This is a timeline of Chiang Kai-shek's (Jiang Jieshi) life.
| Year | Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1887 | 31 October | Jiang Jieshi is born to Jiang Suan and Wang Caiyu in Xikou | |
| 1889 | Jiang Jieshi's family moves to a two-story merchant's house a hundred feet or so down Wu Ling Street |
| Year | Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Jiang Jieshi's father Jiang Suan dies and he inherits the house, bamboo grove, and rice paddies |
| Year | Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | winter | Jiang Jieshi marries Mao Fumei | |
| 1903 | Jiang Jieshi takes the new civil service examination and fails, so he enters the Phoenix Mountain Academy, a small Confucian school in Fenghua | ||
| February | Jiang Jieshi transfers to the Golden Arrow Academy in Ningbo | ||
| 1906 | February | Jiang Jieshi transfers to the Dragon River School in Fenghua | |
| Jiang Jieshi cuts off his Manchu queue | |||
| Jiang Jieshi spends several months in Tokyo learning Japanese | |||
| Jiang Jieshi enters the Baoding Military Academy | |||
| 1907 | Jiang Jieshi enters the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko, a school set up for Chinese students wishing to attend a Japanese military academy | ||
| 1909 | November | Jiang Jieshi graduates from the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko and enters the 19th Field Artillery Regiment at Takada |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 27 April | Mao Fumei delivers Jiang Jingguo |
| 1911 | 10 October | Wuchang Uprising The New Army rebels in Wuchang and Jiang Jieshi leaves for Shanghai |
| Jiang Jieshi is put in charge of a "dare to die" contingent cjkxke up of Fenghua fishermen reinforced by Green Gang and Red Gang members | ||
| 4 November | Jiang Jieshi's men take part in the New Army's seizure of key public buildings in Hangzhou | |
| 1912 | 6 January | Sun Zhongshan is inaugurated as provisional President of China by the National Assembly in Nanjing |
| 12 January | Jiang Jieshi may or may not have assassinated Tao Chengzhang, head of the Guangfuhui, and rival of Chen Qimei for the governorship of Zhejiang | |
| 12 March | Sun Zhongshan resigns and Yuan Shikai becomes president, however he only controls half of the old Manchu Army | |
| 25 August | The Tongmenghui and four other parties form the Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang (KMT), with Song Jiaoren as its leader | |
| 1913 | March | The KMT wins control of the National Assembly |
| 22 March | Song Jiaoren is assassinated | |
| August | Jiang Jieshi and Chen Qimei flee to Japan and Sun Zhongshan goes to Yokohama | |
| December | Jiang Jieshi meets Sun Zhongshan for the first time | |
| 1914 | spring | Sun Zhongshan sends Jiang Jieshi to Shanghai to pull together the revolutionary underground but he fails and returns to Japan |
| Sun Zhongshan sends Jiang Jieshi to recruit warlords in Manchuria but he fails and returns to Japan | ||
| 1915 | 18 January | The Twenty-One Demands are handed to Yuan Shikai and a revised "Thirteen Demands" are eventually agreed upon |
| Jiang Jieshi and Chen Qimei return to Shanghai | ||
| 10 November | The defense commissioner in Chinese Shanghai, Zheng Ruzheng, is assassinated on the orders of Jiang and Chen | |
| An attack on the police headquarters by Jiang Jieshi's "dare to die" teams fails and he falls ill | ||
| 1916 | February | Jiang Jieshi and Chen Qimei try to rebuild the Chinese Revolutionary Army in Shanghai |
| 18 May | Chen Qimei is assassinated | |
| 6 June | Yuan Shikai dies and Sun Zhongshan returns to Shanghai | |
| 1918 | The KMT flees to Guangzhou and launches the Constitutional Protection Movement with the support of Chen Jiongming and warlords in Guangdong and Yunnan | |
| March | Jiang Jieshi joins Chen Jiongming's army as senior operations officer for an attack on the warlord of Fujian | |
| Sun Zhongshan goes into exile in Shanghai due to warlord demand for more authority | ||
| July | Jiang Jieshi takes a key town in Fujian | |
| 1919 | May | Jiang Jieshi returns to Shanghai |
| 4 May | May Fourth Movement Mass demonstrations spread all over China in response to the Treaty of Versailles | |
| Jiang Jieshi adopts Jiang Weiguo, son of Dai Jitao | ||
| Moscow announces that it will relinquish special rights in Manchuria and cancel all the "unequal" tsarist treaties with China |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | spring | Jiang Jieshi contracts typhoid |
| 30 September | Sun Zhongshan appoints Jiang Jieshi as chief of staff of the Second Guangdong Army | |
