What if the Communists Lost the Chinese Civil War?

oh no on mentioning something controversial thanks YouTube [Music] the 20th century probably changed no country more than China over the course of just 50 years it went from an imperial system that existed since civilization began to a period of warring States to civil war to malice communist to well whatever you can call China now today China becoming communist seems just like an inevitability but really it was one of the most least likely scenarios that could have happened for decades now in his Red Army were simply a fringe but through guerrilla warfare some poor decision-making by their enemies and just dumb good luck now eventually came up on top but Cody you say there was never an armistice so technically nobody won the Chinese Civil War because it didn't end I don't think the Nationalists preferred Taiwan over the mainland so yeah in all sense the Communists won so the question here is what if the Communists lost the Chinese Civil War if you want to know what started the war these channels have covered the lead up far better and more in-depth than I ever could I'd recommend watching one of those videos first yeah good all right with this alternate timeline what's the decisive moment that everything changes [Music] after the nationalists launched a purge of thousands of communists war had begun the Communists actually had it pretty bad for the first few years of the war by 1934 they were on the brink of becoming just another footnote in China's long history surrounded by all sides by the Nationalists and their desperation they decided the best move was to retreat and reorganize break through the weakest opening in march 9,000 kilometers north through mountains and warlords to regroup at a better position 90% didn't make it through the year long Trek many dying from crossing a river which led to a change in leadership but it was the maneuver that saved the Red Army and put now on track to becoming a national figure in this alternate scenario one simple change is the Communists don't take the long march they don't escape instead they are surrounded and annihilated the Nationalists become the single greatest power in a war-torn China to them at least their biggest rival is now gone but now the Nationals alone have to deal with another enemy a foreign enemy [Music] the Nationalists and our timeline handled the Japanese invasion poorly granada' took the industrial might of the United States to ultimately destroy Japan's industrial capabilities but even then for the Nationalists the way they conducted themselves didn't paint them in the best light like abandoning Nanking their own capital doing nothing to stop the Japanese from well you know or intentionally flooding one of the most populated regions to stop Japan's advancements going 400 to 500 thousand of their own civilians in the process yeah they weren't perfect or competent even if the Nationalists did win against the Communists they still probably would have done such buffoonish maneuvers during the war which only hurts their own reputation to the general public those mistakes by the Nationalists don't come to bite them in the ass so to say but I doubt there could be some major other force that could challenge them with Japan gone and the Communists defeated nationalist China goes into the 50s and a new post-war world but China without communism isn't a China without authoritarianism probably something that just comes with having the most populated country in the world the Nationalists or cumin tang were not pro-democracy in the beginning under sun yat-sen's guidance yes the original nationalists did wish for an american-style government but these were early days hell the nationalists and communists were even common allies against the imperial system however over time and especially after son's death the nationalist goal became a united china under one party for at least a while and we never actually saw the democracy part till taiwan in the 80s China going into this post-war world is one that above all else hates communist I can assume this relationship translates to at least a positive one with the Americans moving into the 50s but I doubt they'd remain the best of friends with them or Europe chain was vocal about renegotiating the unfair treaties with the West made after European Wars so I don't think non communist China just jumps into becoming a part of the free world after the war instead they'd become a dictator Shemp one-party state they might lean more towards the US but it'd still be a colder relationship than say Japan or Germany unlike those countries which were basically built from the ground up by the Allies China wanted welcomed Westerners just coming in again in making decisions for their country bad memories you could say even with that said China still would be vulnerable to Soviet influence considering the border they share and it'd be this initial defense that's the majority of American Chinese relations even if China was not communist the Korean War probably still would have happened North Korea still would have invaded and the Soviets would have supplied them the difference here however is that the war would be over very quickly the only reason the war ended in a stalemate at all after three years was because the Chinese launched a full-scale invasion pushing back the south if China was to get involved at all it'd be to aid the UN Americans and South Koreans to stop the north and Kim il-sung's reign would end just as soon as it began Korea becoming fully United or maybe China taking a little bit Vietnam never would have entered the vocabulary of Americans remaining a small Southeast Asian nation that even if it was split would have become a very short war if the North did attempt