Overview of Chinese history 1911 - 1949 | The 20th century | World history | Khan Academy
Overview of Chinese history 1911 - 1949 | The 20th century | World history | Khan Academy
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Content
0.55 -> For those of you who
are just starting
2.25 -> to learn about the
history of China
4.7 -> in the first half
of the 20th century,
7 -> it can be a little
bit confusing.
9.75 -> So the goal of this video is
really to give you an overview,
13.04 -> to give you a scaffold, of
the history of the first half
17.07 -> of the 20th century in China.
19.98 -> So as we go into
the early 1900s,
22.68 -> you have the end of imperial
dynastic rule in China.
27.39 -> This is a big deal.
28.38 -> China has been ruled
by various dynasties
31.51 -> for multiple thousands of years.
34.67 -> But as you get into the
1900s, the dynastic rule,
38.34 -> in particular the Qing Dynasty,
was getting weaker and weaker.
43.19 -> It had suffered at the
hands of the Japanese
45.67 -> during the first Sino-Japanese
War at the end of the 1800s.
50.31 -> There was growing discontent
amongst the opposition
53.29 -> that the dynasty,
that the emperors,
55.4 -> were not modernizing
China enough.
57.44 -> Remember, this is
the early 1900s.
59.121 -> The rest of the world was
becoming a very, very modern
61.37 -> place.
62.11 -> China in the 1800s had suffered
at the hands of Western powers
66.38 -> who were essentially exerting
their own imperial influence
70.22 -> in China.
71.21 -> Many people felt that this
was because China was not
74.48 -> as modernized
economically, politically,
77.95 -> technologically as
it needed to be.
80.48 -> And so you fast-forward to 1911.
82.86 -> You have what is known as
the Wuchang Uprising, which
86.22 -> led to the overthrow
of the Qing dynasty.
90.4 -> By 1912, a Republic of China
was established in Nanjing.
95.51 -> So Nanjing right over here
was where it was established.
98.47 -> Beijing was, of course, the
seat of dynastic rule in China.
103.55 -> And the first
provisional president
105.87 -> of the Republic of China was Dr.
Sun Yat-sen, right over here.
111.53 -> And he actually did not
directly participate
113.7 -> in this final
uprising that finally
115.97 -> led to the overthrow
of the Qing dynasty.
119.46 -> He was actually in Denver at
the time, Denver, Colorado.
122.66 -> But he was a leading or one of
the leading figures in the run
125.81 -> up to this uprising, one
of the leading figures
127.83 -> who was providing
opposition and had tried
130.449 -> multiple times to
overthrow the dynasty.
133.94 -> Now along with Sun Yat-sen,
he was essentially in cahoots
137.09 -> with Yuan Shikai, who was a
general in the old dynasty.
141.82 -> And he has his own
fascinating history.
144.27 -> And Sun Yat-sen struck
a deal with Yuan Shikai,
147.6 -> who was very
politically ambitious.
150.25 -> Yuan Shikai said, hey, if I
can get the emperor Puyi, who
153.83 -> was the last emperor of China,
if I can get him to officially
157.23 -> abdicate, I want to
become the president.
160.74 -> So Sun Yat-sen agrees to this.
163.32 -> So Yuan Shikai
becomes the president
168.05 -> of the Republic of China.
170.88 -> But that wasn't enough for him.
172.45 -> He declares himself
emperor in 1915,
176.03 -> which you could imagine did
not make many people happy
178.39 -> because they were tired
of having emperors.
181.37 -> And by 1916, he abdicates
and he passes away, actually.
186.99 -> And this actually
begins a period
189.42 -> of extremely fragmented
rule for China.
193.51 -> Even under imperial rule,
the Chinese military
196.44 -> was not one consolidated body.
198.24 -> The military was controlled
by various warlords
201.64 -> in various regions that all
had allegiance to the emperor.
