Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was born on 31 October 1887 in Zhejiang, China. When he was 18 he went to a military training college in Japan. In 1911, he returned to China and helped overthrow the Qing Dynasty. He then joined the Chinese Nationalist Party. In 1924, he was became the commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy in Canton. There he created his Nationalist army. After Sun Yat-sen’s death in 1925, Chiang was the leader of the nationalist party and the Northern Expedition. He was able to reunify China under a National Government. In 1928, he worked to destroy the communist party in China, and in 1931, the Japanese invaded Manchuria. By 1937 Japan had plans to invade all of China. Chiang had plans to restore China’s strength, although due to limited government resources and internal conflicts he was not able to achieve them. In 1941, when the US declared war on Japan, China joined the Allies. However, Chiang’s popularity in China decreased. In 1946, there was a civil war between communists and nationalists, and three years later the communists won. They then established the People's Republic of China. Chiang then fled to Taiwan, and created his own government. Chiang died on 5 April 1975. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/chiang_kaishek.shtml)
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