Mao Zedong

=== Alliance with the Kuomintang: 1935–1940 ===
{{Main|Second Sino-Japanese War}}

[[File:1938 Mao Zedong Zhang Guotao in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|left|[[Zhang Guotao]] (left) and Mao in Yan'an, 1937]]

Mao's troops arrived at the [[Yan'an]] Soviet during October 1935 and settled in [[Bao'an Subdistrict, Zhidan County|Bao'an]], until spring 1936. While there, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment, and began literacy programs.<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=61}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=193}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=94–96}}</ref> Mao now commanded {{formatnum:15000}} soldiers, boosted by the arrival of [[He Long]]'s men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao returned from Tibet.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=193}} In February 1936, they established the North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=206–207}} In January 1937, they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", that sent groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=101}}</ref> In May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=202}} Western reporters also arrived in the "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were [[Edgar Snow]], who used his experiences as a basis for ''[[Red Star Over China]]'', and [[Agnes Smedley]], whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=209–210}}

[[File:1945 Mao and Chiang.jpg|thumb|In an effort to defeat the Japanese, Mao (left) agreed to collaborate with Chiang (right).]]
[[File:Mao1938a.jpg|thumb|Mao in 1938, writing ''On Protracted War'']]

On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizhen had been injured by a shrapnel wound to the head. She travelled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, [[Jiang Qing]].<ref name="Schram p208">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=208}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=95}}</ref> He Zizhen was reportedly "dispatched to a mental asylum in Moscow to make room" for Qing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Terrill |first=Ross |date=8 March 1998 |title=What Mao Traded for Sex |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-op-26719-story.html |url-status=live |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200524045009/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-op-26719-story.html |archive-date=24 May 2020 |access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref> Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorising.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=95–96}}</ref> He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=194}}</ref> Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as a "traitor to the nation",<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=196}}</ref> on 5 May, he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanjing National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=197}}</ref> Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, [[Zhang Xueliang]], in [[Xi'an]], leading to the [[Xi'an Incident]]; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with the Communists, resulting in the formation of a [[Second United Front (China)|United Front]] with concessions on both sides on 25 December 1937.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=198–200}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=98–99}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=64–65}}</ref>

The Japanese had taken both Shanghai and [[Nanjing]]—resulting in the [[Nanjing Massacre]], an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—and was pushing the Kuomintang government inland to [[Chongqing]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=211}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=100–101}}</ref> The Japanese's brutality led to increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, and the Red Army grew from {{formatnum:50000}} to {{formatnum:500000}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=205}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p105">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=105}}</ref> In August 1938, the Red Army formed the [[New Fourth Army]] and the [[Eighth Route Army]], which were nominally under the command of Chiang's [[National Revolutionary Army]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=204}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=66}}</ref> In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the [[Hundred Regiments Offensive]], in which {{formatnum:400000}} troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in the death of {{formatnum:20000}} Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine.<ref name="Carter1976 p105"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=217}}</ref> From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including ''Philosophy of Revolution'', which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge; ''Protracted Warfare'', which dealt with guerrilla and mobile military tactics; and ''[[On New Democracy]]'', which laid forward ideas for China's future.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=211–216}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=101–110}}</ref>

[[File:Kang Seng Mao Zedong in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|Mao with [[Kang Sheng]] in Yan'an, 1945]]