Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), Chinese Nationalist leader. After Sun Yat-sen's Revolution (1911), Chiang joined the Kuomintang, the governing party, organized the nationalist army, and rose rapidly to power. After Sun's death (1925), Chiang made an alliance with the Communists, but in 1927 he reversed course, initiating a 22-year-long civil war against them. Chiang became president of the Nationalist government in 1928, and he commanded Chinese and later (1942) Allied forces in the war against Japan. In 1949, with the victory of the Communists in the civil war, Chiang withdrew from the mainland to Taiwan, where he became president of Nationalist China (1950).

See also: China.