Changes

==Subversion==

==Subversion==

Mao defeated [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s Nationalists, taking control of the Chinese mainland and establishing the People's Republic of China.  

Mao's victory over Chiang Kaishek's GMD in the second Civil War (1945-1949) was partly due to CCP tactics, and partly to the failures of the Guomindang. Even Chiang Kaishek himself acknowledged that the Guomindang had become corrupt (Fairbank 291). Although there is no evidence that Chiang himself was corrupt, his supporters took advantage of their positions of power to seize valuable assets during the Japanese surrender. Corruption in the GMD army was so great that the ordinary soldiers were chronically short of food. The GMD also insisted on treating the Chinese who had lived under Japanese occupation as collaborators, which caused resentment. The other mistake the GMD made was to focus on occupying the major cities, ignoring the countryside in between them. The CCP exploited the GMD's mistakes by making alliances with other groups that were unhappy with the GMD and by fighting a guerrilla campaign in the countryside. The GMD soon found themselves divided and isolated in the major cities, which the CCP picked off one by one. Towards the end of the war, whole companies of GMD soldiers were defecting to the CCP. The CCP encouraged this by treating any GMD troops that surrendered very well, either encouraging them to join the CCP army or helping them to make their way back to their homes. (Fairbank 336). In 1949, Chiang Kaishek and the remining GMD forces retreated to Taiwan and Mao Zedong declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China in Beijing.

==Three Years of Disasters==

==Three Years of Disasters==