Zhu De
Encyclopedia : Z : ZH : ZHU : Zhu De
Zhū Dé (朱德, Wade-Giles: Chu Teh, zi: Yùjiē 玉阶) (December 1, 1886 – July 6, 1976) was a Chinese Communist military leader and statesman. He is regarded as a founder of the Chinese Red Army (the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army) and the tactician who engineered the revolution from which emerged the People's Republic of China.He was born into a large farming family in Yilong county, a hilly and isolated section of northern Sichuan province. After a secondary education funded by his clan, Zhu De travelled to Chengdu to study physical education before joining the army. In 1908, he entered the Yunnan Military Academy in Kunming. After his graduation, he taught in the academy. Zhu joined the rebellion that overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1911. He participated in military campaigns with armies of the Yunnan warlords and commanded units along the Laos and Vietnam borders in the early years of the Chinese Republic. During this time, Zhu De developed a strong opium habit, but he managed to recover from the addiction in 1922 at a Shanghai hospital.
Zhu De began to read Marxism and Leninism in Shanghai. In the mid-1920s, he went to Europe, studying at Göttingen University in Germany from 1922 to 1925. Around this time, he joined the Communist Party. Zhou Enlai was one of his sponsors. After he returned to China, Zhu served in a training regiment of Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang army and Chief of Public Security in Nanchang. Following two arrests for revolutionary activities in China, he was exiled. In July 1925, he travelled to theSoviet Union to study military affairs. In 1926, he returned to China.
Zhu's close affiliation with Mao Zedong began after the failed revolutionary uprisings in 1927, when both men fled to the Jinggang Mountains. From these humble beginnings, Mao and Zhu built the Red Army into a skilled guerrilla force that consolidated and expanded their areas of control. Zhu's bravery and skill in leading these men made him a figure of immense prestige. Locals credited him with supernatural abilities.
During the Long March, Zhu De and Zhang Guotao commanded the "western column" of the Red Army, which barely survived the retreat through Sichuan Province. In Yan'an, Zhu directed the reconstruction of the Red Army under the political guidance of Mao. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Chinese Civil War, he held the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army. After 1949, Zhu was named Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). He was also the vice-Chairman of the Communist Party. In 1955, he was made a marshal. He continued to be a prominent and respected elder statesman until his death in July 1976, at which time he was Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (since 1975).
See also
External links
- [Zhu De Biography] From Spartacus Educational
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