to unify the nation so you get the point China becoming communist caused the greatest shift in American foreign policy before 1950 even though the Soviets had taken control of half of Europe the Cold War was still limited to just Europe there was a fear of worldwide communism from the West but that fear wasn't realized until the world's largest nation became red for men on stopping communism from spreading to any other nation across the globe became top priority for the West the domino theory was born and was seen as the main reason for why the US should dedicate so much effort into a tiny country like Vietnam no matter the cost but without communist China America's main focus remains on Europe in not proxy wars in Asia the Cold War in a way becomes less escalated the world split but less so and the conflict less global in turn the 60s still would have been rocked by the civil rights movement but as for the identity of the majority of Americans Vietnam and the fear the rise of communism is much less considered this is very difficult to accurately predict while there is some historical precedent to go off how Nationals China would you know govern the easiest thing to say is Millions certainly don't die from mouse collectivist policies so to tackle this let's start in broad changes then go into specifics first the modern culture of China itself yes the millions of deaths certainly would have an impact on the nation but I'd say the most defining impact of Mao was the Cultural Revolution mouthes plan to create a permanent revolution rile up the masses call for a purge of the party and go back to the good old days as in before he destroyed his credibility with the famine he shut down schools and students became a new generation of revolutionaries reading the books of Mao and remembering to destroy the old which included teachers intellects historical and cultural artifacts of old China a million died by the 70s Mao died and China thought hey maybe some parts of capitalism aren't all bad it was this that really killed at the old Chinese culture the one of Confucius two old dynastic ideals and traditional thought Chiang on the other hand was adamant about traditional Chinese culture and ideals the Nationalists at least preserved that culture and were at least more kind to religion China certainly is a a democracy by any means Chiang rule Taiwan until his death Taiwan didn't start actually becoming democratic until the mid 80s I say this to show where the Nationalists stood politically we can't just copy Taiwan's history and paint it as an alternate China China would be fully united by the 30s meaning they'd have decades to attempt to industrialize how effective would this be well it certainly be better than now forcing people to make steel on their back by any means China would join the global economy decades before our own and this has both positive and negatives as a positive the country isn't isolated socially and economically until the 70s like under Mao as a chance to build itself up and grow its nation on the negative now a fragile Chinese state ruled by a party with not the best track record of stability is a part of the global economy so take that as you will alternate history is theorizing it's not a prediction set in stone if China never turned to communism it's plausible that it remains an authoritarian one-party state for a time but gradually shifts to a democracy or maybe the corruption and instability of the Nationalists leads to yet another civil war or maybe it remain a one-party state and the people would simply be fine with that to be honest whether communist or nationalists the modern problems we have with the China we see today probably would have been the exact same once Mao died China began its own reforms tore down his policies that were even unpopular when he was alive he may call itself communist may even still fly the red banner but the China of today is really really similar to that one-party state the Nationalists once fought for communism was tried as always millions died and it was switched out the market today isn't as free as Europe or America but China today is capitalistic its party is tied hand-in-hand with its own owned corporations if Nationals China did rise we'd see fewer of these state-owned companies but the effects that nation has on the global stage would probably just be the same the problems with China today is that it's really the way China has always been the state has always been authoritarian to keep control of such a large population China before the Europeans fears of influence was the exact same way and the China we see today is as well in my opinion I don't think that a China under the nationalist would have been liberalized like they did in Taiwan hell even the United States with hundreds of years of practice still has its own issues on the matter brutal crackdown of dissidents authoritarian measures and weariness of outside influence it's simply transformed and changed clothes throughout the centuries rising no matter who would have one the only difference is who gets to take the credit but China certainly is an enigma this is Cody of alternate history of [Music] you

Channel: AlternateHistoryHub

Views: 1,588,545

Rating: 4.8726125 out of 5

Keywords: Communists Lost the Chinese Civil War, Chinese Civil War, China Hong Kong, Hong Kong, History of China, China, China Tiannemen Square, tiananmen square, chinese communism, mao, what if the nationalists won the chinese civil war, mao zedong, alternatehistoryhub, alternate history hub, alternate history china, chinese censorship, taiwan, chinese revolution, alternate history

Id: gmOKw7TUkw0

Length: 13min 8sec (788 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/SpartSpatsirk]

One of his best recent videos tbh