| October | Guangdong–Guangxi War Chen Jiongming and the Second Guangdong Army enter Guangzhou | |
| 12 November | Jiang Jieshi returns to Shanghai to brief Sun Zhongshan and then leaves for Zhejiang | |
| 1921 | April | Guangdong–Guangxi War A Beiyang government backed Old Guangxi Clique army attacks Guangdong but is defeated by Xu Chongzhi and the KMT occupy Guangxi |
| 4 May | Sun Zhongshan becomes president again | |
| 10 May | Jiang Jieshi arrives in Guangzhou | |
| 4 June | Jiang Jieshi's mother dies | |
| 1922 | Chen Jiongming attacks the KMT and Sun Zhongshan escapes to Pazhou | |
| 29 June | Jiang Jieshi joins Sun Zhongshan at Pazhou | |
| 9 August | Jiang and Sun leave for Xianggang and Shanghai | |
| 1923 | Sun Zhongshan returns to Guangzhou and appoints Jiang Jieshi as Xu Chongzhi's chief of staff | |
| August | Jiang Jieshi leaves for the Soviet Union | |
| 15 December | Jiang Jieshi returns to Shanghai | |
| 1924 | 12 January | Jiang Jieshi returns to Guangzhou |
| June | Sun Zhongshan and Jiang Jieshi preside over the opening of the Huangpu Military Academy | |
| 1925 | 12 March | Sun Zhongshan dies |
| 30 May | May Thirtieth Movement The Shanghai Municipal Police fire on striking workers, causing widespread anti-foreign demonstrations and riots | |
| 23 June | Canton–Hong Kong strike Huangpu Military Academy cadets are among those killed by British troops firing on anti-imperialist protesters | |
| 1 July | The Nationalist government is formed in Guangzhou with Wang Jingwei as chairman of the new ruling political council | |
| The National Revolutionary Army is formed | ||
| 20 August | Liao Zhongkai is assassinated and Jiang Jieshi enters the KMT's top triumvirate consisting of himself, Wang Jingwei, and Xu Chongzhi | |
| 20 September | Xu Chongzhi is forced to leave for Shanghai due to charges of corruption | |
| October | Jiang Jingguo is approved for study at the University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow | |
| Chen Jiongming is defeated | ||
| November | Disaffected KMT veterans including Dai Jitao vote to expel the communists from the party | |
| 1926 | January | Jiang Jieshi is voted onto the Central Executive Committee |
| 18 March | Jiang Jieshi is alerted to a plot by the Chinese Communist Party Central Executive Committee and the Russians to oust him | |
| 20 March | Canton Coup Jiang Jieshi places Guangzhou under martial law and arrests 50 communists | |
| Wang Jingwei is ousted and leaves for France | ||
| June | Tang Shengzhi defects to the KMT | |
| 9 July | Jiang Jieshi becomes Supreme Commander | |
| 11 July | Northern Expedition | |
| October | Northern Expedition | |
| 18 December | Northern Expedition He Yingqin's First Corps capture Fujian and move into Zhejiang | |
| Northern Expedition Jiang Jieshi gains control of China from Guangxi in the south, to Sichuan in the west, to the Changjiang at Wuhan in the north, and northern Fujian in the east | ||
| 1927 | 1 March | The Wuhan Central Executive Committee places Jiang Jieshi under a new military council and issues a secret order for his arrest |
| 22 March | Northern Expedition Bai Chongxi's forces enter Shanghai | |
| 23 March | Northern Expedition Zheng Qian's forces enter Nanjing | |
| 24 March | Northern Expedition Jiang Jieshi reaches Nanjing | |
| 26 March | Jiang Jieshi returns to Shanghai | |
| 6 April | Wang Jingwei arrives in Shanghai and refuses leadership of the KMT, leaving for Wuhan | |
| Jiang Jieshi institutes martial law and leaves for Nanjing | ||
| Joseph Stalin declares that KMT is of no more use and that Jiang Jieshi should be eliminated | ||
| 12 April | Shanghai massacre Communists are killed or arrested in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guilin, Ningbo, and Xiamen | |
| 19 June | Feng Yuxiang joins the KMT | |
| 24 July | Northern Expedition Sun Chuanfang defeats NRA forces and takes Xuzhou | |
| 12 August | Jiang Jieshi resigns and leaves for Shanghai | |
| 16 August | NRA forces retake Xuzhou and Sun Chuanfang flees across the Yellow River | |
| 1 December | Jiang Jieshi marries Song Meiling in Shanghai | |
| 1928 | Jiang Jieshi returns to power and Wang Jingwei resigns, leaving for France | |
| 2 May | Jinan incident The Japanese army bomb Jinan, killing hundreds | |
| 5 May | Jinan incident The Japanese arrest Nanjing's representative Cai Gongshi, cut out his tongue, gouge out his eyes, and then shoot him as well as ten of his staff members | |
| 11 May | Jinan incident The Japanese army attacks the NRA, killing 11,000 soldiers and civilians in Jinan | |
