Download Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese military and political leader who led

Chiang Kai-shek
© Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese military and political leader who led the
Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) for five decades and was head of state of
the Chinese Nationalist government between 1928 and 1949.
Chiang Kai-shek (also known as Jiang Jieshi) was born on 31 October 1887 in
Zhejiang, an eastern coastal province of China. His father was a merchant. At the age
of 18 he went to military training college in Japan. He returned to China in 1911 to
take part in the uprising that overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established a Chinese
republic. Chiang became a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (known as the Kuomintang
or KMT), founded by Sun Yat-sen.
Supported by Sun Yat-sen, Chiang was appointed commandant of the Whampoa Military
Academy in Canton in 1924, where he built up the Nationalist army. After Sun's death in 1925,
Chiang became leader of the KMT. He spearheaded the Northern Expedition which reunified
most of China under a National Government based in Nanjing. In 1928, he led the suppression of
the Chinese Communist Party.
Chiang oversaw a modest programme of reform in China but the government's resources were
focused on fighting internal opponents, including the Communists. From 1931, Chiang also had
to contend with a Japanese invasion in Manchuria, in the north-east of China.
In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China. When the United States came into the
war against Japan in 1941, China became one of the Allied Powers. As Chiang's position within
China weakened, his status abroad grew and in November 1943 he travelled to Cairo to meet US
President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His wife, Soong
Mei-ling, travelled with him and became famous in the west as Madame Chiang.
In 1946, civil war broke out between the KMT and the Communists. In 1949, the Communists
were victorious, establishing the People's Republic of China. Chiang and the remaining KMT
forces fled to the island of Taiwan. There Chiang established a government in exile which he led
for the next 25 years. This government continued to be recognised by many countries as the
legitimate government of China, and Taiwan controlled China's seat in the United Nations until
the end of Chiang's life. He died on 5 April 1975.
Benito Mussolini
Mussolini was the founder of Fascism and leader of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He allied
Italy with Nazi Germany and Japan in World War Two.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Predappio in northern
central Italy. His father was a blacksmith. Employment prospects in the area were poor
so in 1902 Mussolini moved to Switzerland, where he became involved in socialist
politics. He returned to Italy in 1904, and worked as a journalist in the socialist press,
but his support for Italy's entry into World War One led to his break with socialism. He
was drafted into the Italian army in September 1915.
In March 1919, Mussolini formed the Fascist Party, galvanising the support of many
unemployed war veterans. He organised them into armed squads known as Black Shirts, who
terrorised their political opponents. In 1921, the Fascist Party was invited to join the coalition
government.
By October 1922, Italy seemed to be slipping into political chaos. The Black Shirts marched on
Rome and Mussolini presented himself as the only man capable of restoring order. King Victor
Emmanuel invited Mussolini to form a government. Mussolini gradually dismantled the
institutions of democratic government and in 1925 made himself dictator, taking the title 'Il
Duce'. He set about attempting to re-establish Italy as a great European power. The regime was
held together by strong state control and Mussolini's cult of personality.
In 1935, Mussolini invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) and incorporated it into his new Italian
Empire. He provided military support to Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Increasing cooperation with Nazi Germany culminated in the 1939 Pact of Steel. Influenced by Hitler,
Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislation in Italy. His declaration of war on Britain
and France in June 1940 exposed Italian military weakness and was followed by a series of
defeats in North and East Africa and the Balkans.
In July 1943, Allied troops landed in Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his
former colleagues in the Fascist government. In September, Italy signed an armistice with the
Allies. The German army began the occupation of Italy and Mussolini was rescued by German
commandos. He was installed as the leader of a new government, but had little power. As the
Allies advanced northwards through Italy, Mussolini fled towards Switzerland. He was captured
by Italian partisans and shot on 28 April 1945.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn on the
Austrian-German border. His father was a customs official. Hitler left
school at 16 with no qualifications and struggled to make a living as a
painter in Vienna. This was where many of his extreme political and
racial ideas originated.
