Fifth encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet

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Fifth Encirclement Campaign Against the Kiangsi Soviet
Part of the Chinese Civil War
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in 1933
Date September 25, 1933 – October 10, 1934 (1 year, 2 weeks and 1 day) Location Kiangsi province, China Result Nationalist major victory Kiangsi Soviet Eliminated Red Army forced onto Long March
Belligerents
Nationalist China Nationalist Army Air Force Allied Clique Troops Supported by: Germany	Chinese Soviet Red Army Supported by:  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Chiang Kai-shek Chen Cheng Chen Chi-T'ang Hsüeh Yüeh Ku Chu-tung Tang En-po A. von Falkenhausen	Wang Ming Chou En-lai Po Ku Otto Braun Lin Piao Peng Teh-Huai Yang Yuou-lin
Strength
1,000,000 total mobilised 500,000 Chiang Kai-shek regime 300,000 Chen Chi-T'ang Clique 200,000 from various Northeast Szechwan Hunan Hokkien Kwangsi ～1000 trucks ～500 artillery pieces ～270 aircraft	70,000–150,000
Casualties and losses
2626 total casualty ~1,000 killed 1 aircraft lost in accident	~60,000 total casualty 1000+ POW

The Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Kiangsi Soviet^[a] was a series of military operations undertaken during the Chinese Civil War, spanning from 25 September 1933 to October 1934. The conflict pitted the forces of Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) against the Chinese Communists.^[1]

Unlike earlier attempts to crush the Chinese Soviet Republic, the fifth campaign was marked by a more methodical strategy. Chiang Kai-shek implemented a policy of gradual advance fortified by the construction of blockhouses, aiming to systematically isolate and annihilate Communist-controlled areas. This tactic ultimately proved effective in tightening the Nationalist stranglehold over the Kiangsi region.

Despite fierce resistance, the Communist forces—under increasingly constrained circumstances—suffered significant losses. By October 1934, the Nationalist Forces had succeeded in overrunning the principal Communist base areas. This defeat forced the Communist leadership to initiate a massive strategic retreat, later memorialised as the beginning of the Long March.

The campaign represented a turning point in the civil conflict, not only due to its military consequences but also for how it reshaped the Communist Party's internal leadership and strategic doctrine in the years that followed.

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