| 4 June | Huanggutun incident Zhang Zuolin's train is bombed and he dies a few days later | |
| 19 June | Northern Expedition Zhang Zuolin's son, Zhang Xueliang, cables Jiang Jieshi expressing his loyalty to the Chinese nation | |
| 10 October | Jiang Jieshi becomes the director of the State Council, in effect the president | |
| 29 December | Chinese reunification (1928) Zhang Xueliang replaces the flags of the Beiyang government with the flag of the Republic of China | |
| 1929 | 28 March | Jinan incident The Japanese army withdraws from Shandong |
| April | Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) Zhang Xueliang seizes the Soviet consulate in Harbin | |
| July | Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) Zhang Xueliang seizes the Chinese Eastern Railway | |
| 12 October | Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) Soviet troops defeat Zhang Xueliang's forces | |
| December | Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) Soviet rights to the Chinese Eastern Railway is restored |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | June | Central Plains War Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Fakui, and Yan Xishan form an anti-Jiang coalition |
| autumn | Encirclement Campaigns NRA troops fail to defeat communist forces in the Jinggang Mountains | |
| November | Central Plains War The anti-Jiang coalition is defeated | |
| 1931 | April | Encirclement Campaigns He Yingqin's forces fail to suppress communist forces in Jiangxi |
| Wang Jingwei sets up an anti-Jiang government in Guangzhou | ||
| 1 July | Encirclement Campaigns The NRA defeat the Chinese Red Army | |
| 18 September | Mukden Incident The Kwantung Army sets off an explosion on a rail line outside Shenyang and fires artillery into a nearby Chinese garrison before occupying the city | |
| Japanese invasion of Manchuria | ||
| 15 December | Jiang resigns | |
| 1932 | January | Jiang meets with Wang Jingwei and returns as the KMT's military leader while Wang becomes head of government |
| 28 January | January 28 Incident Japan invades Shanghai and forces Chinese troops to withdraw | |
| March | Jiang resumes his position as chairman of the Military Council and chief of the General Staff | |
| April | Encirclement Campaigns NRA troops force Zhang Guotao to flee to Sichuan | |
| 1933 | 1 January | Defense of the Great Wall Japan occupies Shanhai Pass |
| 1 March | Battle of Rehe | |
| May | Encirclement Campaigns NRA forces start blockading communist areas | |
| 31 May | Tanggu Truce The Republic of China agrees to a local armistice declaring the northern part of Hebei a demilitarized zone, essentially ceding it to Japan | |
| 1934 | 16 October | Long March The Chinese Red Army escapes from Jiangxi |
| 1935 | January | Long March The Chinese Red Army reaches Zunyi and joines Zhang Guotao's army; Mao Zedong is elected the CCP's senior military as well as political authority |
| September | Jiang announces that China will never surrender its sovereignty or Manchuria | |
| October | Long March | |
| November | Wang Jingwei is wounded in an assassination attempt and Jiang takes over as president of the Executive Yuan | |
| NRA forces retreat from Chahar | ||
| 1936 | February | Zhang Xueliang meets with CCP representatives in Xi'an to discuss the formation of an anti-Japan anti-Jiang government |
| 6 April | Zhang Xueliang meets with Zhou Enlai | |
| May | Zhou Enlai meets with ROC representatives to discuss a united front | |
| 31 October | Jiang celebrates his birthday in Luoyang | |
| 12 December | Xi'an Incident Zhang Xueliang kidnaps Jiang | |
| 26 December | Xi'an Incident Jiang offers some verbal concessions and is released | |
| 1937 | 19 April | Jiang Jingguo arrives in Shanghai |
| 7 July | Marco Polo Bridge Incident Japanese troops performing maneuvers around Beijing receive fire from the NRA and de-escalation fails, ending in Japanese shelling of Chinese troops | |
| 12 July | Battle of Beiping–Tianjin Japanese troops arrive in Tianjin | |
| 22 July | Battle of Beiping–Tianjin The Japanese order Chinese forces to withdraw from the area, but they attack instead | |
| 7 August | Jiang convenes the Military Council and declares all-out resistance as the national policy | |
| 13 August | Battle of Shanghai The NRA attempts to drive Japanese forces from Shanghai but fail | |
| 5 November | Battle of Shanghai Japanese forces land on the beaches of Hangzhou Bay and advance toward Suzhou River | |
| 8 November | Battle of Shanghai Jiang gives the orders to withdraw | |