In 1913, he moved to Munich and, on the outbreak of World War One,
enlisted in the German army, where he was wounded and decorated. In
1919, he joined the fascist German Workers' Party (DAP). He played
to the resentments of right-wingers, promising extremist 'remedies' to
Germany's post-war problems which he and many others blamed on
Jews and Bolsheviks. By 1921 he was the unquestioned leader of what
was now the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or
Nazi Party).
In 1923, Hitler attempted an unsuccessful armed uprising in Munich and was imprisoned for nine
months, during which time he dictated his book 'Mein Kampf' outlining his political ideology.
On his release he began to rebuild the Nazi Party and used new techniques of mass
communication, backed up with violence, to get his message across. Against a background of
economic depression and political turmoil, the Nazis grew stronger and in the 1932 elections
became the largest party in the German parliament. In January 1933, Hitler became chancellor of
a coalition government. He quickly took dictatorial powers and began to institute anti-Jewish
laws. He also began the process of German militarisation and territorial expansion that would
eventually lead to World War Two. He allied with Italy and later Japan to create the Axis.
Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 began World War Two. After military successes
in Denmark, Norway and Western Europe, but after failing to subdue Britain in 1941, Hitler
ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Jewish populations of the countries conquered by
the Nazis were rounded up and killed. Millions of others whom the Nazis considered racially
inferior were also killed or worked to death. In December 1941, Hitler declared war on the
United States. The war on the eastern front drained Germany's resources and in June 1944, the
British and Americans landed in France. With Soviet troops poised to take the German capital,
Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin on 30 April 1945.
Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on 30
November 1874 at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. His father
was the prominent Tory politician, Lord Randolph Churchill.
Churchill attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,
before embarking on an army career. He saw action on the
North West Frontier of India and in the Sudan. While working
as a journalist during the Boer War he was captured and made
a prisoner-of-war before escaping.
In 1900, Churchill became Conservative member of
parliament for Oldham. But he became disaffected with his
party and in 1904 joined the Liberal Party. When the Liberals won the 1905 election, Churchill
was appointed undersecretary at the Colonial Office. In 1908 he entered the Cabinet as president
of the Board of Trade, becoming home secretary in 1910. The following year he became first
lord of the Admiralty. He held this post in the first months of World War One but after the
disastrous Dardanelles expedition, for which he was blamed, he resigned. He joined the army,
serving for a time on the Western Front. In 1917, he was back in government as minister of
munitions. From 1919 to 1921 he was secretary of state for war and air, and from 1924-1929 was
chancellor of the exchequer.
The next decade were his 'wilderness years', in which his opposition to Indian self-rule and his
support for Edward VIII during the 'Abdication Crisis' made him unpopular, while his warnings
about the rise of Nazi Germany and the need for British rearmament were ignored. When war
broke out in 1939, Churchill became first lord of the Admiralty. In May 1940, Neville
Chamberlain resigned as prime minister and Churchill took his place. His refusal to surrender to
Nazi Germany inspired the country. He worked tirelessly throughout the war, building strong
relations with US President Roosevelt while maintaining a sometimes difficult alliance with the
Soviet Union.
Churchill lost power in the 1945 post-war election but remained leader of the opposition, voicing
apprehensions about the Cold War (he popularised the term 'Iron Curtain') and encouraging
European and trans-Atlantic unity. In 1951, he became prime minister again. He resigned in
1955, but remained an MP until shortly before his death. As well as his many political
achievements, he left a legacy of an impressive number of publications and in 1953 won the
Nobel Prize for Literature.
Churchill died on 24 January 1965 and was given a state funeral.
Charles de Gaulle
De Gaulle was a French general and statesman, leader of the Free French
during World War Two and the architect of the Fifth Republic. His political
ideology, 'Gaullism', has become a major influence in French politics .
Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille on 22 November 1890 and grew up in Paris,
where his father was a teacher. De Gaulle chose a military career and served with
distinction in World War One.
