Chiang Kai-shek, as the supreme ruler of Nanjing, had a strong desire for power, and at most held more than 50 positions.
But the miraculous thing is that before he took office as the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, he resigned repeatedly, which gave Sun Yat-sen a headache.
And in the early stage, he "didn't want fame and fortune", and later he couldn't wait to bow to everything. It not only reflects Chiang Kai-shek's strong desire for power like a feudal emperor, but also fully proves the limitations of the Kuomintang's political system that cannot solve China's problems.
Chiang Kai-shek. It is necessary to know the life of Chiang Kai-shek, who was born in 1887 in a family of salt merchants in Xikou, Fenghua, Zhejiang.
But Chiang Kai-shek's father died of illness when he was 8 years old, and his mother raised him with hard work.
Some experts believe that although Chiang Kai-shek's childhood family environment was quite passable, this lack of father's growth environment still left a psychological shadow on him. Chiang Kai-shek lacked a sense of security throughout his life, which also laid a hidden danger for him to always like to do things himself.
After receiving traditional education, Chiang Kai-shek went to Japan to study for the first time in 1906, where he met Chen Qimei, who changed the fate of his life. As a well-known revolutionary activist in modern times, Chen Qimei soon brought Chiang Kai-shek into the newly established League.
Chen Qimei. Since the League was essentially a political alliance in which the party spirit of the feudal society was much higher than that of modern political parties, Chiang Kai-shek was tantamount to taking shortcuts and stepping onto the Chinese political stage.
At the same time, Chen Qimei's concern also made up for his lack of paternal love to a certain extent, so Chiang Kai-shek was very loyal to this eldest brother for the next ten years.
After Chiang Kai-shek returned to China, he was admitted to the Baoding Army Accelerated School in 1907, and in the spring of 1908, he crossed east to enter the preparatory Zhenwu School of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School.
In the winter of 1910, he graduated from the 13th Artillery Wing of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army for an internship, and worked as a groom for a few months before returning to China for the Xinhai Revolution to defect to Chen Qimei. But Chiang Kai-shek's development after returning to China this time can be said to be up and down, because to some extent he and Chen Qimei are tied together.
In 1916, after Chen Qimei was assassinated, Chiang Kai-shek completely lost power, and since then he has formed an extremely insecure character as soon as he loses his backer.
Chen Qimei. In 1917, Chiang Kai-shek heard that Sun Yat-sen was in Guangzhou, "** immediately went south to defect, but Sun Yat-sen could not carry him like Chen Qimei."
In 1918, Chiang Kai-shek was sent to Chen Jiongming as the head of the operations section of the General Headquarters of the Guangdong Army, but he was very eager to become the military commander who served as the regiment commander under Chen Qimei.
In July 1918, Chiang Kai-shek resigned, believing that the future was not great, and Chen Jiongming's efforts to keep him were to no avail.
At the end of 1918, Chiang Kai-shek served as the commander of the second detachment of the Cantonese Army stationed in Fujian, but because he felt excluded, he left the team at every turn and went to Shanghai to participate in ** speculation.
In 1920, Chen Jiongming defeated other warlords and welcomed Sun Yat-sen back to Guangzhou, where Sun Yat-sen re-established the revolutionary base camp and wanted to carry out the Northern Expedition.
However, in April 1922, Chen Jiongming resigned from Sun Yat-sen as commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Army and governor of Guangdong Province due to political discord, and Chiang Kai-shek, who regarded Chen Jiongming as a "good brother", also resigned as the commander of the second detachment of the Guangdong Army.
Chiang Kai-shek. In June 1922, after Chen Jiongming fell out with Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek decisively chose to abandon Chen Jiongming and fully support Sun Yat-sen. It was at this time that Chiang Kai-shek gained Sun Yat-sen's absolute trust, thus laying the foundation for his subsequent rapid rise within the Kuomintang.
However, in October 1922, Chiang Kai-shek was appointed by Sun Yat-sen as the chief of staff of the Second Army of the East Road Thief Army, but he abandoned his post in less than 2 months on the grounds of "no military progress".
