Lai, Benjamin/Hooke, Adam (Illustr.) The Long March 1934-35. The Rise of Mao and the Beginning of Modern China

This study tells the epic story of how a routed group of Chinse Communists marched tens of thousands of miles with Mao on a journey that would lead to their eventual triumph and rule of the whole of China. Every nation has its founding myth, and for modern China it is the Long March. In the autumn of 1934, the Chinese Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek routed the Chinese Communists and some 80,000 men, women, and children left their homes to walk with Mao Zedong into the unknown. Mao's force had to endure starvation, harsh climates, and challenging terrain whilst under constant aerial bombardment and threatened by daily skirmishes. The Long March survivors had to cross 24 rivers and 18 mountain ranges, through freezing snow and disease-ridden wilderness to reach their safe-haven of Yan'an. In military terms, the Long March was the longest continuous march in the history of warfare and it came as a terrible cost--after one year, 6,000 miles, and countless battles, fewer than 4,000 of the original marchers were left. Illustrated with stunning full-color artwork, this enthralling book tells the full story this epic display of resilience, and shows how, from the desert plateau of Yan'an, these survivors would grow the army that conquered China 14 years on, changing history forever.

Mao's force had to endure hunger, harsh climate and challenging terrain while being battered by constant air raids and daily battles. The survivors of the "long march" had to cross 24 rivers and 18 mountain ranges through freezing snow, constantly threatened by death from starvation, disease or exhaustion, to reach their safe harbour of Yan'an. In military terms, the "long march" was the longest uninterrupted march in the history of the war and had terrible consequences - after a year, 6,000 miles and countless battles and skirmishes, fewer than 4,000 of those who originally set out on the "long march" were still alive. This "Campaign" volume tells the full story of this epic endurance against all conceivable odds and shows how these survivors of the "Long March" rebuilt the army from the desert plateau of Yan'an that would conquer China 14 years later, changing world history forever.