During the 1930s he wrote books and articles on military subjects, criticising
France's reliance on the Maginot Line for defence against Germany and
advocating the formation of mechanised armoured columns. His advice went
unheeded and, in June 1940, German forces easily overran France. As undersecretary of national defence and war, de Gaulle refused to accept the French
government's truce with the Germans and escaped to London, where he announced the formation
of a French government in exile. He became leader of the Free French.
After the liberation of Paris in August 1944, de Gaulle was given a hero's welcome in the French
capital. As president of the provisional government, he guided France through the writing of the
constitution on which the Fourth Republic was based. However, when his desires for a strong
presidency were ignored, he resigned. An attempt to transform the political scene with a new
party failed, and in 1953 he withdrew into retirement again.
In 1958, a revolt in French-held Algeria, combined with serious instability within France,
destroyed the Fourth Republic. De Gaulle returned to lead France once more. The French people
approved a new constitution and voted de Gaulle president of the Fifth Republic. Strongly
nationalistic, de Gaulle sought to strengthen his country financially and militarily. He sanctioned
the development of nuclear weapons, withdrew France from NATO and vetoed the entry of
Britain into the Common Market. He also granted independence to Algeria in the face of strong
opposition at home and from French settlers in Algeria.
In May 1968, violent demonstrations by university students shook de Gaulle's government. A
general strike followed, paralysing France and jeopardising the Fifth Republic. De Gaulle held
elections and the country rallied to him, ending the crisis. In April 1969, De Gaulle resigned the
presidency after losing a referendum on a reform proposal. He retired to his estate at Colombeyles-Deux-Eglises and died of a heart attack on 9 November 1970.
Joseph Stalin
One of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history, Stalin was the supreme
ruler of the Soviet Union for a quarter of a century. His regime of terror caused the
death and suffering of tens of millions, but he also oversaw the war machine that
played a key role in the defeat of Nazism.
Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was born on 18 December 1879 in Gori, Georgia,
which was then part of the Russian empire. His father was a cobbler and Stalin grew
up in modest circumstances. He studied at a theological seminary where he began to
read Marxist literature. He never graduated, instead devoting his time to the
revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchy. He spent the next 15 years as
an activist and on a number of occasions was arrested and exiled to Siberia.
Stalin was not one of the decisive players in the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, but he soon
rose through the ranks of the party. In 1922, he was made general secretary of the Communist
Party, a post not considered particularly significant at the time but which gave him control over
appointments and thus allowed him to build up a base of support. After Lenin's death in 1924,
Stalin promoted himself as his political heir and gradually outmanoeuvred his rivals. By the late
1920s, Stalin was effectively the dictator of the Soviet Union.
His forced collectivisation of agriculture cost millions of lives, while his programme of rapid
industrialisation achieved huge increases in Soviet productivity and economic growth but at great
cost. Moreover, the population suffered immensely during the Great Terror of the 1930s, during
which Stalin purged the party of 'enemies of the people', resulting in the execution of thousands
and the exile of millions to the gulag system of slave labour camps.
These purges severely depleted the Red Army, and despite repeated warnings, Stalin was ill
prepared for Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. His political future, and that of the
Soviet Union, hung in the balance, but Stalin recovered to lead his country to victory. The human
cost was enormous, but was not a consideration for him.
After World War Two, the Soviet Union entered the nuclear age and ruled over an empire which
included most of eastern Europe. Increasingly paranoid, Stalin died of a stroke on 5 March 1953.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Roosevelt was the only US president elected to office four times
and led his country through two of the greatest crises of the 20th
century - the Great Depression and World War Two.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on 30 January 1882 at his
family's estate in New York State. His father was a businessman.
He attended Harvard and Columbia University Law School, but
had little enthusiasm for the legal profession. In 1905, he married
Eleanor Roosevelt, a distant cousin and niece of President
Theodore Roosevelt. Five years later, Roosevelt was elected to the
New York Senate, where he quickly came to national attention as a rising Democratic politician.