In June 1923, Sun Yat-sen appointed Chiang Kai-shek as the chief of staff of the generalissimo's camp, but he returned to his hometown less than a month after his arrival because he could not grasp real power.
In this way, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly resigned, and Sun Yat-sen regarded him as a talent, so he could only rearrange his position again and again.
Sun Yat-sen. Chen Jiongming's defection made Sun Yat-sen realize the need to form a revolutionary army of his own with urgency, and in August 1923 Chiang Kai-shek went so far as to set himself up as the head of the delegation to visit the Soviet Union.
In January 1924, the "First National Congress" of the Kuomintang was held, and it was officially decided to establish an army officer school. However, to Chiang Kai-shek's disappointment, he did not even get the qualification of an alternate member of the Kuomintang at the "First National Congress".
And Sun Yat-sen only appointed him as the chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Military Academy, and he preferred military bigwigs like Cheng Qian and Xu Chongzhi for the selection of principals.
Chiang Kai-shek, who felt that he could not gain real power again, left a letter of resignation for Sun Yat-sen on February 21 of that year and ran to Shanghai. Only then did Sun Yat-sen realize that Chiang Kai-shek had to serve as the principal of the military academy, and Zhang Jingjiang, a veteran of the Kuomintang, also wrote to Sun Yat-sen to recommend Chiang Kai-shek.
In May 1924, Sun Yat-sen officially appointed him as the principal of the Army Military Academy and chief of the General Staff of the Guangdong Army, so Chiang Kai-shek finally got the opportunity to seize military power after 13 resignations.
Sun Yat-sen. On June 16, 1924, the Kuomintang Army Military Academy, which later became famous at home and abroad, officially opened [1].
However, at this time, Sun Yat-sen served as the premier of the military academy, Liao Zhongkai served as the party representative, and Chiang Kai-shek, the principal, could only be counted as the third-in-command.
However, Chiang Kai-shek realized that these Whampoa students would become his helpers in seizing power within the Kuomintang in the future, so he used all kinds of cleverness to close the relationship with the students.
After Sun Yat-sen's death in January 1925, the struggle between the left and right factions in the Kuomintang quickly became public, and Chiang Kai-shek disguised himself as a leftist to win the favor of the Soviet representatives, thus consolidating his position.
In 1926, Chiang Kai-shek used the "Zhongshan Ship Incident" to vigorously attack the leftists of the Kuomintang, and after the "Second National Congress" of the Kuomintang in 1926, he seized the important positions of executive member, chairman of the Military Commission, and minister of military affairs.
Zhongshan ship incident.
In June 1926, Chiang Kai-shek served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and in the course of the Northern Expedition, he recruited rebels to expand his descendants.
In early 1927, after the Kuomintang moved to Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek was determined to make a complete break with the left wing of the Kuomintang in order to seize supreme power.
After receiving the support of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang consortium and imperialism, in April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "412" counter-revolutionary incident and established himself as a nationalist in Nanjing. After all, Chiang Kai-shek's behavior of using military power to seek party power seriously violated the normal organizational principles, and the Wuhan people ordered a crusade.
Chiang Kai-shek used his tricks to divide and disintegrate the military generals who supported Wuhan, and finally made Wang Jingwei also order the "split of the Communist Party" on July 15 of that year. At the same time, the Beiyang warlords, who had been hit at the same time, saw that the Kuomintang had internal strife and began to fight back, so Wuhan** and Nanjing** were forced to choose to merge.
Chiang Kai-shek. However, Chiang Kai-shek chose to retreat in the face of a complicated power struggle, and resigned from all positions in August of that year. This can be regarded as Chiang Kai-shek's 14th resignation, but it was the most successful of his political manoeuvres.
Sure enough, in the face of the complicated situation, Wang Jingwei, Sun Ke and others were so anxious that they finally had to invite Chiang Kai-shek back.
