Communist China timeline

Communism in China
Nationalism was also a powerful influence in China at the end of World War I. Chinese nationalists were able to overthrow the Qing Dynasty in 1912, a dynasty that had ruled China since the 1600s. The new government was called the Republic of China, which declared that one of its aims would be an end to foreign control in China’s affairs. The leading political party was called the Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Party, led by a man named Sun Yixian. Unfortunately, the new government was not able to either bring order to China or help the Chinese people. Many people were killed as robbers and thieves roamed the countryside. Agriculture was wrecked and many Chinese faced famine. World War I took the attention of most people away from the problems of China, and at the end of the war European politicians signed the Treaty of Versailles, restoring the government of Sun Yixian and giving Japan control of some Chinese territory.
Many young Chinese were angry about the treaty and wanted an end to what they felt was the failed government of Sun Yixian and the Kuomintang. They were disillusioned with western style democracy and looked to Russia and their Communist Revolution as an alternative. In 1921 a group of young Chinese men, including a young teacher, Mao Zedong, met in Shanghai to form the first Chinese Communist Party.
After Sun Yixian died, the new head of the Kuomintang, Jiang Jieshi, tried to make alliances with the new Chinese Communist Party, and for some years the two groups worked together to try and bring order to China. Eventually though, Jiang Jieshi and the Kuomintang government turned on the communists and many of them were killed. In 1929, Jiang Jieshi announced the formation of his new government, the Nationalist Republic of China.
Mao Zedong survived the attack on the communists by Jiang Jieshi’s government and he decided that his future and the future of the communist party in China would be found in the countryside with support from the peasants. A civil war began between Mao and his communist followers and the Nationalist government of Jiang Jieshi. In 1933 Mao led his followers, over 600,000 people, into the mountains to escape being defeated by the nationalist government. They walked nearly 6,000 miles to avoid capture. This journey is known as the Long March, and Chinese communists today look back at this time as a sign of Mao’s dedication to his cause and to what he felt was the cause of the Chinese people.
The Chinese communists and the Nationalist forces had to call a temporary truce during World War II as both groups fought to keep the Japanese from taking over China. At the war’s end the truce ended. Civil war between the two groups raged from 1946 until 1949, when Mao’s communists, now called the Red Army, swept the Nationalist government from power. In October 1949, Mao proclaimed the creation of the People’s Republic of China, a communist government that now led one of the largest countries in the world.
Mao tried to reorganize all of China along communist lines of collective ownership of farms and factories. Private ownership was eliminated and production quotas were set for agriculture and industry. He decided in 1958 to organize all farms into large collectives, where all ownership and decision making would be in the hands of the government. This program was known as the Great Leap Forward because Mao thought tremendous positive changes would follow. In fact, many Chinese farmers did not like the large farms. They missed their own land and because they no longer owned anything themselves, they had little reason to work very hard. A series of crop failures in the late 1950s made everything even worse, and China went through a period of famine. The Great Leap Forward was abandoned in 1960.
After the failure of this program, some in China began to suggest that private ownership might not be a bad idea. Farmers and factory workers began to do some work for themselves and Mao saw his ideal of a classless society, one where everyone was treated exactly the same and no one had more than anyone else, drifting away. His response was to announce the Cultural Revolution in 1966. He urged students to leave school and make war on anything in Chinese society that looked like it was encouraging class differences. Many students were organized into an army known as the Red Guards. It was their job to single out and remove anyone who was preventing China from becoming a really classless society. Mao wanted China to become a nation of farmers and workers, all of whom would be equal. Leaders in the Chinese community who seemed to be in higher positions were attacked. Business managers, college professors, even government officials who were not in step with the Cultural Revolution were thrown out. Some were put into prison; others were actually killed. The result was chaos. The Cultural Revolution raged on for almost ten years, at which time even Mao himself had to admit it had been a mistake. In 1976 the Red Guard was ended and gradually order returned to China.