From 1913 to 1920 - which included the years of World War One - Roosevelt was assistant
secretary of the navy, where he achieved a reputation as a capable young administrator.
In 1921, Roosevelt suddenly fell ill with polio and was left unable to walk without braces or a
cane. It seemed to signal the end of his career, but through his determination and the support of
his wife, who often acted as his substitute at political meetings, he returned to work. In 1928,
Roosevelt was elected governor of New York and in 1932 became the Democratic nominee for
president, winning by a landslide. He came to power when the Great Depression was at its worst.
He ushered in the 'New Deal' programme (1933 - 1938) to provide relief for the unemployed, and
then jobs, as well as attempting to reform and strengthen the American economy.
Roosevelt won a second term in 1936 and an unprecedented third term in 1940. While initially
keeping America out of World War Two, he provided financial assistance and equipment to
Britain and its allies. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour brought America into the war and
Roosevelt took the lead in establishing a grand alliance among the countries fighting the Axis
powers. He also devoted time to the planning of the post-war workload, particularly the
establishment of the United Nations. Full economic recovery, which had not responded to
Roosevelt's efforts throughout the 1930s, was achieved as a consequence of massive government
spending on war production. Roosevelt died in office on 12 April 1945, less than a month before
Germany's unconditional surrender.
Harry S. Truman
Truman was the 33rd president of the United States who oversaw the end of World
War Two, including the atomic bombing of Japan, and the new challenges of the Cold
War.
Harry Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, on 8 May 1884. After leaving school he
held a series of clerical positions, as well as farming. In 1917, he joined the US Army
and fought in World War One. He returned home in 1919 and married Bess Wallace.
They had one daughter.
In 1923, he was appointed a judge in Jackson County, a mainly administrative position,
and in his spare time studied at Kansas City Law School. He became active in Democrat politics
in Missouri and was elected to the senate in 1934 and re-elected in 1940. In 1941, he headed the
Truman Committee investigating waste and fraud in the US defence programme. It was
estimated to have saved around $15 billion and made Truman a national figure.
Franklin Roosevelt selected Truman as vice president in 1944. In April 1945, with the end of
World War Two in sight, Roosevelt died and Truman became president. With very little
preparation he faced huge responsibilities in the final months of the war, including authorising
the use of the atomic bomb against Japan, and planning the post-war world. Two months after
taking office he witnessed the signing of United Nations Charter.
Truman was unable to achieve many of his immediate post-war domestic aims because of
opposition within his own party and the Republican Party regaining control of congress. In
foreign policy, he responded to the growing threat from the Soviet Union. He issued the Truman
Doctrine, justifying support for any country the US believed to be threatened by communism. He
introduced the Marshall Plan, which spent more than $13 billion in rebuilding Europe. When the
Soviets blockaded the western sectors of Berlin in the summer of 1948, Truman authorised a
massive airlift of supplies until the Soviets backed down. The fear of the spread of communism
in Europe led to the establishment in 1949 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a
defence alliance between Western European countries, Canada and the US.
Truman expected to lose the 1948 presidential election as his pro-civil rights actions had
alienated many southern Democrats. Nonetheless, he won and foreign policy again dominated in
his second term. In the summer of 1950, he authorised US military involvement in the Korean
War.
Truman retired from politics in 1952 and died in Kansas City on 26 December 1972.
Hirohito
Hirohito was Emperor of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. His
role in Japan's government in the World War Two remains highly
controversial.
Hirohito was born in Tokyo on 29 April 1901, the eldest son of Crown
Prince Yoshihito. His father became emperor when Hirohito was 11.
In 1921, Hirohito went on a six-month tour of Europe, becoming the first
member of the Japanese imperial family to travel abroad. He married an
imperial princess, Nagako, in 1924 and they had seven children. Hirohito
became emperor when his father died in 1926.
