Second Chinese Civil War | ||||||||||
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Part of the Great Interlude | ||||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||||
People's United Front PRC Xining Army Group (2003-2011) Maoist Cliques Supported by: |
Republican Forces CSR (2013-2016) Taipei (2004-2013) Supported by: |
Separatist Forces Gansu (2006) Guangdong (2007) Hainan (2005) Hui (2013) Kashgar (2005) Manchuria (2009) Mongolia (2009) Qinghai (2014) Tibet Uyghuristan (2016) Yunnan (2008) International Volunteers | ||||||||
Commanders | ||||||||||
Li Peng † Zhang Wannian † Chi Haotian Chang Wanquan Zhao Zongqi (XAG) |
Eric Chu Chang San-cheng |
Lu Hao Meng Liuxian † Chang Zemin Liu Hui Chen Quanguo † Bai Zhihao Tsakhia Elbegdorj Cao Guanting † Tenzing Jigme † Mehmet Emin Hazret Hu Xue † | ||||||||
Strength | ||||||||||
2,550,000 75,000 (XAG) Total: 3,004,500 |
2,125,000 Total: 2,342,450 |
~5-7 million (including Volunteers) | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
1,320,000 dead 1,290,000 wounded or captured Total: 2,610,000 |
1,540,000 dead 290,000 wounded or captured Total: 1,830,000 |
~1-3 million killed 2-3 million wounded or captured Total: 3-6 million | ||||||||
The Second Chinese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war fought between the People's Republic of China (PRC), led by President Li Peng, along with domestic and foreign allies, and various domestic and foreign forces (primarily the Chinese Second Republic) which opposed both the PRC and each other in various combinations. With casualties totaling between 26 and 35 million, it is the deadliest conflict of the 21st century and the deadliest conflict since the end of World War II.
The unrest in China grew out of growing discontent with the Chinese government and escalated into armed conflict after calls for political and social reforms were violently suppressed and information pertaining to widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, Uyghuristan, and Mongolia were released to the Chinese public. The war, beginning on March 3, 2003 with major unrest across Southern China, was fought by several factions: The People's Liberation Army and it's allies (mainly a loose alliance of Agrarian socialist cliques), a coalition of various republican groups (which later merged into the Chinese Second Republic in 2013), and a variety of separatist forces formed around several local ethnic groups and regions.
Several nations throughout East Asia and beyond were involved in military actions during the civil war. While internationally isolated, the People's Republic of China had received limited military support from North Korea before the Second Korean War. Meanwhile, a large US-led coalition had provided financial & political support to republican forces from around 2000, and had provided limited military support (in the form of airstrikes, cyberattacks, and military aid) from 2005 until the end of the civil war in 2016. A variety of volunteers from different nations were involved in aiding all sides, with some estimates saying around 200,000 unaffiliated troops were involved.
A hallmark of the civil war was one of the first uses of nuclear weapons in warfare of World War II and, to date, the last use of nuclear warfare in modern history. The detonation of a 4.25 megaton nuclear weapon near the town of Ankang resulted in nearly 40,000 immediate civilian deaths and 135,000 immediate injuries, with an estimate 1.2 million further casualties as a result of illness, famine, etc.
The Second Chinese Civil War would end on June 1, 2016 following the assassination of President Li Peng by his Vice President, Chang Wanquan, and the subsequent breakdown and surrender of PRC forces.