| 7 December | Battle of Nanjing Jiang and Song Meiling leave Nanjing for Lushan | |
| 12 December | Battle of Nanjing Tang Shengzhi gives the order to break out of Japanese encirclement | |
| 1938 | 24 March | Battle of Taierzhuang Japanese forces fall into an ambush at a railway spur line at Taierzhuang |
| 5 June | 1938 Yellow River flood Soldiers blow open the dikes on the south banks of the Yellow River, flooding Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu | |
| 24 October | Battle of Wuhan Jiang gives the order to withdraw from Wuhan | |
| November | Jiang arrives in Chongqing | |
| The Burma Road is constructed by 200,000 laborers and engineers | ||
| 1939 | 27 September | Battle of Changsha (1939) A Japanese attack on Changsha is defeated and withdraws with heavy casualties |
| winter | 1939–40 Winter Offensive NRA forces attack Japanese positions but ultimately end in operational failure |
| Year | Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | January | Wang Jingwei defects to the Japanese and sets up the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing | |
| August | Hundred Regiments Offensive The Eighth Route Army attacks Japanese occupied areas in Shanxi and Hebei | ||
| December | Hundred Regiments Offensive The communist offensive is reversed and Japanese retaliation reduces the population of communist base areas by 19 million | ||
| 1941 | 7 January | New Fourth Army incident The New Fourth Army moves south into ROC territory and clash with NRA forces | |
| 30 January | Battle of South Henan NRA and Japanese forces clash in South Henan | ||
| 8 December | Attack on Pearl Harbor Jiang receives news of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor | ||
| 24 December | Battle of Changsha (1942) Japanese forces attack Changsha | ||
| 1942 | 15 January | Battle of Changsha (1942) Japanese forces withdraw from Changsha and suffer heavy losses from a Chinese encirclement maneuver | |
| 18 February | Jiang meets Gandhi outside Kolkata | ||
| 27 February | Jiang visits Lashio | ||
| 19 March | Battle of Toungoo Japanese forces attack NRA troops at Toungoo | ||
| 30 March | Battle of Toungoo NRA troops withdraw | ||
| 18 April | Doolittle Raid American bombers crash land in China | ||
| 19 April | Battle of Yenangyaung NRA forces assist British troops from escaping a Japanese encirclement | ||
| 20 April | Battle of Yenangyaung Japanese forces destroy the Sixth Army's Temporary 55th Division | ||
| 29 April | The Japanese seize Lashio | ||
| April | Battle of West Hubei Japanese forces enter Hubei and Hunan to loot and collect supplies | ||
| 5 May | Joseph Stilwell abandons his soldiers and escapes to India | ||
| 15 May | Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign Japanese forces devastate Zhejiang and Jiangxi in reprisal for the Doolittle Raid, killing hundreds of thousands | ||
| 2 June | Joseph Stilwell flies back to Chongqing | ||
| 10 October | Jiang announces that Washington and London have agreed to drop "extraterritoriality" | ||
| 1943 | 2 November | Battle of Changde Japanese forces capture Changde | |
| 21 November | Cairo Conference Jiang arrives in Cairo | ||
| 1 December | The Cairo Declaration is formally announced, promising to return all territories Japan had stolen from China | ||
| 20 December | Battle of Changde Japanese forces are forced to withdraw from Changde | ||
| 1944 | 19 April | Operation Ichigo Japanese forces begin their largest land operation and cross the Yellow River into Henan | |
| 25 May | Battle of Central Henan Jiang gives the orders to withdraw | ||
| 26 June | Battle of Changsha (1944) Zhang Deneng gives the orders to abandon Changsha | ||
| 22 June | Defense of Hengyang Japanese forces lay siege to Hengyang | ||
| 3 August | Siege of Myitkyina Allied forces take Myitkyina | ||
| 8 August | Defense of Hengyang Japanese forces take Hengyang | ||
| 24 November | Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou | ||
| 1945 | 9 April | Battle of West Hunan Japanese forces advance into western Hunan | |
| 7 June | Battle of West Hunan Japanese forces are routed | ||
| 15 August | Victory over Japan Day Jiang Jieshi receives news of Japan's surrender and he broadcasts a victory speech throughout all of China | ||
| 29 August | Chongqing Negotiations Mao and Jiang start negotiations | ||
| 16 December | Jiang visits Beijing | ||
| 1946 | 13 January | Jiang and Mao agree to cease-fire following the convening of the Political Consultative Assembly |
| Year | Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 5 April | Jiang Jieshi dies |