In January 1928, the Kuomintang was forced to reappoint Chiang Kai-shek as commander-in-chief to lead the Second Northern Expedition, and after the Fourth Plenary Session of the Second Central Committee of the Kuomintang, he became the chairman of the Political Committee and the Chairman of the Military Committee, and in October, he also served as the chairman of the Kuomintang and the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force.
However, the Northern Expedition also developed the Yan Xishan group, the Feng Yuxiang group, and the Guangxi Gui lineage, so Chiang Kai-shek broke out three large-scale civil wars with these three major warlord groups before he really became the leader of the Kuomintang.
Chiang Kai-shek. However, at this time, the Kuomintang had completely lost its original revolutionary character.
Those idealistic, enthusiastic, and capable Kuomintang people were purged by Chiang Kai-shek himself. All those left behind were some market people, and Chiang Kai-shek favored his fellow Zhejiang townsmen.
These people acted as Chiang Kai-shek's minions to raid the people to his satisfaction, but they were powerless to deal with many specific things. At the same time, the National Revolutionary Army was completely reduced to the private army of warlords, and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which had just developed into "encirclement and suppression," lost its troops.
The perception of his subordinates as "waste" and his long-term insecurity led Chiang Kai-shek to believe that important things had to be done by himself.
In 1931, Chiang Kai-shek launched the third "encirclement and suppression" of the Soviet area, and he served as the commander-in-chief, and since then he has begun to let himself go and hold various important positions.
Chiang Kai-shek. In fact, after the "Ninghan Confluence", the former Wang Jingwei clique has been fighting with Chiang Kai-shek for a long time, and successfully used the 918 incident to force Chiang Kai-shek to go into the field for the second time and make a comeback for the second time.
As a result, in 1932, a balanced model of Chiang Kai-shek's main army and Wang Ching-wei's main party was formed in the Kuomintang.
However, as the pace of Japan's invasion of China intensified, the people were forced to focus most of their energy on the military, and Chiang Kai-shek's actual position was also strengthened step by step.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, Chiang Kai-shek served as the chairman of the Kuomintang ** Military Committee and the president of the Kuomintang at the same time.
In 1939, Wang Jingwei rebelled and set up a puppet "Nanjing National**", and Chiang Kai-shek took over Wang Jingwei's positions as the premier of the Executive Yuan and the chairman of the National Political Council.
Wang Jingwei. If it is said that during the war, Chiang Kai-shek concurrently held party, government and military positions at the ** level, but the speed at which Chiang Kai-shek's personal desire for power expanded made his cronies feel dumbfounded. This is also partly due to the fact that since the time of Sun Yat-sen, the KMT has lacked a set of supervision and balance mechanisms for the operation of modern political parties.
Especially after Hu Hanmin and other party bigwigs left, Chiang Kai-shek truly realized his personal **.
From 1939 to 1945, Chiang Kai-shek successively served as the chairman of the ** Farmers' Bank, the chairman of the New Life Movement Committee, the commander-in-chief of the Boy Scouts, the head of the Three People's Youth League, the president of the China Gliding Association, the president of the Alumni Association in Japan, and the president of the China Renaissance Society.
However, with so many positions, even Chiang Kai-shek himself sometimes can't remember which role he is playing now. And the warrants he issued covered everything from military affairs to the length of female students' hair, which made later researchers laugh.
Chiang Kai-shek. Of course, some of Chiang Kai-shek's positions were in the real sense of power, and many of them were only temporary posts.
For example, because Chiang Kai-shek has been the president of the Army Military Academy, he has concurrently served as the president of more than a dozen universities in one go. But he didn't have that much energy, so he asked these schools to have a separate director of education to take charge of the actual work.
Of course, its excessive pursuit of power will sometimes violate objective laws and encounter setbacks. For example, after the resignation of Wang Zhangxu, chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Chairman, Chiang Kai-shek disregarded the strong opposition of Zhang Zhizhong, director of the first division of the chamberlain, and concurrently became the chairman of Sichuan Province.
