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Mao Zedong is Born
Mao Zedong was born into a peasant household. He left home when he was 14 to get an education because his family had him stop school and start working, as was very common for Chinese peasants at the time. In school, he studied western philosophies like Marxism, which would later become the cornerstone of his cultural revolution. He also briefly left school to become a soldier in the revolutionary war against the Qing Dynasty, but he saw no combat. -
Mao Zedong Helps to Form The Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party would become a military force as well, eventually pushing the existing nationalist government out of China. -
Mao becomes the Supreme Leader of the Chinese Communist Party
Mao would use his army, which was known as the Red Army, to defeat the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). He employed a military strategy known as "people's war", which was known to be ruthless, accepting nothing less than surrender. He described it by saying "The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue". -
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The Sino-Japanese War
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Mao Establishes the People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China was the first communist state in China, and is the government that still stands today. Mao would remain the Supreme Leader until his death in 1976. -
Mao Zedong Dies at 82
Mao's cultural revolution shaped China for years to come after his death, and the government he put into place still stands. Mao Died of a heart attack. There was some confusion as to who would succeed him. Many said that it was his wife at the time, Jiang Qing, but she was quickly overthrown. Mao introduced communism to China and to much of Asia.
