Answer:
B. a conflict between nationalist and communist movements
Explanation:
The period between the 1st and 2nd World War was marked by a series of conflicts between Chinese nationalist and communist forces
.
These hostilities erupted during the Chiang Kai-shek expedition to the north, with the purge of the Kuomintang's "National People's Party," founded by doctor Sun Yat-sen, and a series of failed communist urban uprisings. Communist power was then better settled in the rural area, and its defenders used guerrilla tactics to counteract the nationalist force, which was superior. After a three-year campaign, Chiang finally managed to destroy the Jiangxi soviets (communist rural bases) created by Mao Tse-tung, but after the Great March (1934-1935), the Communists were able to reinstall themselves in Yan'an in the north from the country.
Clashes between the two sides were reduced by the Japanese invasion of 1937, and until the end of World War II in 1945 a difficult truce was maintained while fighting against a common enemy. Internal violence erupted shortly after the war ended, resurfacing on a much larger base in April 1946 - after US General George Marshall failed to reach a stable agreement.
During the first year of the conflict, the nationalist troops obtained territorial gains, including the communist capital of Yan'an. Soon afterwards, however, Kuomitang morale began to crumble in the face of the communist's successful military operations, diminishing confidence in its administration, and by the end of 1947 a victorious communist counter-offensive was under way. In November 1948, Lin Piao completed the conquest of Manchuria, where the nationalists lost half a million men, many of whom deserted to the communist side. In Central China, the nationalists lost Xandong and in January of 1949 were defeated in the battle of Huai-Huai (near Xuzhou). Beijing fell in January, and Nanjing and Shanghai in April. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed (1 October 1949) and the communist victory was completed when the nationalist government fled from Chongqing to Taiwan in December of that year.
