Jiangxi Soviet

The Jiangxi Soviet, sometimes referred to as the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet, was a soviet area governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that existed between 1931 and 1934 in southeastern Jiangxi and southwestern Fujian province. It was the largest component of the Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) and home to its capital, Ruijin. At the time, the CCP was engaged in a rural insurgency against the Kuomintang-controlled Nationalist Government as part of the Chinese Civil War. CCP leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De chose to create the soviet in the rugged Jinggang Mountains on the border of Jiangxi and Fujian because of its remote location and defensible terrain. The First Red Front Army successfully repulsed a series of encirclement campaigns by the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army (NRA) during the first few years of the Soviet's existence, but they were eventually defeated by the NRA's fifth attempt between 1933 and 1934. After the Jiangxi Soviet was defeated militarily, the CCP began the Long March towards a new base area in the northwest.