Important events that happened during the Long March
Click on the headings below to read about the important events that happened during the Long March.
The Communists met the Nationalist troops at the Xiang River and a five-day battle ensued. Over 30 000 Communists were killed and many possessions were destroyed. The battle was a defeat for the Communists. Mao Zedong argued that to avoid GMD troops they needed to head west instead of east to Hunan.
After crossing the Wu River and capturing the city of Zunyi under the guise of Nationalist soldiers, the Communists were able to replenish their food supplies. At a meeting of the leaders of the CCP (known as the Zunyi Conference 15-18 January 1935), Mao was voted the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Communist Party. The effective leader of the CCP and the Comintern appointees, Bo Gu and Otto Braun were demoted.
The following video excerpt below provides an insight into the significance of the Zunyi Conference.
After moving south and then turning north, the Communists eluded the Nationalists and crossed the Yangzi River where it became the Golden Sands River.
After repeated attempts the Communists were forced to cross the fast fllowing Dadu River at the poorly repaired Luding Bridge. Under Nationalist fire a small group of soldiers secured the bridge. With only a few planks intact, the soldiers held onto bare chains and used grenades to destroy the GMD forces.
The Communists faced a new kind of threat when they crossed the Great Snowy Mountains. While climbing over the 4 200 metre summit they had to contend with hail, deep snow, crevasses, altitude sickness and frostbite. Inadequately dressed, many died from exposure, pneumonia and heart failure. One observer described the survivors as a 'scarecrow pack of 20 000 ghosts' (Greenup, 1988 p 62). Note that survival rates vary between sources.
The marchers met up with another Communist group led by Zhang Guotao. Zhang refused to travel north-east with Mao's group and established a 'western column' to travel south-west to establish a soviet. Zhu De accompanied Zhang's column. Mao Zedong and Red Army divisions led by commanders Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai organised the 'eastern column'. Their plan was to cross the marsh land and begin a soviet in Shaanxi to establish a national government that would be united to fight the Japanese.
In heavy rain the high grasslands were fields of mud through which the Communists were guided by grass ropes made by Red Army scouts. In a treacherous crossing lasting seven days, it is estimated that 32 000 to 40 000 marchers died. Most survived on barley, grass, weeds and leather as food was scarce. Dysentery was widespread and men froze or were swallowed up by mud.
The Red Army faced a GMD division on the summit of the 300 metre cliffs beside the Lazikou Pass. Sixty Red Army soldiers approached the Nationalists from the rear and defeated them. The passage through the Lazikou Pass enabled the communists to progress to the Gansu province where they were attacked by the local warlord's troops.
The survivors finally arrived at the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Soviet 19 October 1935 and established a base in the isolated and infertile hills around the small town of Yan'an. Of the original 100,000 only 5000 to 6000 of the marchers survived, many had died and others settled along the route. During the next year they were joined by the remnants of Zhang Guotao and Zhu De's Red Army 'western column'.
Yan'an was to be an important communist base over the next twelve years. It was here that Maoism was developed and a war was conducted against the Japanese.
For information about the individuals identified below, go to the Biographies in the Chinese history toolbox 
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Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai, Zhou Enlai
Click on the 'open' button below to view a video about the Zunyi Conference January 1935.
Text alternative Zunyi conference
A Politburo meeting was called, a meeting which dramatically reversed party policy and reshuffled its leadership. For the first time after fourteen years under the direction of the USSR, the fate of the Chinese Communist Party was to be guided by a Chinese communist, Mao Zedong. Mao offered a style of leadership the Communists needed. A style that would grip the emotions as well as the intellect, that could identify and plausibly exaggerate the few elements of hope in an otherwise bleak prospect.
Spoken by Tony Lawrence: 'First of all they would issue a national appeal to the whole of China to fight the Japanese and that was going to be very important later on. That attracted a lot of patriotic people who didn't care tuppence for politics but bitterly resented the presence of Japanese troops on Chinese soil. That was one big decision.
Then the other decision was that they would not just move in a straight line, which is what they had been doing. It was fatal if you have airforces waiting for you. They only have to measure the progress on a ruler and they will be waiting for you just where they like. After this the Red Army did many diversionary marches, big day tours, avoiding the enemy, drawing the enemy off in one direction while the main force went in another. It became a great series of complicated movements on the map. But roughly they were the two big decisions at Zunyi and by and large they paid off.'
From Zunyi on, Maoist thought would greatly influence every aspect of the communist struggle. On the battlefield, commanders were to keep men informed of any major decision and be more sympathetic to their problems, a move which would prove to be a major boost to morale. Cadres were continually to espouse the aims of the communist movement to the troops, who were in turn to pass them on to the peasants with whom they made contact. Mao also began an education campaign using ingenious techniques to create an army that could read and write.
Copyright Ausdrama 1986, reproduced with their permission. Clip found at Australian screen http://aso.gov.au/
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Watch the video about the Zunyi conference and then answer the following questions.
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