution to the war is a major factor in the allied victory.

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