Page "Chiang Kai-shek" Paragraph 54

Though Chiang had achieved status abroad as a world leader, his government deteriorated as the result of corruption and inflation.

In his diary on June 1948, Chiang wrote that the KMT had failed, not because of external enemies but because of rot from within.

The war had severely weakened the Nationalists, while the Communists were strengthened by their popular land-reform policies, and by a rural population that supported and trusted them.

The Nationalists initially had superiority in arms and men, but their lack of popularity, infiltration by Communist agents, low morale, and disorganization soon allowed the Communists to gain the upper hand in the civil war.