Mao Tse-Tung dies in 1941

If Mao dies of a stroke in 1941?Could the communists takeover never occurred?Or he is substituted by another person like Hua Guofeng?
 
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Lin biao, avoids the sino soviet split. Chou may make nice with weng, against the KMT and avoid Japan National Government in China.
 
Mao was very critical in making the key decisions that lead to victory. By 1941, Mao had essentially defeated Wang Ming and the Comintern faction of the CCP (which would take orders direct from Moscow instead of accepting Mao's lead), but the rectification campaigns of 1943 which molded the party in his image had not happened yet. So a lot depends on who assumes leadership of the CCP. When 1945 happens and everyone is pressing for the CCP and KMT to come to terms on a unified government, the new CCP leaders might actually try to make it work rather than attempt a military solution based on new bases in Manchuria which is what Mao pushed. You might also get new leaders who are actually interested in fighting the Japanese first which Mao did not want to do at all. Mao was constantly fending off attempts by the other Chinese Communists to fight the Japanese - he felt it would waste their strength which they needed to conserve to fight the Nationalists after the war. If the CCP becomes serious about fighting the war, then it is good for China but probably bad for the CCP overall compared to our timeline.

Lin Biao is unlikely to become a leader. He was not in China at the time. He was in the Soviet Union recovering from wounds from late 1937 until early 1942. Many of Mao's allies were not in senior leadership positions, and some that were seem to have been his allies more out of convenience or political calculation than out of conviction. I'm not sure who or what group would take the lead, but they will probably make very different decisions throughout the next four years than Mao did.

Mao was not only shrewd, but got lucky. As late as 1946, I would not say the CCP's ability to take China was very likely. The key was the strangeness that happened in Manchura in 1947-1948 which saw the CCP defeat the Nationalists militarily because of repeated and continuing missteps by senior KMT military leaders in Manchuria. Without Mao, I am very doubtful that can be repeated. My guess is that the necessary conditions for the CCP's victory simply don't happen without him.
 

raharris1973

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Could the communists takeover never occurred?Or he is substituted by another person like Hua Guofeng?

Maybe they could win anyway, maybe not. I don't know what Hua's position was at the time.

Lin biao, avoids the sino soviet split.

If there is a Communist victory, a more junior leadership may be less bold in trying to boss Moscow, so the split could be delayed.

Chou may make nice with weng, against the KMT and avoid Japan National Government in China.

Too late for that. If you're referring to Wang Jingwei, he already set up his pro-Japanese government in Nanjing in 1940.

Agree with Blackfox5 that a non-Mao CCP during WWII would be likely to be more active against Japan, less bold against KMT and more obedient to the letter of Soviet guidance, primarily because that's what the Soviets wanted and newer leaders would have to worry more than Mao about running afoul of Soviet preferences.
 
Conservation efforts around the world would be better off. Mao invented "Traditional Chinese Medicine" to help rebrand China, stir nationalism, and cover for the fact that the PRC wasn't able to set up a real health care program. A substantial part of this system involves the use of endangered animals. So all those rhinos, tigers, sun bears, pangolins, bahabas, etc. that are getting hunted for the medicine market? Yeah, it's *all* that guy's fault.

With him out of the way the Western Black Rhinoceros and some others would probably still be around and the conservation of a whole lot of animals from bears to sea horses would be in much better shape.
 
Stalin and the CPSU directly take over the command of Chinese Communism and install a loyal puppet to run it, similar to Kim Il Sung. Post WWII, Stalin perhaps even devotes some actual forces to assist the CCs.
 

NoMommsen

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With him out of the way the Western Black Rhinoceros and some others would probably still be around and the conservation of a whole lot of animals from bears to sea horses would be in much better shape.
And millions of OTL dead chinese also.
 
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