Mao died in 1976 and by 1980 Deng Xiaoping was named the leader of China. Though Deng had been with Mao since the days of the Long March, he was more moderate in his ideas about the path China should follow. He began to allow farmers to own some of their own land and make decisions about what they would grow. He allowed some private businesses to organize, and he opened China to foreign investment and technological advances. He found that openness to western business also meant that the Chinese people were also exposed to western ideas. In 1989, when communist governments were under siege in a number of places around the world, China went through a period of student protests that resulted in a huge demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Over 10,000 students gathered to protest what they felt was corruption in the Chinese government. They called for a move toward democracy. The world watched as Deng Xiaoping ordered thousands of soldiers into Beijing to end the protest. The students even went so far as to raise a statue they called the Goddess of Democracy, modeled on America’s Statue of Liberty. On June 4, 1989, the Chinese government ordered the soldiers in Tiananmen Square to break up the demonstration. They fired on the students, destroyed the statue of the Goddess of Democracy, and arrested thousands of people. The brief pro- democracy movement was destroyed as well, and Deng Xiaoping was left in control. He held power until his death in 1997.
Mao and Communist China Timeline
Using your worksheet complete the list of events and their impact below. Create your own question about each event and answer them on a separate sheet of paper.

Date	Event that happened on that date	State the event in a question
1600’s	The start of the Qing Dynasty.	When did the Qing Dynasty start?
1912	The Nationalists overthrow the Qing Dynasty.	How did the Qing Dynasty end?
1921
1929
1933
1946
1949
Oct. 1949
1958
1960
1966
1976
1976
1989
June 4, 1989
1997

General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Order of the Day

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS 

ALLED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. 

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeat, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Front have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

                                                                       Dwight D. Eisenhower

Attack on Pearl Harbor

 Pearl Harbor: A Surprise Attack on America

On December 7, 1941, the U.S. Naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was under air attack by Japanese fighter planes. Japan sent 353 planes in a surprise raid on Pearl Harbor that resulted in 2,334 U.S. servicemen casualties and 1,143 wounded.

Before Pearl Harbor

September 1940. The U.S. placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel, due to Japan’s takeover of northern French Indochina.

April 1941. The Japanese signed a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union to help prevent an attack from that direction if they were to go to war with Britain or the U.S. while taking a bigger bite out of Southeast Asia.

June 1941 through the end of July 1941. Japan occupied southern Indochina. Two days later, the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands froze Japanese assets. This prevented Japan from buying oil, which would, in time, cripple its army and make its navy and air force completely useless.

Toward the end of 1941. With the Soviets seemingly on the verge of defeat by the Axis powers, Japan seized the opportunity to try to take the oil resources of Southeast Asia. The U.S. wanted to stop Japanese expansion but the American people were not willing to go to war to stop it. The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw from China and Indochina, but would have settled for a token withdrawal and a promise not to take more territory.

Prior to December 1941, Japan pursued two simultaneous courses: try to get the oil embargo lifted on terms that would still let them take the territory they wanted, and…to prepare for war.

After becoming Japan’s premier in mid-October, General Hideki Tojo secretly set November 29 as the last day on which Japan would accept a settlement without war.

The Japanese military was asked to devise a war plan. They proposed to sweep into Burma, Malaya, the East Indies, and the Philippines, in addition to establishing a defensive perimeter in the central and southwest Pacific. They expected the U.S. to declare war but not to be willing to fight long or hard enough to win. Their greatest concern was that the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based in Pearl Harbor could foil their plans. As insurance, the Japanese navy undertook to cripple the Pacific Fleet by a surprise air attack.

Foreshadows of Attack

The U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew an attack was imminent. A warning had been sent from Washington, but it arrived too late. Early warning radar was new technology. Japanese planes were spotted by radar before the attack, but they were assumed to be a flight of American B-17s due in from the West Coast.

The Attack

On December 7^th, 1941, on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning on a beautiful Hawaiian island, the first wave of Japanese airplanes left six aircraft carriers and struck Pearl Harbor a few minutes before 8AM local time.

In two waves of terror lasting two long hours, they killed or wounded over 3,500 Americans and sank or badly damaged 18 ships—including all 8 battleships of the Pacific Fleet—and over 350 destroyed or damaged aircraft. At least 1,177 lives were lost when the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona exploded and subsequently sank.

However, they did not sink any of our Pacific aircraft carriers and they left most of the fuel that was needed to win the war in the Pacific.

In one stroke, the Japanese navy scored a brilliant success—and assured their ultimate defeat. The Japanese attack brought the U.S. into the war on December 8—and brought it in the war determined to fight to the finish.

