IB History Political Developments Within China: the Second United Front Notes

The Xi'an Incident (December 1936)

1. By late 1936, Chiang Kai-shek was focused on destroying the CCP rather than resisting Japan. General Zhang Xueliang, a Manchurian warlord who had lost his homeland to Japan in 1931, believed this priority was disastrous for China.
2. On 12 December 1936, Zhang kidnapped Chiang in Xi'an and presented him with a list of demands, including an end to the civil war against the CCP and the formation of a united front against Japan.
3. The CCP sent Zhou Enlai to negotiate. Zhou persuaded Zhang that killing Chiang would cause chaos, and instead brokered an agreement in which Chiang would cooperate with the CCP against Japan.

1. Chiang was released on 25 December 1936. The incident transformed Chinese politics: Chiang shifted from prioritising the destruction of the CCP to accepting, at least outwardly, the need for national unity against Japan.
2. Zhang Xueliang voluntarily returned to Nanjing with Chiang as a gesture of loyalty. He was immediately placed under house arrest and would remain confined for over 50 years.

Formation of the Second United Front (1937)

1. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 triggered full-scale war between China and Japan. This external crisis accelerated the formal establishment of the KMT-CCP alliance, which was publicly announced in September 1937.
2. Under the agreement, the CCP's Red Army was reorganised as the Eighth Route Army (part of the National Revolutionary Army) and placed under nominal KMT command. In practice, the CCP retained full operational control of its forces.