Sarah Paine

So, neither the communists or the nationalists complain about the deindustrialization of Manchuria.

And the communists probably traded that industry for all the conventional aid that they got.

And the nationalists are trading that and also outer Mongolian independence for a promise from Stalin not to aid the communists, which a promise that he promptly breaks.

So Mao starts to figure out that something is up here.

So when he's on a roll in his offensives in the Civil War, there's really bitter fighting.

And the real movement in the last phase, the post-1940 phase of the Chinese Civil War, is in 1948.

That year, Mao just moves.

And he is roaring down south, and he's about to get the Yangtze River.

And Stalin's like, hey, buddy.

Take a break at the Yangtze.

Don't exhaust yourself.

And Mao ignores it.

Because whereas Stalin might have wanted to keep nationalist rump states south of the Yangtze River, yielding a divided China in keeping with weakening your neighbor, Mao is not remotely interested in that.

And here's my 10th example, which is the Korean War.

If you look at the Korean War, the first year is a war of movement.

There's up and down, up and down the peninsula.

It's unbelievable how much movement there is.

But then it stalemates for the last two years.

And you think, well, what's going on?

Why don't they settle the war sooner?