Chiang Kai-shek
1887 – 1975 Chinese Nationalist leader, president of the Republic of China
Leader of the Kuomintang who unified much of China, fought Japan and the Communists, and ruled Taiwan after 1949.
- Religion
- Methodist Christian
- Affiliations
- Kuomintang, National Revolutionary Army
Chiang Kai-shek rose through the Kuomintang after Sun Yat-sen's death and led the Northern Expedition that brought much of China under Nationalist rule. In 1927 he turned violently on his former Communist allies, and the two sides fought a long civil war, paused for an uneasy united front against the Japanese invasion. He led China through the Second Sino-Japanese War at great cost, but his government was weakened by corruption, inflation, and unrest. Defeated by Mao's Communists in 1949, he retreated to Taiwan, where he ruled the Republic of China as an authoritarian one-party state under martial law until his death.
Connections
- rival of Mao Zedong — Chief rival in the Chinese Civil War.
- rival of Mao Zedong — Defeated him in the civil war and drove the Nationalists to Taiwan.
- mentor of Sun Yat-sen — His protege who took over leadership of the Kuomintang after his death.
- mentor of Sun Yat-sen — Succeeded him as leader of the Kuomintang.
- successor of Sun Yat-sen — Succeeded as Kuomintang leader by Chiang.
In the timeline
- 1916 Warlord Era the general who reunified much of the country
- 1934 – 1935 The Long March the leader whose forces drove the Communists into flight
- 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre the Nationalist commander-in-chief
- 1940 Japan sets up a puppet government at Nanking mentioned
- 1945 Potsdam ultimatum to Japan mentioned
- 1945 Sino-Soviet Treaty of August 1945 mentioned
- 1949 Founding of the People's Republic of China the defeated rival who retreated to Taiwan
- 1949 Nationalist government flees to Taiwan mentioned
- 1949 Quigley: China lost through Chiang's own weakness mentioned
- 1949 Chiang Kai-shek's Taiwan under US protection central figure
- 1953 Eisenhower inaugural speech signals 'unleashing' of Chiang Kai-shek central figure