In doing so, he aimed to release the energies of the masses and channel their efforts into the construction of China. During the years 1958 to 1961, Mao"tms leadership drastically faltered. An attempt to significantly increase economic productivity in China, Mao advocated mass organization and stirred the revolutionary enthusiasm amongst the Chinese people. However, despite such admirable intentions represented by the Great Leap Forward, Mao"tms agenda had massive negative repercussions of economic disaster and widespread famine. Reports regarding the collectivization of peasants policy did not accurately reflect the detramental effects of the Great Leap Forward. Instead, exaggerated reports of the success of policies hid the disasters created by Great Leap Forward. This event proceeded the Hundred Flowers movement initiated by Mao.
In 1954, Peng Dehuai gained legitimacy on the Northern Expedition as a Communist general. As a commander of the Chinese forces, Peng rallied his forces during the Korean War in 1950. Under his commandership, in December the Chinese pushed the allies back. While he was a key figure in the Korean
In October 1935, Mao Zedong led what remained of the First Front Army through the last lines of enemy soldiers guarding Mount Liupan in Gansu Province and entered northern Shaanxi Province. In that secluded area of China"tms vast Northwest, Communist revolutionaries from several provinces found refuge. Of the approximately 80,000 men and 35 women who participated in the Long march, less than 10,000 survived. However, heroism and great human drama of the epic should not obscure the fact that the Long March was born out of political and military failure and terminated in near disaster. Having successfully endured Chiang Kai-shek"tms first four "encirclement and annihilation" campaigns, the Communists did not have the economic or the military resources to resist the new "blockhouse" strategy that Chiang"tms imported German military advisers had devised for the fifth campaign.
Psychologically, the Long March served to reinforce Mao"tms faith and belief that people with sufficient will, spirit and revolutionary consciousness had the potential to conquer all obstacles. Despite the tragedy of the Long March, it invoked a rejuvenated sense of hope and mission. It was the famous tales of the Long March that propelled the feelings of hope and confidence that determination will guide individuals under demanding conditions. The virtues of unending struggle, heroic sacrifice, courage and determination were conveyed by Mao during the Long March and helped stir this revolutionary mission. Although the Long March was plagued by disaster and death, the survivors"tms were graced with a religious sense of dedication and celebrated the heroism of the Long March as a great victory which contributed to the success of the revolution.
Under the impact of growing nationalism, the old culturalistic empire of China disintegrated before nationalism found its suitable political form. Externally, the country had only a nominal independence while internally, the constitution could not be decided, a new robust civil service could not be established, defense could not be properly organized, finance could not be thoroughly reformed, agricultural depression could not be relieved, and modern industries could not be developed. What was old and traditional had been discarded and what was new and modern made a poor showing. The countty and its politics were formless. Yet all Chinese nationalists of this period shared one common aim - the welath and powerof the nation.
The Great Leap movement began with great expectations in 1958 yet ended dramatically in 1960 with economic and human disaster. After this year, China plummeted into years of famine and destruction. While nature played a role in this event, the distorted reports of productivity was a significant cause for the famine of 1559-1662.
However, before this improvement, the people of China endured the most difficult and tumultuous year. In 1960, the forces of nature inflicted cruel conditions. Typhoons resulted in unprecedented floods in South China and Lioaning, drought afflicted the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and pests harmed vast areas of the countryside. Over sixty percent of the cultivated area suffered from flood or drought and agricultural production plummeted. As famine threatened the land, industrial production decreased because of damage to industrial crops, disruptions in the transportation system, the transfer of labor to officially designated disaster areas, and because laborers were physically exhausted and weakened by increasingly crucial food shortages. Following two successive years of natural calamities, declining harvests, and general organizational chaos, the abrupt termination of Russian technological aid contributed to the crumbling Chinese economy. Chinese people became the victims of hunger as grain output dropped significantly to 170,000,000 tons in 1959 and further decreased to 144,000,000 tons in 1960.
2) The pre-sociali
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