On Warfare: On Guerrilla Warfare/On Protracted War/Other Martial Writings

by Mao Zedong

Mao on Warfare compiles Mao Zedong's principal works on martial theory, including On Guerrilla Warfare and On Protracted War. In On Guerrilla Warfare, Mao explores China’s long history of guerrilla warfare, beginning with the Chu and Han dynasties. Mao relates the expansion in the theories, tactics and strategies of guerrilla warfare as practiced by the People’s Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War.

In On Protracted War, Mao analyzes the fundamental questions of warfare from the standpoint of dialectical materialism. Mao used On Protracted War to explain tactics developed in World War II and instrumental in China’s campaigns against the Japanese occupation. On Protracted War also reviews strategies Mao employed in the Chinese Civil War.

Mao on Warfare is of primary interest to military experts and scholars, as well as to casual readers with an interest in warfare in general and Chinese martial history in particular.

Genres: War, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2013

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.