Mao Zedong (Mao Tse‐tung) (1893–1976)

Abstract Mao Zedong was arguably the most influential Chinese politician of the twentieth century, widely admired at home and abroad as a great revolutionary, and the inspiration of a wave of “Maoist” insurgencies, such as that of the Naxalites in India. He won power as supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party in 1935 and held it until his death. After a protracted struggle with the man he saw as his arch‐rival, Chiang Kai‐shek (Jiang Jieshi) (1887–1975), Mao also attained power over all the lands of the former Qing Empire (1644–1911) save Mongolia and Taiwan. Although promising a liberal electoral regime of “New Democracy,” Mao in fact ruled the newly proclaimed People's Republic of China as a dictator, albeit one who sought revolutionary transformation. His was the decisive voice in China's decision to enter the Korean War (1949–1953); his forces humiliated India in a border conflict in 1962, while during the Vietnam War (1959–1975) he provided matériel and personnel to the North Vietnamese. As tension rose with the Soviet Union (1969) he joined talks with the United States (starting in 1971) that culminated with diplomatic relations (1979).