Romy Attias

History

7 October 2012

History-The Long March 1934-5

1) What strategy did the Guomindang use to destroy the
CCP?
The Long March saved Mao Zedong and the Communist Party (CCP)
from the attacks by the Guomindang (GMD). The Long March came
about when the Chinese Communists had to flee a concerted GMD
assault that had been ordered by Chiang Kai-shek.
In the autumn of 1933 the GMD leader Chiang Kai-shek launched a
huge attack against the Communists who were then based in the
Jiangxi and Fujian provinces in south-east China. The GMD was
advised by the German general, Hans von Seeckt. He advised
Chang Kai-shek not to launch a full frontal attack on Jiangxi.
500,000 GMD troops surrounded Jiangxi in an attempt to
strangulate the Communists. The GMD had a policy of making a
slow advance, building trenches and blockhouses as they went to
give the GMD troops there places of protection. Seeckt wanted a
war of attrition but with minimal contact with the Communists as
Seeckt wanted to starve them out rather engage in combat with
them.
Seekt was a skilled soldier and his strategy worked well. His slowbut-sure process led to the area controlled by the communists
shrinking quite rapidly. Within 12 months, the communists had lost
50% of the territory they had controlled in 1933 and 60,000
Communist soldiers (the Red Army) were killed. The GMD had the
clear ability to fully destroy the communists.
2) Why was Mao Tse Tung expelled from the CCP?
The Communists decided to change tactics. Against the advice of
Mao, the Communists used full-scale attacks against the GMD.
They were advised by Russian agents lead by Otto Braun. It was
Braun who advised full-frontal attacks and he convinced the
communist hierarchy that Mao was wrong. He also branded Mao as
being politically wrong because peasants in Jiangxi were being
killed by the GMD and the Red Army did nothing to assist them.
Mao was expelled from the Chinese communist Partys Central
Committee.
3) What tactics did Otto Braun adopt?
The strategy of Braun was very costly for the Communists. They

Romy Attias

History

7 October 2012

lost men and equipment and because Jiangxi was surrounded by

blockhouses held by the GMD, they could get no supplies through
from the other communist base at Hunan.
Mao tried to win back support by pushing for a breakout by the red
Army followed up by an attack on the GMD in their rear. This was
rejected in favor of Brauns idea for a full- scale retreat from Jiangxi
with a push for a communist base in Hunan where the Chinese
Communists party Second Army was based. The retreat-which was
to be called the Long March- started in October 1934.