The civil war in China began in 1926 when the GMD tookever, led by General Chiang Kai Shek. Purges began and in 1934, the CCP in China was close to total annihilation (wikipedia). But yet by 1949, the CCP led by Mao, who was formally a librarian, has taken the whole of china. At this time, most of China's population were peasant farmers in the countryside. The reasons the CCP won can be put into three main categories - International affairs and interests, social and ideological differences and military. Underlining and being the heart of all these reasons were because the CCP had support of the majority in China - the peasants and the poor.

The Sino Japanese war caused the GMD to lose power but served as a chance to rise for CCP. Beginning In 1937, the Japanese started to invade china and took the military and economic strongholds of the...