| By 1936, the Guomindang had seemingly managed to secure its political dominance by nearly annihilating its main adversary, the Chinese Communist Party. In 1937, the Japanese army began a full-scale invasion of China that would forever change its political landscape. During the subsequent eight-year war, the Guomindang government collapsed, plagued by economic difficulties and internal corruption. Simultaneously, the small group of communists in Yan'an grew into a virulent force of opposition, with vast amounts of territory and the support of the masses. Nearly all components of this drastic turn of events can be linked to the imperialist expansion of Japan. This work seeks to analyze the specific ways in which the war of resistance against Japan resulted in the foundation of the People's Republic of China; through the weakening of the Guomindang, the strategic benefits afforded the CCP, and the opportunity for the communists to achieve mass mobilization. |
