Leathernecks in North China, 1945

Abstract

The decisive phase of the Chinese Civil War is said to have begun during the summer of 1946, hardly a year after the Japanese surrender and about six months after General George Marshall went to China to assist the Kuomintang and the communists in negotiating toward a peaceful settlement of their conflict. The failure of the Marshall Mission and the subsequent communist victory is often seen as America’s failure–the failure of liberal democracy to provide an alternative to communism and revolution and the failure of the American war aim–to establish lasting peace and stability in Asia. But even before Marshall’s arrival in China, the united States had actively intervened on behalf of the Kuomintang and undermined possibilities for a negotiated political settlement in China.