Chiang Kai-shek: The leader who lost mainland China and retreated to Taiwan

Chiang Kai-shek, a military and political leader born in 1887, played a central role in the division between mainland China and Taiwan. After joining the Kuomintang in 1918 and rising to leadership following Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925, he led the Northern Expedition to unify China under a Nationalist government in Nanjing.

His leadership was marked by shifting alliances, including a 1927 turn against the Chinese Communist Party that ignited a long civil war, and a temporary alliance with Communists to resist Japanese aggression during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Following Japan's surrender in 1945, the civil war resumed, leading to the defeat of Nationalist forces by Mao Zedong's forces in 1949.

Chiang subsequently retreated to Taiwan with the Republic of China government, military personnel, and millions of refugees. In Taiwan, he established a highly centralized, one-party system and maintained a long-standing claim that his government represented all of China.