Long March

In 1934, the fifth counter-offensive against the "encirclement and suppression" in the Jiangxi Central Soviet Area failed. To preserve their strength, the Central Red Army was forced to make a strategic retreat. After arduous battles, the Red Army broke through the three defensive lines of the Kuomintang army and approached the Xiang River. The enemy took advantage of the natural defenses and increased their troops, setting up a fourth defensive line, putting the Red Army in a perilous position. One of the top leadership trios, Li De, was a military advisor sent by the Comintern. Ignoring the disparity in strength between both sides, he insisted that the Red Army confront the enemy head-on. Without military power and leadership authority, Mao Zedong analyzed the current situation and proposed avoiding the enemy's main force and moving to the weaker Guizhou, gaining the approval of the majority of the Politburo members. In January 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an expanded Politburo meeting in Zunyi, Guizhou, ending the party's "leftist" adventurism wrong line, and elected Mao Zedong as a Politburo member, establishing Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai as the core leadership. From then on, under Mao Zedong’s correct judgment and command, the Red Army crossed the Chishui River four times, feigned attacks, moved the enemy, smoothly passed through the Yi ethnic area, and advanced northward. On the Long March, the Red Army bravely crossed the Dadu River, climbed snow-capped mountains, and traversed marshy lands, overcoming unimaginable difficulties. Many female comrades overcame personal feelings such as losing their children and endured tests just like their male counterparts, making tremendous sacrifices for the revolution and becoming female heroes, like He Zizhen, Deng Yingchao, Cai Chang, and Wang Caixiu. Mao Zedong led the First Red Army to persist in moving northward to resist Japan and opposed Zhang Guotao's rightist escape route. After a long trek of twenty-five thousand li, on October 10, 1936, the Red Army's three main forces finally met triumphantly in the mountain fortress of northern Shaanxi. Mao Zedong wrote passionately: "The Red Army is not afraid of the difficulties of the long march; mountains and rivers are just trivial obstacles."