Chinese politician Lin Biao was one of the main figures of the Communist Party in his country. He was considered the closest ally of Mao Zedong. Today, Biao is known primarily because of his mysterious death.
early years
Lin Biao was born on December 5, 1907 in a small village in Hubei Province. His father was a bankrupt manufacturer. When Yu Rong (birth name) reached the age of ten, he left his home to get an education. A huge mass of population lived in China. To break out into people, I had to make a huge amount of effort. Education was one such social elevator.
As in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese educational institutions of that time were hotbeds of revolutionary ideas. At 17, the future Lin Biao joined the Communist Party. The young man changed his name in 1905. This habit was the norm among socialists who took on themselves party pseudonyms.
Communist supporter
Of all the available types of education, Lin Biao chose the military. This predetermined his fate. His career growth in the army continued until 1927, when a state campaign against the Communists took place in China. Then Lin Biao, according to his convictions, broke with the then power and joined the ranks of rebellious opponents of the political system.
A talented military man led the creation of detachments for the Red Army. Biao quickly became a prominent figure among the Communists. In the early 30s, he was already on the party’s Executive Committee. Mao Zedong contributed to this advancement. Two politicians became faithful companions for many years. When Zedong was the head of the party, Biao became his right hand.
During the war with Japan
In 1937, Japan attacked China. The outbreak of the domestic war became a theater of operations, in which Lin Biao fully demonstrated his own skills. He was one of the prominent communist strategists and tacticians. The officer was appointed head of the 115th division. This military unit participated in several important battles. The key one was the Pingsiguan Battle, where Lin Biao was the main creator of the Chinese victory.
The clash occurred on September 24, 1937. The Japanese imperial army was defeated. The victory was an important event for the Chinese. The army of Biao were mainly partisans. They needed success, like air, to inspire soldiers. And so it happened. Much later, when the Communists took power, the Pingsiguan Battle became an important propaganda story. Thanks to such victories, Lin Biao became a national hero. Photos of the military fell into local patriotic newspapers. Biao was popular not only in the army, but also among the people, among the peasants.
In Soviet Union
After being wounded in 1939, Biao was sent to the Soviet Union for treatment. In Moscow, the closest ally of Zedong also performed a diplomatic mission. When the commander recovered, he did not return to his homeland, but remained in Russia, where he became the representative of the Chinese Communist Party in the Comintern.
With the outbreak of war between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, Stalin finally became an ally of his eastern comrades-in-arms, fighting against the Japanese, who also supported the Germans. Lin Biao in the USSR carried out the delicate instructions of the Central Committee of his party. In 1942, after a three-year break, he finally returned to his homeland. At the Seventh Party Congress, Biao was elected a member of the Central Committee. He continued to fight against the Japanese invaders. They were expelled from the mainland after when all the Allied powers that defeated Hitler in Europe were on the side of China.
Civil War
In 1945, Japan admitted defeat, and the Communists decided to finally take power in the country into their own hands. Now the last period of the civil war of the supporters of Zedong and the former republican power in the person of the Kuomintang has begun. Lian Biao was appointed commander of the United Democratic Army, which had about three hundred thousand people. This huge force was supposed to destroy the resistance of the opponents of the Communists.
Lien Biao received tangible support from the Soviet Union, in which he had previously spent several productive diplomatic years. The help of the USSR allowed the commander-in-chief to cross the strategically important Sungari River three times. Success in Manchuria allowed Lian Bao to drive Republicans out of this important region. In 1948, he was made commander of the Northeast Field Army. When the Kuomintang was finally defeated, the famous military went to negotiations with the enemy as one of the most important delegates to the diplomatic mission.
Marshal of the People's Republic of China
After the victory of the Communists in the civil war in 1949, the People's Republic of China was formed. Lin Biao received various military or administrative posts (for example, he was commander in the Central Military District). He undoubtedly belongs to a number of communists who created the prototype of modern China. In 1955, for his many services to the army, the commander received the rank of Marshal. Later he became a member of the Politburo.
In 1959, the communist leadership decided that Lin Biao would become the new Minister of Defense. Marshal took up his duties amid the rout of the opposition in the party. His predecessor, Secretary of Defense Peng Dehuai, was fired for criticizing Mao Zedong. Biao, on the contrary, was completely loyal to the "great helmsman." Largely thanks to his efforts in China, the imposition of the cult of the personality of Mao began by analogy with the process that took place shortly before in the Soviet Union with the image of Stalin.
Second after mao
The apotheosis of power Lin Biao came in the second half of the 60s. Then in China began the so-called cultural revolution. It was a state attack on any dissent in society. The intelligentsia was repressed, criticism of the government was prohibited, etc. From the side of the army, this process was supported by Biao. He propagated the cult of personality of Mao in the army. It was the marshal who initiated the idea of mass printing the Red Book, a collection of quotes from Zedong. This edition has become the largest in all of China. Lin Biao assured that every soldier should be able to handle weapons and remember the leader’s statements.
In 1969, the marshal became the country's only deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the party. In the nomenclature system, this fact was an important allusion to the future. All of China - from the military to the peasants - at the time considered Biao the only legitimate successor to Mao as the country's leader.
Mysterious death
However, almost finding himself at the very top of power, Lin Biao lost in the hardware struggle to his detractors. At first he had an argument with almost the entire Politburo. But the real blow to the marshal was the discovery by the security organs of a conspiracy against the government among his own supporters. There are different points of view about this movement. Some believe that Lin Biao himself led the coup, others believe that until the last moment he did not suspect anything.
The secret plan disclosed by the Chinese security officers was called "Project 571." The conspirators planned to get rid of Mao Zedong using any available method. Poisoning, kidnapping or killing by poisonous gas were considered. There is also a theory that the putschists hoped for Soviet support.
When the authorities learned about the "project 571", the marshal was resting at the resort. He tried to flee the country with his loved ones on his own plane. The board went north. Most likely, Lin Biao counted on the support of the Soviet Union. The plane, however, crashed in the Mongolian steppe. So September 13, 1971, the Minister of Defense of China was killed.
Discredit Campaign
The Communist authorities immediately after the incident launched a campaign to discredit the Marshal in the eyes of the Chinese people. These mass events were soon called the "Critique of Lin Biao and Confucius." Agitators compared the marshal with the ancient philosopher and attributed non-communist views to him. In particular, he was accused of wanting to revive the slave system. The mysterious death of Lin Biao and the further mixed reaction of the authorities are still the subjects of a heated debate between historians from various countries.
Despite the propaganda campaign and official bans, today the image of Biao is returning to the mass consciousness of the Chinese. Museums are dedicated to him, and relatives even managed to publish memoirs. Interestingly, in modern China, Lin Biao and Putin are often compared and considered to be figures of similar political importance.