Talk:Peng Dehuai

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These were other major issues in the 1959 dispute. Peng had made the army more professional and less political, changes reversed when Lin Biao replaced him. He had also shown signs of not liking the break with Moscow. Mao in 1959 was in too weak a position to have removed Peng if others had not also been suspicious.

He may also have been blamed for the unsuccessful confrontation over Taiwan the previous year:

"On Sept. 17 [1959] Peking announced that Marshal Lin Piao had succeeded Marshal Peng Teh-huai as defence minister… "Marshal Lin Piao was commander-in-chief of the people’s liberation army which conquered the whole of mainland China in 1948-49, but owing to a breakdown of health he was inactive for many years. His return to health and to official activity was indicated when, in 1958, he was appointed a member of the Politburo. Marshal Peng, whose fame was not enhanced by the failure of the Quemoy operation in 1958, remained a deputy prime minister." (Britannica Book of the year 1960)

At the time, there was little dispute that the weather was a major cause of China's problems. "China entered 1959 in a mood of confident but grim sobriety. The high tide of effervescence had markedly diminished… It was made clear later, in party and other pronouncements, that though Mao had relinquished the post of chairman of the republic, he remained not only head of the party but the most potent personality in the regime… “The increasing preoccupation with the weather, which began when vast areas in north and northeast China suffered a lack of snowfall and spring rain, grew steadily with the constant threat of floods throughout the southern provinces and a persistent plague of locusts in the region along the yellow river… The deluge in June (which brought 30 in. of rain to Hong Kong in five days) moved northward, flooding the countryside as it moved, so that the greater part of the country south of the Yangtze was seriously affected." (Ibid.)

Mao was probably thinking long-term. He gave one of his major jobs to Liu Shaoqi, who had no significant army support. He removed Peng and replaced him with Lin Biao, whose military reputation was at least equal to Peng and who would support Mao later when he launched the Cultural Revolution.

People should also think about the alternatives. Suppose Peng had replaced Mao rather than the other way round. Would China have ended up as another North Korea, sticking to the Soviet link to the bitter end?

--GwydionM 21:42, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

The last section looks a lot like propaganda Jake 09:47, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

This man was brilliant - he should have been leader instead of Mao.

North Korea never liked the new USSR under Krushchev (refering to stupid comment above).