Mao Was the Most Important Reason why the Communists Won the Civil War

It has to be argued that there were many reasons why the Communists prevailed victorious in the Chinese Civil war, including the leadership of Mao Zedong. Although I believe that there are several other factors that were very important, I do agree with the statement, and the reasons for this will be seen throughout my answer. As for Mao’s leadership, he had grown up on a farm experiencing China’s hardships first hand. He had later enlisted in the Nationalist army around the time of the revolution. He then went to study at the Beijing University where he was educated the ideas of Communism. Mao became heavily influenced by Marxism which prompted him to join the Chinese Communist Party. Mao patriotism and firm beliefs in Communism allowed him to rapidly gain the position of Communist Party leader. He swiftly took advantage of the unstable relationship between the peasants and the Nationalists by gaining the support of the peasants themselves. Mao’s reputation seemed very good and was established during the Yan’an years because his policy was to build a party involving peasants, (peasants took up a large chunk of China), by running committees that dealt with education, land reform and health, and also to fight with Guerrilla warfare which appeared to be very practical and efficient.

Mao also demonstrated great experience on the battlefield by developing his troops’ skills of fighting guerrilla warfare. Finally and perhaps most importantly, Mao had great motivation and ultimately shared his motivation with his troops as they developed great commitment. They were more driven than their opponents so therefore had an advantage over them. So without the great motivation Mao possessed and the positive relationship he created with the peasants, I think it is extremely likely that the CCP would have found it a very tough struggle to win the Chinese Civil War. However, it must be considered that there were a number of alternative factors that contributed to the Communist victory. Firstly, I believe foreign intervention played a key role. American Aid meant that there was serious weakness in the nationalist regime. Why would people want to support a party that relied on US aid? As expected, and rightly so, Mao was able to point to the fact that Chiang did rely on Aid too much. Also, Stalin was anxious to avoid a confrontation with the USA and he did not wish to be seen to be giving assistance to the Chinese communists. Therefore, many Chinese citizens would have felt the same as Mao and wanted China to keep to itself and not rely on foreign help, leading them to drift away from backing the GMD.