The emperor was regarded as divine by many Japanese. In reality he had little power, with
civilian and increasingly military officials deciding national policy. He reluctantly supported the
invasion of Manchuria and the war against China, and attempted to encourage cooperation with
Britain and the USA. However, he had no choice but to approve the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor that led to war between Japan and the United States in December 1941. Despite his lack
of enthusiasm over the decision to go to war, he was pleased with the Japanese military and
naval successes that followed. He frequently appeared in military uniform to raise morale.
By the spring of 1945, the defeat of Japan seemed imminent. The Japanese government was
deeply divided between military leaders who favoured continuing the war and civilians who
wanted to negotiate for peace. Hirohito appears to have favoured peace. Following the atomic
bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito insisted that Japan surrender. On 15 August
1945, he made a radio broadcast announcing the end of the war - this was the first time the
people of Japan had heard the voice of their emperor.
Some Allied leaders wanted to try Hirohito as a war criminal. General Douglas MacArthur, who
was in charge of the United States' occupying forces in Japan, felt it would be easier to introduce
democratic reforms if Hirohito stayed in office. Hirohito nonetheless repudiated his divine status.
In the post-war years, Hirohito travelled throughout Japan to see the progress of reconstruction
and to win popularity for the imperial family. He also represented Japan abroad. He was very
interested in marine biology and published numerous scholarly works in this field.
Hirohito died of cancer on 7 January 1989 at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and was succeeded by
his son Akihito.
Hideki Tojo
Hideki Tojo was born in 1884 and died in 1948. Hideki Tojo was Prime
Minister of Japan when the attack onPearl Harbour took place plunging
the Far East into a war which was to end with the destruction
ofHiroshima in August 1945. For his part in leading Japan into World
War Two, Tojo was executed as a war criminal.
Tojo was born in Tokyo and decided on a career in the army. He did well
at military college and served as a military attaché in Germany shortly
after the end of World War One. Tojo became the leader of the
militarists in Japan and despised what he considered to be weak civilian
politicians. His views were shared by many in the public and in the 1930’s the army and all it
represented was held in much greater esteem that politicians in general. This became even
more so after the army’s victories in Manchuria from 1931 on.
In the summer of 1940, Tojo became Minister of War in the government and he saw that
Japan’s future lay with the European dictators – especially Hitler – who were much admired in
Japan. While the European dictators were admired and respected in Japan, the opposite was
true for America. The people of America were thought of as decadent, lazy and without
scruples compared to the disciplined workforce of Japan that worshipped their emperor,
Hirohito.
As Minister of War, Tojo made it clear that Japan should push south in the Far East and take
land owned by European nations. On October 14th, 1941, Tojo was appointed Prime Minister of
Japan. By this date, he was convinced that a war with America could not be avoided and he put
Japan on a full war alert. He decided that a massive knock-out blow would be sufficient to
remove America from the Pacific. As a result, Tojo authorised the attack on Pearl Harbour in
December 1941.
The huge success enjoyed by the Japanese Army in the months immediately following Pearl
Harbour, strengthened Tojo’s standing in Japan – especially when the British Army surrendered
at Singapore andDouglas MacArthur withdrew American forces from the Philippines.
However, it was only a matter of time before the Americans and their allies organised
themselves in the Pacific. As the Americans advanced throughout the many islands in the
Pacific, Japan came into range of American bombers. With bombing raids reducing a lot of
Japan to rubble, the emperor, Hirohito, believed that Tojo had lost control of events and Tojo
offered his resignation on July 9th, 1944.
In November 1948, Tojo was put on trial as a war criminal. He was accused of instigating
Japan’s aggressive foreign policy in the early 1940’s and of permitting the appalling abuse of
prisoners-of-war, contrary to the Geneva Convention. He was found guilty and hanged.
Citation: C N Trueman "Hideki Tojo"
historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 26 May 2015. 19 Feb 2016.