Long March

Long March, the 6,000-mi (9,656-km) march (1934–35) of the Chinese communists, from Jiangxi in the Southeast to Shaanxi in the extreme Northwest, which saved the movement from extermination by the Nationalist (Kuomintang) forces of Chiang Kai-shek. Led by Mao Zedong, the Red Army of some 100,000 trekked over 18 mountain ranges and 24 rivers under constant air and land attack by Kuomintang troops and local warlords. The march, which lasted for one year, took the lives of almost one-half of its participants.

See also: China; Mao Zedong.