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Chiang Kai-shek[a] (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and military commander. He was the head of the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), and the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) in mainland China from 1928 until 1949. After being defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, he led the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan until his death in 1975. He was considered the legitimate head of China by the United Nations until 1971.
Born in Chekiang, Chiang received a military education in China and Japan and joined Sun Yat-sen's Tungmenghui revolutionary organization in 1908. After the 1911 Revolution, he was a founding member of the KMT, became one of Sun's closest lieutenants, and headed the Whampoa Military Academy. After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang became commander-in-chief of the NRA and led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, nominally reunifying the country under a Nationalist government in Nanking. During the campaign, the KMT–CCP alliance broke down in 1927 and Chiang massacred the communists in Shanghai, triggering the Chinese Civil War. As the leader of the ROC during the Nanking decade, Chiang sought to modernise and unify the nation, although hostilities with the CCP continued. His government presided over economic and social reconstruction while trying to avoid a war with Japan. In 1936, he was kidnapped in the Sian Incident, and obliged to form an anti-Japanese Second United Front with the CCP.
After the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937, Chiang mobilised China for the Second Sino-Japanese War, and over the next eight years led the war of resistance, mostly from Chungking. As the leader of a major Allied power, Chiang attended the Cairo Conference to discuss terms for the Japanese surrender. When the Second World War ended, the civil war with the Communists (led by Mao Zedong) resumed, during which Chiang's government was defeated and in 1949 retreated the island of Taiwan. In Taiwan, Chiang imposed martial law and persecuted critics in the White Terror. Presiding over a period of social reforms and economic prosperity, Chiang won five elections to six-year terms as President of the Republic of China in which he faced minimal opposition or was elected unopposed. He died in 1975. He also held the position of Director-General of the Kuomintang until his death. Chiang was one of the longest-serving non-royal heads of state in the 20th century and the longest-serving non-royal ruler of China, having held the post for 46 years.
Like Mao, Chiang is a controversial figure. Supporters credit him with a major role in unifying the nation and ending the Century of Humiliation, leading the Chinese resistance against Japan, countering communist influence, and economic development in both mainland China and Taiwan. Critics portray him as a brutal dictator and the head of a corrupt authoritarian regime, who massacred civilians and suppressed political dissent, and often accuse him of being a fascist. He is also criticized for flooding the Yellow River and allowing the Honan Famine during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Other historians argue that Chiang's ideology differed from right-wing dictators of the 20th century and that he did not espouse the ideology of fascism. They argue that Chiang made genuine efforts to improve mainland China and Taiwan's economic and social conditions, such as land reform. Chiang is also credited with transforming China from a semi-colony of various imperialist powers to an independent country by amending the unequal treaties signed by previous governments, as well as moving various Chinese national treasures and traditional Chinese artworks to the National Palace Museum in Taipei during the 1949 retreat.
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