China

China between 1910 and 1939

The history of post Great War China begins with the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty, in which several leaders emerged from the ensuing conflict. Sun Yixian, leader of the Kuomintang Nationalist Army (KMT), became the President of the Republic of China. Jiang Jieshi took over his position when Yixian died in 1925. Jiang Jieshi promised the peasants extended rights, such as democracy, but didn't actually improve their daily lives, and the peasants turned to communism. As a result, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)was strengthened greatly.

Eventually, Jiang Jieshi attacked the CCP and the Chinese Civil War began by 1930. Both parties relentlessly attacked the other, and there was no clear victor until Jiang gathered an enormous army of 700,000 men and surrounded the Communits' stronghold. This spurred a Communist retreat known as the Long March. For a year, Jiang's army was chasing the heels of the major Communist leader, Mao Zedong. Only 10% of the original 100,000 strong Red Army reached northwestern China, where Jiang could not persecute them. While the Chinese Civil War was going on, Japan had begun invading northeastern China. The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang were forced to ally and fight the Japanese.

The Second Sino-Japanese War didn't have a formal beginning or end. Instead, the Japanese countinally attacked sections of China in what they called "incidents". By not declaring war on China, Japan averted the Neutrality Act of the United States, which stated that the United States would not sell products to countries that were engaged in war. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan alone. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and it escalated into World War II.