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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
Why Chiang Kai-shek lost the civil war is still one of the main topics of study for Kuomintang scholars in Taiwan to this day.
Regarding Chiang Kai-shek's defeat, scholars in the Taiwan region can be said to have "made every excuse" for him. Anyway, the defeat in the civil war was not Chiang Kai-shek's pot.
(Chiang Kai-shek)
One of the ideas is very interesting, and the one who put it forward was Jiang Yongjing. Chiang Yongjing believed that the main reason for Chiang Kai-shek's loss of the civil war was caused by Marshall, a high-ranking member of the US military...
1. Marshall's tendencies
Although this view seems very outrageous, in fact there is some truth to it. After Marshall came to China, he did have a wonderful "game" with Chiang Kai-shek.
(Jiang Yongjing)
After the end of World War II in 1945, the contradictions between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were once again put on the forefront. The civil war can be said to be on the verge of breaking out, in order to mediate the contradictions between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. U.S. President Harry S. Truman appointed Marshall as a special envoy and ordered him to go to China to mediate the contradictions between the two parties.
This is the main reason why Marshall came to China, he did not come to support Chiang Kai-shek, but to restrain Chiang Kai-shek. Because at this time, our party did not want to fight a civil war, and the initiative of whether to start a civil war or not was in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek. But after Marshall came to China, Chiang Kai-shek also had to look at Marshall's face.
For Marshall, and the United States behind him, they don't really want China to be in a civil war at this time. Because once a civil war breaks out, it means that China will have the possibility of "falling into the hands of the Communist Party", which the United States is unwilling to accept. But the United States also did not want the Communists to be wiped out, because the Communists were in fact a powerful counterweight to Chiang Kai-shek.
(Chiang Kai-shek)
But the United States also does not want China to maintain the status quo, because if the status quo of military confrontation between the two parties in China cannot be changed, then the outbreak of civil war is inevitable. The United States hopes to create a "new model" in China, a "peaceful situation" in which the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are in power, with the Kuomintang in a strong position and the Communist Party in a weak position.
This will not only plunge China into long-term internal friction, but also ensure that China will never fall to the Soviet Union. And this China is also a member of the US camp, which has created a "model" for the world. In other words, the Communist Party does not have to violently seize power, but it can also divide power. In other words, the United States hopes that our party will follow the line of "parliamentary struggle."
In addition, Marshall's personal impression of Chiang Kai-shek was actually very bad. Marshall himself was a close friend of General Stilwell, and Stilwell's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek before he left China could be described as quite bad. Stilwell put it this way: "Chiang Kai-shek, the head of a one-party government, supported by the Gestapo and secret services, has always been contemptuous of American efforts. ”
(Marshall)
But such a man who neither supported the Kuomintang nor hated Chiang Kai-shek was extremely prestigious in China at that time. Ma Yinchu once described Marshall as follows: "China's governance is chaotic, but the 'horse' is the first to look forward." It can be seen that China at that time still had great expectations for Marshall's arrival, and even Chiang Kai-shek thought so.
2. The bewildered Chiang Kai-shek
At first, Chiang Kai-shek did not take Marshall too seriously. Because the U.S. government has made it clear that it will help the Kuomintang army and transport troops to northeast China. In Chiang Kai-shek's view, this was already a clear support for the United States. What's more, Truman had made it clear in his statement that the Communist Party should abandon its "independent army."
Marshall, who represented Truman's attitude, joined the "Kuomintang-Communist and U.S. Tripartite Military Group" for the first time after he arrived in China, and made it clear that he did not support the Communist Party's attitude of retaining the army. This action also made Chiang Kai-shek believe that Marshall was here to help him.
(Marshall in Yan'an)
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek, because he won the War of Resistance Against Japan, also gained great popularity. When he returned to Nanjing, he was moved to tears when he saw the crowd welcoming him on the road. But after being moved, Chiang Kai-shek's old mistake of arrogance was repeated, and he felt that he had dominated post-war China and was already "expected by all."
He not only received the "support of the people", but also the support of the United States, and even signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-shek, who believed that he had the support of the two superpowers and the Chinese people, naturally took it for granted that Marshall was here to help him.
Because of Marshall's arrival, Chiang Kai-shek even demanded that Chifeng and Duolun, which had already been taken over by the Eighth Route Army, must also be re-accepted by the Kuomintang. However, this further worsened Marshall's perception of Chiang Kai-shek, and on the night of January 9, 1946, Marshall approached Chiang Kai-shek to explain his interests, so that Chiang Kai-shek reluctantly gave up his original plan.
