Mao didn’t gather some unbeatable force through some heroic march in the countryside. It was brutal and included forced conscription, desertion and famine and was perhaps more about getting ducks in line to procure Russian arms for a takeover. They also did little to fight the Japanese occupation of a huge swath of China, for instance. There is a lot of conflict about this but I don’t view Mao’s success as something of an inspiration.
Great read!
The Long March is mythology, however.
How do you mean?
Mao didn’t gather some unbeatable force through some heroic march in the countryside. It was brutal and included forced conscription, desertion and famine and was perhaps more about getting ducks in line to procure Russian arms for a takeover. They also did little to fight the Japanese occupation of a huge swath of China, for instance. There is a lot of conflict about this but I don’t view Mao’s success as something of an inspiration.