Chiang Kai-Shek

Chiang Kai-Shek (b. 1887) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) in 1925. He began his military education at the Baoding Military Academy, in 1906. Attended the Military State Academy in Japan in 1907. Chiang Kai-shek served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911. He commmanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords and emerged victorious in 1928 as the overall leader of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which Chiang's stature within China weakened, but his international prominence grew. During the Chinese Civil War, Chiang attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists.

Chiang Kai-Shek in Worldwar
With the arrival of the Race's Conquest Fleet, Chiang Kai-Shek found himself working uneasily with both Japan and the Chinese Communists against the Race.

Chiang was viewed as corrupt and worthless by most average Chinese. Chiang had evacuated Peking quickly in the face of the approaching Japanese. Ironically, the Japanese had fought the Race tooth-and-nail in a failed bid to hold Peking. The Communists proved far more adept at fighting the Race, and so Chiang and the KMT lost favor.

Nonetheless, Chiang remained an important figure in China, and continued to fight the Race's occupation into the 1960s, although he continued to fight the Communists, as well.

Chiang Kai-Shek in The Man With the Iron Heart
With Japan defeated, Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang turned back to their direct conflict with the Chinese Communist Party. The years 1946-1948 saw a series of set-backs and downturns in Chiang's fortunes, events which were detrimental to popular support for American President Harry Truman's foreign policy.