In this episode, Prof Paine looks at Maoist China. How did Mao go from military genius to peacetime disaster? How did the patriotic hero inflict history’s worst catastrophe on China?
How can someone shrewd enough to win a civil war outnumbered 5 to 1 make decisions like "let's have peasants make iron in their backyards" and "let's kill all the birds"? Lecture is followed by a Q&A with me.
The first nationwide famine in Chinese history; Mao's lasting influence on other insurgencies; broken promises to Chinese minorities and the peasantry; what Taiwan means.
Huge thanks to Substack for hosting this!
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Sarah's Books
I highly, highly recommend both
"The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949"
https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Asia-1911-1949-S-Paine-ebook/dp/B0096R1NZ4
and
"The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War"
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Empire-Strategy-Restoration-Pacific/dp/1107676169
Links
Transcript: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/sarah-paine-china
Spotify: http://spoti.fi/3APeQ3L
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dwarkesh-podcast/id1516093381
Timestamps
(0:00:00) - Intro
(0:00:47) - Disclaimer
(0:03:13) - Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, Thayer Mahan, Corbett
(0:09:31) - The 1911 Revolution and the Civil War
(0:14:27) - Clausewitz on Mao
(0:15:47) - Mao the propagandist
(0:24:35) - Mao the social scientist
(0:29:51) - Mao the military leader
(0:40:17) - Mao the feminist
(0:49:34) - Mao the grand strategist
(0:58:12) - Yin and Yang analysis
(1:02:14) - Q&A begins
(1:05:16) - Why was Mao worse than Stalin?
(1:11:42) - Yalta satisfied no-one
(1:14:50) - Corrupt allies, ideologue enemies
(1:16:29) - US indifference to the Nationalists
(1:25:35) - Imagining a Nationalist mainland
(1:28:21) - Communists cling to power
(1:32:02) - Xi and Mao
(1:38:13) - Making victims victimize themselves
(1:42:15) - Journalists' naivete
(1:46:16) - Visiting China then and now