The war with Japan devastated the Nanjing Government, her military, and China.  The Nationalists had survived the war and still remained in power.  Their failures, however, particularly late in the war, and at the nation’s greatest time of need, were fateful.   The open, unhealed wound of the issues with the Communist was one of the fateful consequences of the Nationalists’ failures.  Efforts failed to find a peaceful solution between the two, including a coalition-led government.  The war had settled one problem but created a myriad of others.  China was unsettle ..read more

The relatively short time span from 1927, after the Nationalists’ creation of the Nanjing Government, to 1937, at the start of the Sino-Japanese war, makes it difficult to evaluate that government.  Today, there are mixed views.  During a portion of that same time span, Japan tried to solidify their physical and international control of Manchuria.  Protective and restive about their position, Japan sought to expand its empire further into China. That inevitably forced a confrontation with the Nationalist led Nanjing Government.  ..read more

Beginning in 1927, Mao Zedong and Zhu De grew the Communist Red Army from a small force of maybe 5,000 troops to over 250,000 troops by 1933. Despite the progressive antagonism and military attacks by the Nationalist forces, the communist learned to recruit for their party primarily from the peasants and the farmers.  They even formed a State within a State called the Chinese Soviet Republic.  It existed mostly in the southeast regions of China.  There the Chinese communist party and the Red Army grew.  The Chinese Civil War started with the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927 ..read more

If the 1920 decade was not enough drama, stay tuned for the even more dramatic 1930s.  The decade tested the new Nationalist government in Nanjing, its leader, Chiang Kai-shek, and China. Internationalism was tossed.  Ever so visible with Japan’s aggression toward China.  Beginning in 1931 with the Mukden Incident Japan began its campaign to seize complete control of Manchuria.  Eventually renaming the region Manchukuo and intending to push farther into China.  ..read more

By 1797, the second Directory already had a bad reputation and was mistrusted. It was viewed as corrupt and needed the military to support its continued existence.  The public had turned against the Directory.  In desperation, a coup d’état was planned. Its main author a fellow by the name of Abbe Sieyes.  In collaboration with Napoleon Bonaparte, the military, and others, the Coup of Brumaire in 1799, ousted the existing French government and installed a provisional government run by a Napoleon Bonaparte led consulate.  Thus ended the French Revolution that had begun ten y ..read more

By 1793, The War of (or in) the Vendee region (in France) exploded into a major counter revolution/insurrection against the French Revolution.  With the European war also going bad, the Committee of Public Safety took drastic measures to stop the insurrections.  In the fall of 1793, the former Queen Marie Antoinette  met the same fate as her husband had nine months earlier.  Public opinion of the Jacobins began to turn against them and by the summer of 1794, one of its chief architects and voices, Maximilien Robespierre, was executed by the guillotine.  These same few ..read more

By early 1793, parts of France were beginning to heat up with counter-revolutions opposing the conditions many faced.  In rural France the opposition continued to grow and would later escalate into the War of the Vendee.  Partially in response, the National Assembly, now firmly under the control of the radical Jacobin Party, created the Committee of Public Safety.  The Committee would soon be ushering in the Reign of Terror. Meanwhile, France continued to prosecute the war in Europe.  The thrust and parry of France’s military progress typical for this war.  England, Sp ..read more

The warnings given to the French in 1791 and 1792 by the other European powers were seen as a declaration of war.  The radical National Assembly declared war on Austria.  Prussia soon joined with Austria.  In 1792, the allied forces invaded France.  Despite the French military force’s early setbacks in the invasion, they did manage a large victory in the fall of 1792, and stopped the invaders at the Battle of Varmy, France.   By then the Jacobins had joined with other radical factions, such as the sans-culottes, and controlled the nation.  In December of 1792, Kin ..read more

The French King and his family attempt to flee France but are quickly discovered and returned to Paris.  Concern for their safety led to the Declaration of Pillnitz in 1791.  It urged European powers to intervene in France on behalf of the beleaguered King and Royal Family.  The French saw it as a declaration of war.  The summer of 1791, saw the Massacre of Champ de Mars in Paris.  In the fall of 1791, the National Assembly finally adopted and push out the first French Constitution. During this period of time political factions appear in the National Assembly.  Mo ..read more

France confiscates church property in an effort to help pay for the nation's expenses and debt.  The National Assembly forces the clergy to sign loyalty oaths, and imposes additional church reforms.  These cause a schism in the church and with the the nation.   The National Assembly continues to assiduously work toward a National Constitution.  Meanwhile, the nation's fiscal affairs continue to deteriorate.  The period of 1790 thru 1791, sees the rise of political clubs and factions within the National Assembly on the future direction of the revolution and the nation ..read more