Editing Chinese Civil War (section)

=== Background and disposition of forces ===
{{Infobox
|title = Resumed fighting (1946–1949)
|data1 =
{{Infobox Chinese|child = yes
|name1 = Name in mainland China
|l = Third National Revolutionary War
|s = 第三次国内革命战争
|t = 第三次國內革命戰爭
|p = Dìsāncì guónèi gémìng zhànzhēng
|altname = Second name in mainland China
|l2 = War of Liberation
|t2 = 解放戰爭
|s2 = 解放战争
|p2 = Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng
|wuu2 = Chia-fhon-tsan-zen
|j2 = Gaai2 fong3 zin3 zang1
|poj2 = Kái-hòng chiàn-cheng
|altname3 = Name in Taiwan
|l3 = Anti-Communist Rebellion Suppression War
|t3 = 反共戡亂戰爭
|s3 = 反共戡乱战争
|p3 = Fǎngòng kānluàn zhànzhēng
|altname4 = Third name in mainland China
|l4 = Chinese People's Liberation War
|s4 = 中国人民解放战争
|t4 = 中國人民解放戰爭
|p4 = Zhōngguó rénmín jiěfàng zhànzhēng
}}
}}

By the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the power of the Chinese Communist Party grew considerably. Their main force grew to 1.2&nbsp;million troops, backed with additional militia of 2&nbsp;million, totalling 3.2&nbsp;million troops.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=36}} Their "Liberated Zone" in 1945 contained 19 base areas,<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=36}} including one-quarter of the country's territory and one-third of its population; this included many important towns and cities. Moreover, the Soviet Union turned over all of its captured Japanese weapons and a substantial amount of their own supplies to the Communists, who received Northeastern China from the Soviets as well.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002">{{cite book |title=Lịch sử thế giới hiện đại |last=Nguyễn Anh Thái |author2=Nguyễn Quốc Hùng |author3=Vũ Ngọc Oanh |author4=Trần Thị Vinh |author5=Đặng Thanh Toán |author6=Đỗ Thanh Bình |year=2002 |publisher=Giáo Dục |location=Ho Chi Minh City |id=8934980082317 |pages=320–322 |language=vi}}</ref>

In March 1946, despite repeated requests from Chiang, the [[Soviet Red Army]] under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky continued to delay pulling out of Manchuria, while Malinovsky secretly told the CCP forces to move in behind them, which led to full-scale war for the control of the Northeast. These favorable conditions also facilitated many changes inside the Communist leadership: the more radical hard-line faction who wanted a complete military take-over of China finally gained the upper hand and defeated the careful opportunists.<ref>Michael M Sheng, ''Battling Western Imperialism'', Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 132–135</ref> Before giving control to Communist leaders, on 27 March, Soviet diplomats requested a joint venture of industrial development with the Nationalist Party in Manchuria.<ref>{{cite book |last=Liu |first=Shiao Tang |title=Min Kuo Ta Shih Jih Chih |volume=2 |year=1978 |publisher=Zhuan Chi Wen Shuan |location=Taipei |page=735 |language=zh}}</ref>

Although [[George Marshall|General Marshall]] stated that he knew of no evidence that the CCP was being supplied by the Soviet Union, the CCP was able to utilize a large number of weapons abandoned by the Japanese, including some tanks. When large numbers of well-trained KMT troops began to defect to the Communist forces, the CCP was finally able to achieve material superiority.<ref>''The New York Times'', 12 January 1947, p. 44.</ref><ref>Zeng Kelin, ''Zeng Kelin jianjun zishu'' (General Zeng Kelin Tells His Story), Liaoning renmin chubanshe, Shenyang, 1997. pp. 112–113</ref> The CCP's most effective political reform was its land reform policy. This drew the massive number of landless and starving peasants in the countryside into the Communist cause.<ref>[[Ray Huang]], ''cong dalishi jiaodu du Jiang Jieshi riji'' (Reading Chiang Kai-shek's diary from a macro-history perspective), China Times Publishing Press, Taipei, 1994, pp. 441–443</ref> This strategy enabled the CCP to access an extensive supply of manpower for both combat and logistical purposes; despite suffering heavy casualties throughout many of the war's campaigns, manpower continued to grow. For example, during the [[Huaihai Campaign]] alone the CCP was able to mobilize 5,430,000 peasants to fight against the KMT forces.<ref>[[Lung Ying-tai]], ''dajiang dahai 1949'', Commonwealth Publishing Press, Taipei, 2009, p. 184</ref>

[[File:National Revolutionary Army planes.png|thumb|Nationalist warplanes being prepared for an air raid on Communist bases]]

After the war with the Japanese ended, Chiang Kai-shek quickly moved KMT troops to newly liberated areas to prevent Communist forces from receiving the Japanese surrender.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002"/> The US airlifted many KMT troops from central China to the [[Northeast China|Northeast]] (Manchuria). President [[Harry S. Truman]] was very clear about what he described as "using the Japanese to hold off the Communists". In his memoirs he writes:

{{blockquote|It was perfectly clear to us that if we told the Japanese to lay down their arms immediately and march to the seaboard, the entire country would be taken over by the Communists. We therefore had to take the unusual step of using the enemy as a garrison until we could airlift Chinese National troops to South China and send [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]] to guard the seaports. |sign = President Truman<ref>Harry S Truman, ''Memoirs'', Vol. Two: "Years of Trial and Hope, 1946–1953" (Great Britain 1956), p. 66</ref>}}

Using the pretext of "receiving the Japanese surrender", business interests within the KMT government occupied most of the banks, factories and commercial properties, which had previously been seized by the Imperial Japanese Army.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" /> They also conscripted troops at an accelerated pace from the civilian population and hoarded supplies, preparing for a resumption of war with the Communists. These hasty and harsh preparations caused great hardship for the residents of cities such as Shanghai, where the unemployment rate rose dramatically to 37.5%.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" />

[[Hyperinflation]] meant those employed in the Kuomintang forces lost the purchasing power of their pay.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}} This resulted in corruption and the embezzlement of supplies which disappeared into the barter economy.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}} Ordinary Kuomintang soldiers were often malnourished and desertion was common.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}}

The US strongly supported the Kuomintang forces. About 50,000 US soldiers were sent to guard strategic sites in Hebei and Shandong in [[Operation Beleaguer]]. The US equipped and trained KMT troops, and transported Japanese and Koreans back to help KMT forces to occupy liberated zones as well as to contain Communist-controlled areas.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" /> According to [[William Blum]], American aid included substantial amounts of mostly surplus military supplies, and loans were made to the KMT.<ref>p. 23, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, William Blum, Zed Books 2004 London.</ref> Within less than two years after the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $4.43&nbsp;billion from the US{{snd}}most of which was military aid.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" /> Highlighting the aid provided by the US to the KMT, the Communists' position was that the US was stirring domestic warfare and characterized the civil war as both a national revolution against the KMT and a revolution against US colonization and aggression.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Hongshan |title=Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.–China Relations in the Cold War |year=2024 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-20705-8 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|14}}