Chinese Civil War Dates: 1927 – 1936, 1945 – 1950 The Chinese Civil war took place over a long period of time between 1927 and 1950. The war was interrupted when Japan invaded China in 1936 and by World War II. The war was fought between the nationalist government of China, also called the Kuomintang (KMT) (kwa min tounge), and the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Before the War After the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911 there was a vacuum of power in China. Two major parties formed, the Nationalist Kuomintang Party and the Communist Party. Some areas of the country were controlled by warlords. The KMT and the CPC united for a time. They wanted to unify China. They both received help from the Soviet Union. Although they were somewhat united, they continued to have an internal rivalry between the two major parties.

In 1927 the rivalry became a war! The KMT decided to get rid of the CPC; they killed and arrested many of the CPC leaders in what is today called the Shanghai Massacre.

Mao Zedong of the CPC led an uprising against the KMT called the Autumn Harvest Uprising. The uprising failed, but the civil war had begun.

Ten Years Civil War Over the next ten years, from 1927 – 1936 the two sides fought. Mao Zedong led peasants and common people in uprisings against the KMT. At the same time the KMT tried to put down the uprisings and eliminate Mao and the CPC Army.

The Long March In 1934, Mao and the CPC army had to retreat from the KMT. They went on a series of long marches that lasted an entire year, from October of 1934 – October 1935. They traveled around 7, 000 miles (that would be like walking from Hammond, IN to Delhi, India)! Out of around 80,000 soldiers that began the march, only 8,000 or so made it to the end!

Chinese Civil War When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, the two sides once again united in order to fight the Japanese. However, the two sides still hated each other. After the end of WWII in 1945, the two sides resumed their civil war. America supported the KMT and the Soviet Union supported the CPC. For the first few years the US tried to broker a peace between the two sides where the country would be split. However, neither side was willing to give in.

The End of the Fighting By 1948 the CPC was gaining momentum. They continued to take nationalist cities and with each victory they were gaining support within the population of China. In October of 1949, the CPC captured Beijing. They declared victory and said that China was now under the rule of the People’s Republic of China. The nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan where they established their own government called the Republic of China.

Facts About the Chinese Civil War:1. Even today both governments lay claim to being the legal government of China.

2. It was the third largest war in the history of the world after WWI and WWII

3. It was during the Long March that Mao Zedong gained total control of the CPC as its primary leader

4. Mao Zedong was a follower of Marxism

Yom Kippur War Was fought between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt and Syria. It took place between October 6 and October 25 in 1973 with the initial attack taking place on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. The war heightened tensions in the Cold War between the world’s two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Leaders The Prime Minister of Israel was Golda Meir. Israeli military leaders at the time included Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, David Elazar, and Israel Tal. The President of Egypt was Anwar Sadat. The Commander-in-Chief of Egypt’s army was Ahmad Ismail Ali. The President of Syria was Hafez al-Assad and the Minister of Defense was Mustafa Tlass.

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3.1. Anwar Sadat2. Golda Meir3. Hafez al-Assad

What Other Countries Were Involved

The United States was on the side of Israel; they helped to supply Israel with weapons as well as put pressure on the attacking states to stop fighting. A few years after the war the United States would help to broker a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt at the Camp David Accords.

Egypt and Syria were supported directly with armed forces from Iraq and Jordan. They were also supported by the Soviet Union and a number of Arab states including Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.

How the War Began The Egyptians and the Syrians started the attack on Yom Kippur. They figured that the Israeli Army would be less alert on their holy day. The initial attack worked very well. The Egyptians crossed the Suez Canal and took control of the Sinai Peninsula. At the same time the Syrians attacked to the north taking control of the Golan Heights.

Israel Counterattacks A few days after the initial attack, the Israelis counterattacked. They quickly took back the Golan Heights as well as the Sinai Peninsula. They continued to push back both the Egyptians and the Syrians. Soon the Israeli Army was a mere 35 miles from Damascus, the capital of Syria, and only 65 miles from Cairo, capital of Egypt

How it Ended On October 22, the United Nations negotiated a cease-fire, however, the fighting soon broke out again. Soon Israel had the Egyptian Army nearly surrounded. With the war escalating, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began to mount. If one of them should join in the war to help out an ally, the other would likely join as well. Many people felt the world was on the brink of WWIII. On October 25, 1973 another cease fire was negotiated. This time the effort was successful and the war came to an end.

Facts About the Yom Kippur War1. Israel had some warning that an attack was coming. Some Israeli generals

wanted to strike first, but Golda Meir refused to attack first as she was worried Israel would lose the support of the United States

2. At the start of the attack and the crossing of the Suez Canal, there were nearly 100,000 Egyptian soldiers against only around 500 Israeli soldiers

3. One of the big advantages that the Israelis had was intelligence supplied by U.S. with its SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. This plane could fly high and fast over the battlefield and relay the positions of enemy troops back to the commanders

4. In response to the U.S. supporting Israel, the Arab oil states (also called OPEC) stopped shipping oil to the United States. This caused the 1973 Oil Crisis.

Soviet Afghanistan War The Soviet Afghanistan War was fought between Afghanistan rebels called the Mujahideen (moo jah he den) and the Soviet supported Afghanistan government. The United States supported the Afghanistan rebels in order to try and overthrow the communist government and to prevent the spread of communism.

Dates: December 24, 1979 – February 15, 1989

Leaders1. Afghanistan: General Secretary Babrak

Karmal and President Mohammad Najibullah

2. Soviet Union: Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev

3. Mujahideen Leaders: Ahmad Shah Massoud (Lion of Panjshir) and Abdul Haq

4. U.S. Presidents: Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan

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Before the War As one of the bordering neighbors, the Soviet Union had a long history of supporting and providing aid to Afghanistan. On April 27, 1978 a Soviet supported communist government took over the country. The new government was called the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). Many of the Afghanistan people did not like the new communist government, primarily because many of the laws went against their Muslim religion. They began to rebel against the current government. The rebels called themselves the Mujahideen. In September of 1979, events in Afghanistan became more unstable when Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin had the current president killed and took control of the communist government.

The War Begins The leaders of the Soviet Union became concerned that President Amin was having discussions with the United States. On December 24, 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. They had President Amin put to death and installed their own leader, President Babrak Karmal.

The War Over the next several years the Soviet Army would battle with the Mujahideen. It was a very difficult battle. Many of the Soviet soldiers were untested in battle and their gear was not designed for the harsh environment of Afghanistan. The Mujahideen soldiers were fighting for their homeland and their religion. They were fierce fighters and had many good places to hide in the mountains As the war continued with little success, it became a source of embarrassment for the Soviet Union. Their army no longer seemed invincible to the rest of the world. The Soviets also came under increasing international pressure. The war was condemned by the United Nations, the US pulled out of the SALT treaty talks, and the US boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

The War Ends When Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union he wanted the war to end. He first tried to increase Soviet troops to end the war quickly. However, this didn’t work. By 1988 Gorbachev realized the war was costing Soviet troops and hurting their economy. He signed a peace treaty to end the war. The last Soviet troops departed Afghanistan on February 15, 1989.