But he seems to have forgotten why the people chose Chongqing instead of Chengdu, where Sichuan Province is located. Sure enough, when he personally went to Chengdu to inspect, he realized that he could not settle these snakes in Sichuan in a short time, and had to be reappointed as Zhang Qunlai as the full-time chairman of Sichuan Province.
But even so, Chiang Kai-shek was still keen to "increase his official ranks" to himself, and if Zhang Zhizhong hadn't found a way to let others "take the initiative to share", I am afraid that his title would have exceeded 100.
Chiang Kai-shek. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Chiang Kai-shek's personal prestige had reached its peak, but to some extent, he was completely lost in the illusion of the stars holding the moon. At this time, there was no one in the KMT who could challenge him.
Therefore, he ignored the calls of the people of the whole country for peaceful construction and improvement of people's livelihood, and wanted to eliminate the Communist Party of China by force to establish the real "Chiang dynasty".
What Chiang Kai-shek could not have imagined was that his excessive pursuit of power would eventually become an important factor in his own destruction.
Although the supreme leader of our party went to Chongqing to negotiate with him in person, Chiang Kai-shek was also forced by the United States to pretend to sign the "Double Tenth Agreement" [2]. But Chiang Kai-shek quickly tore up the peace agreement with his own hands, making all the democrats very disappointed in him.
** With Chiang Kai-shek.
In 1948, despite the strong opposition of other democrats and the Chinese Communist Party, he insisted on convening the puppet "National Congress" controlled by him, and became "**, but when he thought he had reached the peak of his political status, it was also the beginning of his rebellion."
Although Chiang Kai-shek occupied more than 100 cities in the liberated areas in the early days of the Liberation War, he lost more than 700,000 elite troops.
In the face of de facto defeat, Chiang Kai-shek over-the-top and blamed all his mistakes on the incompetence of his generals.
As a result, he frequently changed the principal military commanders of the strategic zones, and also placed the commander-in-chief of the army, the secretary of defense, and the chief of staff in three separate places to prevent them from colluding with each other. However, it turned out that the little military theory that Chiang Kai-shek had learned in Japan was only suitable for him to personally command a small army.
Chiang Kai-shek. However, from 1948 onwards, he actually deprived the front-line generals of the right to command, and remotely controlled various battlefields with warrants or simply by plane.
Many ** generals were annoyed by his overstepping command, and even knew that our army had adjusted its deployment many times, and they only stayed in the headquarters and waited for Chiang Kai-shek's instructions until they were captured.
Although Chiang Kai-shek had said at the outbreak of the three major battles that he would focus on military affairs, because he had too many part-time jobs, sometimes he could not keep himself busy at all.
For example, in September 1948, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Beiping to force Fu Zuoyi to send troops to relieve the siege of Jinzhou, and agreed to the plan of a sneak attack on Shijiazhuang, and immediately flew back to Nanjing to deal with the problems caused by Chiang Ching-kuo's "tiger fight" in Shanghai[3].
Chiang Kai-shek. As early as August 1948, at the "Survey and Disturbance Review Meeting" of the Ministry of National Defense, Bai Chongxi bluntly pointed out that "the superiors should not interfere too much with the subordinates" and received a round of applause, but in Chiang Kai-shek's ears, this was just the Gui family wanting to seize his power.
Many military historians, commenting on the three major battles, believe that Chiang Kai-shek's blind command shortened the time for the PLA to victory by at least half.
However, even after his third exit in January 1949, he still continued to remotely control the two heavy army groups of Tang Enbo and Hu Zongnan, making Li Zongren, the deputy **, the de facto commander of the light pole.
But none of this could save the final fall of the Chiang dynasty, and he could only grow old alone on a small island in the southeast and never set foot in his hometown again.
1] Expert: Whampoa Military Academy Marks a New Stage of Chinese Affairs Education Communist Party of China News Network 2014-06-16 2020-03-30
2] Ke Jiming, Illustrated Chinese History, Vol. 4, Jilin Publishing Group Co., Ltd., 2013:666-667
3] Zhang Xian Wen **Decryption of Senior Generals' Archives, Vol. 6, Party History Research Press, 2011:2813-2814