205.59 -> Once you have Yuan Shikai
abdicating and then dying
209.63 -> in 1916, and even
prior to that, when
211.96 -> he declared himself
emperor, people
213.98 -> did not want to pledge
allegiance to Yuan Shikai.
217.22 -> And so you had what is known
as the beginning of the Warlord
220.46 -> Era in China.
222.13 -> And this is a fragmented
period where you did not
224.79 -> have any centralized leadership.
227.85 -> This map over here shows
kind of the rough picture
231.31 -> of what the Warlord
Era looked like.
233.04 -> Each of these regions
were controlled
235.01 -> by a different warlord
who was in charge
237.39 -> of a different military.
239.85 -> When this was going on
during the Warlord Era,
242.44 -> especially as we go back
to the early '20s, in 1921
245.68 -> in particular, Sun
Yat-sen hasn't given up.
249.12 -> He goes to the
south in Guangzhou
252.34 -> and sets up, essentially,
a revolutionary government,
256.51 -> essentially a desire
from there to try
259.82 -> to consolidate power in
China again and reestablish
263.81 -> the Republic of China.
265.97 -> So he goes there.
267.54 -> But unfortunately he passes
away in 1925 from cancer.
272.44 -> And the hands or the power of
the movement that he started,
278.79 -> which is now being referred
to as the Kuomintang-- Let me
282.71 -> write that down.
293.79 -> Essentially, the
power there passes on
296.15 -> to Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek.
300.042 -> And Chiang Kai-shek,
the reason why
301.5 -> we say the power
essentially goes to him
303.166 -> is because he was in
control of the major part
305.53 -> of the military forces
of the Kuomintang.
309.54 -> And this is essentially the
very nascent early stages
313.04 -> of what would essentially
be the Chinese Civil
315.05 -> War because in the period from
1921 until Sun Yat-sen's death,
322.89 -> you actually had a
lot of collaboration
324.99 -> between the Chinese
nationalists, the Kuomintang,
327.59 -> and the Soviet Union, and
the Chinese Communist Party.
331.54 -> They were trying to
collaborate in order
333.91 -> to think about how
China would unify.
336.81 -> But then once Sun Yat-sen dies
and the power of the Kuomintang
341.83 -> essentially goes into the
hands of Generalissimo Chiang
344.89 -> Kai-shek, he starts
to consolidate power.
348.08 -> And right from the
get-go, he doesn't
350.07 -> antagonize the communists.
351.81 -> But by 1927, he's
starting to consolidate,
356.01 -> he's starting to merge
these various factions
361.84 -> in the rest of China.
362.97 -> So he's able to
consolidate power.
364.9 -> But he also starts to
go after the communists.
368.47 -> So Chiang Kai-shek,
by '27, also starts
371.976 -> to go after the communists.
373.1 -> And the communists
are saying, hey, we
374.683 -> are the ones that really
represent the spirit of what
378.11 -> Sun Yat-sen represented,
while the Kuomintang
381.375 -> under the leadership of Chiang
Kai-shek said, no, no, no.
383.75 -> We represent what Sun Yat-sen
represented when he first
388.06 -> established the
Republic of China.
391.33 -> And so in 1927, you have the
beginning of the Chinese Civil
396.531 -> War.
397.03 -> This is when the Kuomintang,
as part of its efforts
399.65 -> to consolidate
power, not only tries
401.55 -> to consolidate power
of the warlords,
403.35 -> but also goes after
the Communist Party.
406.67 -> Now while all of
this is happening,
408.99 -> as we get into the early
1930s, Japan once again
413.21 -> is trying to exert its
imperial, its military,
416.47 -> might on the Chinese mainland.
418.86 -> They had already
captured Formosa,
420.97 -> which is now known
as Taiwan, and Korea
423.4 -> during the first Sino-Japanese
War at the end of the 1800s.
427.34 -> And then in 1931, the Japanese
start to encroach on Manchuria.
436.25 -> And this would essentially
become a multi-year occupation
439.86 -> and infiltration of
Japan into China.
