Interwar Years: China

In the years following WWI, the people of China were not happy with the results of the treaties. They felt the Kuomintang did not do well to ensure the will of the people when treaties were being made. Upon the death of Sun Yat-sen, a national government was founded in Canton. The communist party was a major influence in this government. Chiang Kai-shek eventually led campaigns to rule in order to unify the people of China. However, he decided to ostracize the communists and persecute them in Shanghai. Due to the disdain for Chiang and the Kuomintang, peasants of China formed the Red Army, which was under the leadership of Mao Zedong. They embarked on the Long March in which they marched north to Yan’an and gained strength. When the Japanese invaded in 1937, tensions between the two groups only widened and China was a split nation upon entering WWII.