In the modern history of our country, there are heroes like Chairman Mao, who, like the sun in the east, led the Chinese people out of the days of oppression and live a free and peaceful life today; there are good prime ministers like Zhou Enlai who serve the people wholeheartedly. Because they have the support of the people, there is a grand occasion of sending off the prime minister on the ten-mile long street.
In addition to these great men who are admired by the people, Chiang Kai-shek is also a figure that must be mentioned in the modern history of our country.
01
Chiang Kai-shek once served as the principal of Huangpu Military Academy. Many people who came out of this military academy later became well-known generals, including Zhou Enlai.
Zhou Enlai and Chiang Kai-shek were real fellow countrymen. They met at Whampoa Military Academy. Because they both admired Dr. Sun Yat-sen's thoughts, they had endless things in common.
Chiang Kai-shek valued Zhou Enlai very much, so he specially appointed him as the director of the political department of Whampoa Military Academy, hoping that Zhou Enlai could lead Whampoa Military Academy to a new height.
Later facts proved that Chiang Kai-shek was not wrong about Zhou Enlai. Not only did he do a great job in the political work of Whampoa Military Academy, he even showed his unique leadership skills when he conquered Chen Jiongming. Even a person like Chiang Kai-shek who was not convinced by anyone, couldn't help but praise Zhou Enlai.
Originally, Zhou Enlai thought that fighting side by side with Chiang Kai-shek was a very wise decision. However, in 1926, he completely realized that his previous ideas were wrong. In that year, after a long period of accumulation, Chiang Kai-shek's power in his hands became stronger and stronger day by day, and he became more and more disdainful of other people. In 1926, he planned the Zhongshan Ship Incident .
Chiang Kai-shek knew that if Zhou Enlai knew about this, he would definitely oppose or even destroy it, so he ordered Zhou Enlai to be put under house arrest early in the morning. Although the house arrest lasted only for one day, Zhou Enlai, as wise as Zhou Enlai, still saw the essential difference between himself and Chiang Kai-shek, and went further and further away from Chiang Kai-shek.
But for what he did, Chiang Kai-shek did not have any regrets, but was very confident. Even after the Xi'an Incident, he still told Zhou Enlai, "You are my subordinates originally, you should not listen to Mao Zedong, but you should listen to me."
02
Zhou Enlai did not say much about Chiang Kai-shek's arrogance, but in an interview with an American reporter in 1938, Zhou Enlai once answered a question from the reporter: "What do you think of a soldier like Chiang Kai-shek?" , and how to evaluate it? " Regarding this question, Zhou Enlai answered very straightforwardly: "not very good" Then, Zhou Enlai explained in detail that in his opinion, Chiang Kai-shek was a poor tactician, but from a strategist's perspective, he was still a qualified strategist.
Zhou Enlai pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek usually used Napoleonic tactics, but the prerequisite for this tactic was that the soldiers had high morale and an unparalleled fighting spirit. In other words, Napoleonic tactics relied more on will to win the war.
But this aspect is precisely Chiang Kai-shek's shortcoming. He always felt that he was an assault hero, but he did not know that he could not win over the hearts of the soldiers, which ultimately made the team a scattered and non-cohesive team.
The Battle of Wuhan that took place in 1927 is very representative. Chiang Kai-shek originally concentrated all his efforts to win the war, but the result was that the division suffered heavy losses.
Coincidentally, when Chongqing was negotiating in 1945, a reporter asked Chairman Mao a question: " Is Mr. Mao confident in defeating Mr. Chiang?" Faced with this gunpowder-filled question, Chairman Mao answered very implicitly. He first expressed his hope to establish a democratic coalition government, because war is not only detrimental to the common people, but also to Mr. Chiang.
even said humorously that the word Chiang is composed of a grass and a general. If the Kuomintang and the Communist Party really start to fight, Chiang Kai-shek will be a grass-headed general.
After listening to Chairman Mao's comments, the reporter asked : "Then how do you explain your surname Mao? " Chairman Mao's answer was very interesting. He told the reporters that Mao did not mean careless, it meant backhand.
Chairman Mao's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao was very pertinent. In the subsequent war, the performance of Chiang Kai-shek and his army was indeed as Chairman Mao said clearly, they were nothing more than paper tigers, vulnerable to a single blow.
03
Zhang Xueliang also had a close relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, but when evaluating him, Zhang Xueliang did not have a high evaluation. In his opinion, Chiang Kai-shek was a local emperor at heart and felt that everyone should obey him, otherwise it would be the behavior of a traitor.
And Liu Wendian, the president of Anhui University , said this about Chiang Kai-shek: "You are purely a feudal warlord."
However, no matter how others evaluated him, Chiang Kai-shek never felt that he was a loser, let alone a local emperor or a grass-head general. Chiang Kai-shek, who loved keeping diaries, once wrote down his 53 years in his diaries. These more than 10 million words contain not only his analysis and judgment of the situation at different stages, but also his analysis of the defeat in Taiwan.
In the diary, Chiang Kai-shek felt that there were ten reasons why he did not win the war, which included diplomatic failure, military failure and social collapse. He even felt that it was related to the fact that he was too kind and was betrayed by his subordinates.
In Chiang Kai-shek's view, what he summarized in his diary was already very comprehensive, but in the eyes of future generations, he did not mention the most important point, that is, he did not win the hearts and minds of the people. As the saying goes, only those who win the hearts and minds of the people can win the world!
In comparison, the People's Liberation Army led by Chairman Mao thought what the people thought and put the people first at all times. Only then can they win the support of the people all the time, and ultimately win the revolution and create a peaceful new China.
