Mao appointed Lin Piao as his military commander, who perfected the art of guerrilla warfare and inflcicted massive defeats upon the KMT in the 'Three Great Campaigns'
Mao's idea to set out on the Long March to Yenan, and in particular to head along the Northern Route, which was later joined by the other two splinter armies
At Tsunyi Conference Mao became leader of the CCP after blaming the party's recent misfortunes on out-of-touch communists who had been trained by Stalin in Moscow
Britain, France, the 1911 Revolution: Much of China's trade and many of her ports – including Shanghai – were under the control of foreign powers by the beginning of the 20th century.
CCP forged strong links with Jiangxi's 3 million peasants, who responded well to Mao's focused, peasant-based revolutionary programme.
CCP became experts in guerilla warfare during the long siege; Mao also dealt brutally with opponents (massacring 3000 in the Futien Incident of 1930).
During the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT lost the support of the local populations by imposing conscription and grain requisitioning into the areas they controlled.
Mao had wisely refused to demobilise any of his troops during the brief ceasefire period arranged by the USA, whereas Chiang had demobilised 1.5 million troops.
Mao proclaimed the new People's Monarchy (Republic) of China in October 1949, by which time his position was unassailable as the 'Great Helmsman'.
Despite being superior in men and equipment, the KMT was badly organized and motivated. It slowly lost ground and resources to the Communists and succumbed to hyperinflation.
The Chinese delegation stormed out of the Versailles Conference, and the country started looking towards communism as the way forward.
The Chinese Communist Party was set up in Shanghai in 1921, and in 1923 the USSR persuaded Sun Yat-sen to ally with the CCP to launch the Northern March against the Warlords and their Western imperialist backers.
The Fukien Revolt (1934) / Sian Incident - Chiang Kidnapped (1936): Politically, Chiang's insistence on fighting the CCP at the same time as the Japanese damaged his nationalist credentials and divided his own party.
The White Terror drove the CCP into the refuge the agricultural province of Jiangxi, which Mao declared a socialist republic.
Chiang was increasingly reliant upon foreign (and in particular American) Marshall Aid throughout the Second Civil War.
Chiang gained a reputation for brutality, he set up his own secret police force, the Blue Shirt Society. It damaged the KMT's nationalist credentials leaving them heavily based in the cities.
Despite fighting on the side of the Allies during World War One, China's claims for self-determination were ignored by the Big Three at Versailles.
Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan, where his KMT remained sponsored by the USA and thereby completely lost its nationalist credentials.
The KMT were generally blamed for the outbreak of the Civil War for refusing (against the wishes of the USA) to form a coalition government with the CCP.
The KMT government was mercilessly worn down by the Japanese campaigns in the East (including Rape of Nanking): by 1945 the KMT armies had lost their most experienced officers, the economy was suffering from rampant inflation.
The failure of the ruling Manchu dynasty to check growing foreign influence led to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and then the overthrow of the dynasty by Sun Yat-Sen's nationalist KMT in 1911.
Mao was interviewed in Yenan by Edgar Snow, an American reporter. Snow depicted Mao as realistic visionary.
Yenan Soviet: the CCP gained the support of the local populations by treating them with respect. Mao had his soldiers educated to use persuasion, not force, to win the hearts and minds of the peasantry. They respected women, paid for crops, and ran literacy classes.
Shanghai Massacre: Chiang became the new leader of the KMT in 1925 and turned against his CCP allies in a violent purge known as the 'White Terror' (1927).