(adapted from Pearl Habor.org 2001)

The Policies of Prosperity

The Policies of Prosperity

Trade and Arms Control

         Before World War I the United States had owed billions of dollars more to foreign investors than foreigners owed to Americans. By the end of the war…

The Dawes Plan

The United States’ former wartime allies had difficulty making the payments on their immense war debts. They claimed that high American tariffs had closed the American market to their products and hampered their economic recovery. If they could not sell their products in the United States, they could not acquire the money they needed to pay off their war debts. They also argued that the United States should be willing to bear more of the financial burden because it had suffered far fewer wartime casualties than its allies.

         The United States government took the stance that American taxpayers should not be asked to assume the debts of others. American officials argued further that America’s allies had gained new territory as a result of the victory over Germany, while United States had gained nothing. These countries also were receiving reparations—huge cash payments Germany was required to make as punishment for starting the war and causing so much destruction. These payments, however, were completely crippling the German economy.

         It was vital for the United States that European economies be healthy so that the Europeans could buy American exports and repay their war debt. Thus, in 1924, Charles G. Dawes, an American banker and diplomat, negotiated an agreement with France, Britain, and Germany by which American banks would make loans to the Germans that would enable them to meet their reparations payments. At the same time, Britain and France would accept less in reparations and pay more on their war debts.

         Although well intended, the Dawes Plan did little to ease Europe’s economic problems. Britain, France, and Germany went through the motions of paying what they owed while in fact going deeper into debt to American banks and corporations.

1920s Slang Expressions

1920s Slang Expressions

All wet—wrong, mistaken

Applesauce—an expletive, same as horsefeathers

Baloney—nonsense

Banana oil—nonsense, insincere flattery

Bank’s closed—no kissing or making out

Bee’s knees—an excellent person or thing

Beeswax—business

Belly laugh—a loud, deep laugh

Blind date—a date between two people who do not know each other, usually arranged by a mutual friend.

Big Cheese—an important person

Bull session—an informal group discussion

Bump off—murder

Cake-eater—a ladies’ man

Carry a Torch—to have a crush on someone

Cash- a kiss

Cash or check?—do you kiss now or later?

Cat’s meow—something, admirable or wonderful

Cheaters—eyeglasses

Check—kiss me later

Copacetic—first-rate, excellent

Darb—an excellent person or thing

Dogs—human feet

Drugstore cowboy—a fashionable man who spends his time in public places trying to pick up women

Ducky—very good

Dumb dora—an unintelligent female

Fall guy—someone who takes the blame for the crimes of others, a scapegoat

Flapper—a fashionable young woman of the 1920s, typically with short, bobbed hair, a short skirt, and stockings rolled to her knees.

Flat tire—boring person

Frame—to make someone appear guilty of a crime by giving false evidence or testimony

Gam—a woman’s leg

Gatecrasher—an uninvited guest, a person who attends an event without paying admission

Giggle water—an alcoholic drink

Gold digger—a woman who seduces a man for money of gifts

Goofy—silly

Hair of the dog—a shot of alcohol

Hard-boiled—tough, unfeeling

Heebie-jeebies—nervous jitters

Hep—wise

High-hat—to coldly ignore, to snub

Hooch—illegal, usually low-quality liquor

Hoofer—chorus girl, professional dancer

Horsefeathers—nonsense

Hotsy-totsy—pleasing

Jake—okay, as in “everything’s jake”

Jalopy—old, run-down car

Keen—appealing, attractive

Kiddo—familiar form of address, meaning “pal”

Kisser—the mouth

Line—insincere talk or flattery

Lounge lizard—a pleasure-seeking man who hangs out in nightclubs where rich people gather

Lousy—terrible

Main drag—a city or town’s main street

Neck—to kiss and touch intimately

Nobody’s home—describes someone who is dumb

Ossified—drunk

Pet—to kiss and touch intimately

Pinch—to arrest

Pushover—someone easy to overcome or take advantage of, something easily done

Raspberry—a loud noise to indicate contempt

Ritzy—elegant

Scram—to leave in a hurry

Sex appeal—physical attractiveness

Sheba—a young woman with sex appeal

Sheik—a man with sex appeal

Smeller—nose

Speak-easy—a bar or club that sells illegal liquor

Spiffy—elegant, fashionable

Spifficated—drunk

Struggle-buggy—a car, a place in which boys try to seduce girls

Stuck on—infatuated with, have a crush on

Swanky—elegant

Swell—excellent, great

Torpedo—a hired gunman

Upchuck—vomit

Wet blanket—a solemn person, killjoy

Whoopee—noisy, unrestrained fun