Chiang Kai Shek's Legacy

Chiang Kai Shek, who started out as military leader, built an enormous legacy that is tied around both China and Taiwan. Chiang was born on October 31, 1887, in a small town in Zhejiang province, China. Though his father died when he was at a young age, it never affected him, he continued to pursue in the military career. While in Japan attending the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, he devoted most of his time studying the work of Sun Yat Sen who was the leader of the nationalist party (Kuomintang) in China. After finishing his military training he joined the Kuomintang, where he worked under Sun. Sun sent Chiang to Moscow for further military training and appointed him to lead the Whampoa Military Academy. Soon after Sun died in 1925, Chiang took over and became the leader and president of the party. Chiang and the nationalist party continued to rule Mainland China until 1949, when they lost to the communist party in the Chinese civil war. Some historians may see Chiang’s legacy as a failure to create democracy in China and himself as dictator after taking full control over the leadership and presidency in Taiwan. However, other scholars see Chiang as the leader of democracy, as he attempted to unify and modernize China while in power. He unfortunately was defeated during the Chinese civil war and fled to Taiwan, where he brought democracy to the country. Chiang is an impressive figure that was able to reunify and lead a country that was recognized to be almost ungovernable, he had an extremely knowledgeable military mindset that was practically able to overthrow the communist party if the United States had continued to support, and most significantly he brought the system of democracy to Taiwan and modernized the country.

Chiang...

... middle of paper ...

...ng was able to bring democracy and set a path for the country to successful as it progresses.

Chiang Kai Shek is remarkable figure that had left a great legacy for the people to learn from. Scholars may criticize and be oppose of Chiang’s tactics and views, but he should not be the one to be blamed for everything that had happened in China. As of failing to take hold of all China during the civil war, it was partly because United States decided to stop providing support to the nationalist party and gave up on the civil war. He should be remembered as the leader who fought out the warlords and unified China. Without Chiang there would not have been democracy in Taiwan, the island would have been in the hands of Mao and the communist party. Therefore most importantly, he should be considered the leader of democracy that established the path for Taiwan to develop on.