WikipediaExtracts:Chinese Civil War

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Jonathan D. Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 1999), pp. 340, 407-9.</ref>\n| 1945{{snd}}1949 {{nwr|(second phase)}}{{Efn|Minor clashes between the two sides continued until 31 December 1978.<ref name=\"tw frontline\">{{Cite web|url=https://theweek.com/history/kinmen-islands-taiwans-frontline-with-china%7Ctitle=Kinmen Islands: Taiwan's frontline with China|first=Miguel|last=Miranda|date=16 July 2025|website=The Week}}</ref><ref name=\"wapo shelling\">{{Cite web | title=China, in Signal To Taiwan, Ends Island Shelling - The Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/01/china-in-signal-to-taiwan-ends-island-shelling/bb996f26-5462-4232-9fa1-521ca6617aeb/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119055425/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/01/china-in-signal-to-taiwan-ends-island-shelling/bb996f26-5462-4232-9fa1-521ca6617aeb/ | access-date=2026-08-31 | archive-date=2019-01-19}}</ref>}}\n}}"},"location":{"wt":"China"},"territory":{"wt":"* Communists proclaim the People's Republic of China in mainland China on 1 October 1949\n* Kuomintang retreat to Taiwan on 7 December 1949"},"result":{"wt":"Communist victory"},"combatant1":{"wt":"{{Tree list}}\n* {{flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg |size=23px}} Kuomintang\n** {{flag|Republic of China (1912–1949)|name=Republic of China |size=23px}}\n{{Tree list/end}}"},"combatant2":{"wt":"{{Tree list}}\n* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg |size=23px}} Chinese Communist Party\n** {{flag|Chinese Soviet Republic |size=23px}} (1931–1937)\n** {{flag|China|name=People's Republic of China |size=23px}} (from 1949)\n{{Tree list/end}}"},"combatant1a":{"wt":"{{center|'''Cross-strait conflict:'''}}"},"combatant1b":{"wt":"{{Tree list}}\n* {{flag|Taiwan|name=Republic of China (Taiwan)|size=23px}}\n{{Tree list/end}}"},"combatant2b":{"wt":"{{Tree list}}\n* {{flag|China|name=People's Republic of China |size=23px}}\n{{Tree list/end}}"},"commander1":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | | {{flagicon image|Commander-in-Chief_Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg}} '''Chiang Kai-shek'''\n | {{flagdeco|Kuomintang}} Chen Cheng\n | {{flagdeco|Kuomintang}} Du Yuming\n | {{flagdeco|Kuomintang}} Wei Lihuang\n | {{flagdeco|Kuomintang}} Bai Chongxi\n | {{flagdeco|Kuomintang}} Fu Zuoyi\n | {{flagdeco|Kuomintang}} Hu Zongnan\n}}"},"commander2":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} '''Mao Zedong'''\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Zhou Enlai\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Zhu De\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Peng Dehuai\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Lin Biao\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Liu Bocheng\n | {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Su Yu\n}}"},"units3":{"wt":"''See Order of battle''"},"strength1":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | 2 million regular troops\n | 2.3 million militia {{nwr|(August 1948)}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svBt-hzD53AC |title=A History of the Modern Chinese Army |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-813-17224-8}}</ref><ref name=\"Hsiung1992\">{{Cite book |last=Hsiung |first=James C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yt6TTRdUzwC |title=China's Bitter Victory: The War With Japan, 1937–1945 |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |year=1992 |isbn=1-563-24246-X}}</ref><ref name=\"Sarker1994\">{{Cite book |last=Sarker |first=Sunil Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGf2b1nsn9cC |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism |publisher=Atlantic |year=1994 |isbn=978-8-171-56515-3}}</ref>\n}}"},"strength2":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | 1.2 million regular troops\n | 2.6 million militia {{nwr|(July 1945)}}<ref name=\"Hsiung1992\" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cao |first=Qianfa |author-mask=Cao Qianfa (曹前发) |script-title=zh:毛泽东的独创：＂兵民是胜利之本＂ |url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/big5/n1/2017/0622/c85037-29355018.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029065431/http://dangshi.people.com.cn/big5/n1/2017/0622/c85037-29355018.html |archive-date=29 October 2020 |access-date=26 October 2020 |website=People's Daily |language=zh}}</ref>\n}}"},"casualties1":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | 370,000 killed<ref name=\"Ho\">{{Cite book |last=Ho |title=Studies in the Population of China |page=253}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Matthew |title=Atrocities |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-393-08192-3 |page=381}}</ref>\n | 1.5–1.7 million total {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref name=\"Lynch2010\">{{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=Michael |title=The Chinese Civil War 1945–49 |publisher=Osprey |year=2010}}</ref><ref name=\"Sarker1994\" /><ref name=\"Ho\"/>\n}}"},"casualties2":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | 263,800 killed\n | 190,000 missing\n | 850,000 wounded {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref name=\"PLA1983\">''The History of the Chinese People's Liberation Army''. Beijing: People's Liberation Army Press. 1983.</ref><ref name=\"Lynch2010\" />\n | over 1.3 million total {{nwr|(second phase)}}\n}}"},"casualties3":{"wt":"{{ubli\n | | {{est.}} 7 million {{nwr|(first phase)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls |url=http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Nationalist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305175626/http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Nationalist |archive-date=5 March 2011 |access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref>\n | {{est.}} 2.5 million {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls |url=http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Chinese |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305175626/http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Chinese |archive-date=5 March 2011 |access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref>\n | up to 6 million total {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref name=\"Lynch2010\" />\n}}"},"campaignbox":{"wt":"{{Campaignbox Chinese Civil War}}"}},"i":0}}]}' id="mwCw">

The Chinese Civil War was fought between the government of the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang (KMT), and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermittently from 1 August 1927 until Communist victory that led to the Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan on 7 December 1949.

The war is generally divided into two phases with an interlude. In 1926 and 1927, the KMT and the CCP, allied with one another in the First United Front, had carried out a very successful campaign, the Northern Expedition, against warlords in central China. The CCP calls this the First Revolutionary Civil War. The united front broke up and war broke out between the KMT and the CCP on 1 August 1927. The CCP calls this the Second Revolutionary Civil War; it lasted until 1937. From 1937 to 1945, hostilities were mostly put on hold as the Second United Front fought the Japanese invasion of China with eventual help from the Allies of World War II. However, armed clashes between the groups remained common.

The civil war resumed as soon as it became apparent that Japanese defeat was imminent, with the communists gaining the upper hand in the second phase of the war from 1945 to 1949, generally referred to as the Chinese Communist Revolution. The CCP calls this the Third Revolutionary Civil War. The Communists gained control of mainland China and proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) in October 1949, while the Republic of China government retreated to the island of Taiwan in December. Starting in the 1950s, a lasting political and military stand-off between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has ensued, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC on the mainland both claiming to be the legitimate government of all China. In addition, ROC guerrilla forces continued to operate in mainland China and northern Burma until 1961. After the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, both tacitly ceased to engage in open conflict in 1979; however, no armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed.

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