(Chiang Kai-shek)
It was precisely because of this incident that Chiang Kai-shek began to doubt Marshall's position for the first time. And as the negotiations deepened, Chiang Kai-shek became more and more suspicious of whether Marshall was really here to help him. This is because Marshall's preparations for the new government were very biased towards China's democratic parties, such as the Democratic League.
What made Chiang Kai-shek even more intolerable was that Marshall tried to bring the Communist Party into the new government. Marshall's reasons for doing this have already been explained. Marshall wanted to build a multi-party coalition government in China, and the Communist Party was naturally among the "multi-party" governments.
For example, the "Provisional Council of State" prepared by Marshall consisted of nine members of the Kuomintang, six members of the Communist Party, one member of the Democratic League, one member of the Al-Shabaab, and finally one member of independents. According to Marshall's plan, 50 percent of China's new government should be Kuomintang, 30 percent Communists, and 20 percent other parties and independents.
(Marshall)
Chiang Kai-shek was quite shocked by this attitude of the United States, because objectively speaking, this approach of the United States was indeed a complete failure to consider the problem from Chiang Kai-shek's point of view.
Chiang Kai-shek also wrote in his diary: "It can be seen that the estrangement between the guest secretary and the adviser on the politics of other countries, if he has no opinion, he will not only make a mistake, but will also be able to destroy the country because of this, and it will be extremely dangerous! ”
Chiang Kai-shek believed that the US government and Marshall did not understand the situation in China at this time, so they made all kinds of "wrong decisions." But Chiang Kai-shek never thought that perhaps the Americans themselves were acting from their own point of view and were only considering the national interests of the United States.
3. Tear your face
Marshall's plan, however, may have been doomed from the start. Marshall wanted Chiang Kai-shek to abandon one-party dictatorship and democratize China in its entirety. But this in itself is impossible, Chiang Kai-shek represents the interests of the big landlords, the big capitalist class, and these people have always been a minority in China.
(Marshall)
If Chiang Kai-shek gave up the one-party dictatorship, then the collapse of the Kuomintang in China would be inevitable. Chiang Kai-shek was a power animal who had been pursuing supreme power in China for decades. And 1946 was the year he was closest to his dream, and the year he was least likely to give up power.
As far as our party is concerned, the profound lessons of the past have proved that it is completely unrealistic to abandon its own armament and is a collective suicide. After the end of the Northern Expedition, everything that happened to our party was the consequence of abandoning its arms. We can do without armed struggle, but we must ensure our armed presence.
After all, it's one thing to use a sword or not, and another thing to have a sword or not. Faced with this situation, Marshall was also at a loss, and he went to Lushan to try to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to give up starting a civil war. I also kept meeting with the representatives of our party in the hope that our party would make concessions. Our party also gave a promise that if Chiang Kai-shek was willing to democratize, then our party was willing to make certain concessions.
(Truman)
But Chiang Kai-shek, on his part, never let go. Every time Marshall climbed Lushan, Chiang Kai-shek would raise his price again. The repeated increase also exhausted Marshall's patience with Chiang Kai-shek's government. And Marshall's year in China also made him deeply understand one point, that is, the Chiang Kai-shek clique is simply stubborn and incurable.
At the end of 1946, Marshall returned to the United States, and in 1947, Marshall was appointed U.S. Secretary of State. Marshall was well aware of what could and could not be done with China. Therefore, during the establishment of New China in 1947-1949, the U.S. State Department always held a non-supportive attitude towards the Chiang Kai-shek clique.
Marshall was also the highest-ranking official in the U.S. government to firmly oppose support for the Chiang Kai-shek clique. During Marshall's one-year stay in China, his wife also came to China and watched the whole process of Marshall's mediation. Even Marshall's wife said: "Song Meiling's vision is far above her husband Mr. Jiang." ”
Perhaps it was precisely because of the bad relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and Marshall, as well as the bad impression left by the Kuomintang on Marshall, that Marshall was ultimately unwilling to let go on the issue of aid to China. Objectively speaking, Marshall did make a "contribution" to the downfall of Chiang Kai-shek.
Resources:
Yang Yuqing." The collision between the "Supreme Commander" and the "Minister of Mission"——The game between Chiang Kai-shek and Marshall during the American mediation period[J].Jinyang Academic Journal,2017,(03):38-44.)
Wu Xuedong.The inside story of the "abandonment" of Chiang Kai-shek's regime by the United States[J].Wenshi Chunqiu,1998,(05):71-77.