Yangtze River Crossing Campaign

Battle context

The Yangtze River Crossing campaign marked the decisive final phase of the Chinese Civil War. Launched by the People's Liberation Army against a Nationalist force of 700,000 with over one million troops, the campaign resulted in approximately 430,000 Republic of China casualties against roughly 60,000 Communist losses, reflecting the collapse of organized Nationalist resistance south of the Yangtze. The fall of Nanjing, the Kuomintang capital, and Shanghai to Communist forces removed the last major political and economic centers from Nationalist control. These losses directly compelled the Nationalist government's exile to Taiwan, establishing the geographic and political division that defined the post-civil war order. The campaign effectively ended the contest for mainland China, consolidating Communist authority and setting the terms of the Taiwan Strait confrontation that persisted into subsequent decades.