The People's Liberation Army was founded on 1 August 1927 during the Nanchang Uprising when troops of the Kuomintang (KMT) rebelled under the leadership of Zhu De; He Long; Ye Jianying and Zhou Enlai shortly after the end of the first Kuomintang-Communist alliance. They were then known as the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (simplified Chinese: ??????; traditional Chinese: ??????; pinyin: Zhonggu?Gongn髇g h髇gjun); or simply the Red Army. Between 1934 and 1935; the Red Army survived several campaigns led against it by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and engaged in the Long March.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945; the Communist military forces were nominally integrated into the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units. During this time; these two military groups primarily used guerrilla warfare; fought battles with the Japanese while consolidating their ground by annexing nationalist troops and paramilitary forces behind the Japanese lines. After the end of the Sino-Japanese War; the Communist Party merged the two military groups and renamed the multi-million strong force the 'People's Liberation Army' and eventually won the Chinese Civil War. Pictures From History