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The Communists under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung and Chu Teh enjoyed two relatively stable periods of growth and development in the south-eastern Kiangsi-western Fukien border region, from December 1929 to December 1930 and from the autumn of 1931 to April 1933. These periods of Communist expansion were possible because Chiang Kai-shek, the only leader both powerful enough to check their growing strength and aware of its potential danger to internal security, was struggling elsewhere in China against more immediate threats to the Nationalist Government. The weak provincial troops and local militia in this remote area of China were no match for the well-led, disciplined Red Army.
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References
1 Most writers speak of five or six campaigns against the Kiangsi Communists; however, using the word campaign in its broader meaning (i.e., “a connected series of military operations forming a distinct stage in a war”), it would seem more accurate to divide the war against the Central Soviet region into two campaigns, from December 1930 to September 1931 and from April 1933 to November 1934.Google Scholar
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