443.96 -> And this continues all
the way until 1937,
446.79 -> when it becomes an
official all-out war
449.35 -> between the Japanese
and the Chinese.
452.87 -> And I have a map
here that shows kind
455.13 -> of the maximum Japanese
control over this period.
460.05 -> And so in east Asia between
the Chinese and the Japanese,
463.25 -> World War II was really just
part of the Sino-Japanese War.
469.44 -> The Japanese had
already encroached
471.78 -> on the mainland of China
well before World War
476.31 -> II had officially begun.
478.79 -> Now while all this
is happening, Japan
481.02 -> is encroaching into Manchuria,
in 1934, you have to remember,
484.64 -> the Kuomintang, the Nationalist
Party under Chiang Kai-shek
488.37 -> is going after the communists.
491.16 -> And in 1934, he almost
has them, or he does.
496.56 -> The communists are
nearly defeated.
500.51 -> They're surrounded by
the Nationalist Party.
502.81 -> And this becomes what
is a fairly famous event
505.59 -> in Chinese history, the
famous Long March, where
508.79 -> the Chinese Communist
Party, their military,
511.41 -> is marched through
extremely tough terrain
514.82 -> all the way to the
northwest of China.
518.33 -> So this right over here is
a map of the Long March.
522.49 -> The Chinese Communist Party
seemed to be on the ropes
526.06 -> here in 1934.
528.37 -> And it was during
this Long March
530.58 -> that Mao Zedong really started
to exert and show leadership.
535.67 -> The leadership during
this Long March,
537.58 -> during this retreat to
the northwest of China,
540.08 -> is really what allowed Mao
Zedong to eventually take
542.95 -> control of the Chinese
Communist Party.
546.18 -> Now as we fast forward, we know
that the Sino-Japanese War--
550.14 -> you could view this as one
theater, eventually, of World
552.7 -> War II-- eventually the
US goes in on the side
556.36 -> of the Allies against
Japan after Pearl Harbor.
559.2 -> And then in 1945,
you have the attacks
565.21 -> on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
with atomic weapons,
567.9 -> which essentially ends
the Pacific theater.
570.64 -> It's defeat for Japan, and
Japan has lost World War II.
576.24 -> And at this point,
full-scale civil war
578.53 -> between the two parties
break out again.
580.72 -> The Civil War started in 1927,
and then it kept continuing.
585.72 -> But then once there was a common
enemy in Japan that was clearly
588.78 -> aggressively trying to take
over more and more of China's
593.14 -> people, resources, exert
its imperial influence,
596.75 -> then you had the two parties
kind of go into a low-grade war
599.37 -> and say, hey, we need
to fight these Japanese.
601.42 -> But once World War
II ended in 1945,
604.88 -> once the Japanese were
defeated, then you
606.67 -> had full-scale
civil war break out
608.53 -> again between the
Chinese Communist
610.1 -> Party and the Kuomintang.
612.26 -> And this is probably one of the
biggest comebacks in history.
614.85 -> This was the Chinese Communist
Party that in 1934 and 1935
618.892 -> looked like they
were on the ropes.
620.35 -> They were forced into,
essentially, retreat.
623.964 -> They were able to come back.
625.13 -> And in 1949-- and
there's a lot of theories
628.48 -> as to why they were
able to pull this off.
631.086 -> That they were able to get
much more of the support
633.8 -> from the rural population.
635.09 -> They were more savvy about
getting support generally
637.46 -> than the Kuomintang.
638.36 -> But we could talk about
that in a future video.
641.07 -> But by 1949, they
were able to defeat
644.29 -> Chiang Kai-shek
and the Kuomintang,
646.77 -> force the Kuomintang
to retreat to Taiwan,
653.77 -> establish government in Taiwan.
656.57 -> And ever since then, you
had the establishment
658.76 -> by the Chinese
Communist Party in 1949
662.44 -> of the People's
Republic of China.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9QtIfPIQl4