"Long March" (Oct. 1934–Oct. 1935) A march begun on 19 October 1934 by some 100,000 Communist Red Army soldiers from the Jianxi Soviet, in a successful effort to break out of Chiang Kai-shek's army's suffocating fifth encirclement. After a series of military set-backs, the military leadership passed to Mao Zedong on 8 January 1935.
While the 4th Army broke away from his leadership to march to Sichuan in the south, Mao shifted the emphasis of a revolution to the countryside, and decided to lead his men to the little-populated northern area of Shaanxi. Despite constant harassment and attack by Guomindang forces, and difficult terrain along the way, he arrived with around 6,000 men in Yan'an, having covered around 6,000 miles (9,600 km) in the year. He was later joined by other groups, including remnants of the severely reduced 4th Army, so that, in all, around 30,000 survived the epic journey.
How to cite this entry:
"Long March" A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. Jan Palmowski. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 19 October 2011
How to cite this entry:
"Long March" A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. Jan Palmowski. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 19 October 2011
