Peng Dehuai
Chinese military and political leader
who fell out of favor with Chinese leader Mao Zedong and later
died during the Cultural Revolution. Born to a rural family in
Hunan province, Peng had little formal education. He joined the
army soon after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 and served
under the Kuomintang (Nationalists) until being expelled as a
leftist in 1927. Fighting for the Communists, Peng participated
in the 9600-km (6000-mi) retreat from the Kuomintang known as
the Long March, in 1934 and 1935. He served in several high-level
military positions, attaining the rank of deputy commander of
the People's Liberation Army under Zhu De in 1937. During the
Korean War, Peng commanded the Chinese army that assisted North
Korea, and he signed the armistice at the war's end in 1953. The
following year he was made China's minister of national defense.
Peng's criticism of the Great Leap Forward,
Mao's failed economic and social plan to increase economic and
industrial production, may have been the reason for his abrupt
dismissal in 1959. In 1966 Mao began a purge of perceived opponents
in the Chinese Communist Party. During this purge, called the
Cultural Revolution, Peng was arrested by the Red Guards, the
army of youths who supported Mao. Peng died in prison in 1974
after being denied critical medical treatment.
