Chinese Revolution · TURNING POINT · 1935

Crossing the Songpan Grasslands (1935)

On the Chinese Revolution map as “The Grasslands”

Aug 1935 — The column crosses the Songpan marshes at more than 3,000 meters. There are no villages or fuel, the mud is bottomless, and the marchers boil grass and leather for food. Survivors remember the crossing as worse than any battle. Of the 86,000 who left Ruijin, several thousand reach the north a year and 9,000 kilometers later.

When: Aug 1935
Type: Turning point
Chapter: Long March (chapter 7 of Chinese Revolution)
Atlas: China in Revolution, 1911–1949

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Map showing Crossing the Songpan Grasslands (1935), turning point in China in Revolution, 1911–1949 — TURNING POINT · CHINA IN REVOLUTION, 1911–1949

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · USOfficeoftheHistorian — ChineseRevolutionof1949 · Cliopatria v 0.2.1 — dated political boundaries · US diplomatic records — Jehol occupation,March 1933 · Natural Earth — physical reference geography · Tangku Truce Agreement,31May1933 — published primary text · USMA: Warlords, 1925 · USMA: Long March, 1934-35 · USMA: Japanese Occupation, 1940

Source details

USOfficeoftheHistorian — ChineseRevolutionof1949. Historical facts consulted; original prose/artwork not republished
Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY4.0 · Dated polity and constituent territory selections; campaign-dependent occupation overlays reconstructed separately.
US diplomatic records — Jehol occupation,March 1933. Historical facts consulted; no source artwork or prose republished
Natural Earth. Public domain
Tangku Truce Agreement,31May1933 — published primary text. Historical facts consulted; original prose/artwork not republished
United States Military Academy, Department of History, Digital History Center. Source-map facts used for independent geographic reconstruction; original chart artwork is not republished
United States Military Academy, Department of History, Digital History Center. Source-map facts used for independent geographic reconstruction; original chart artwork is not republished
United States Military Academy, Department of History, Digital History Center. Source-map facts used for independent geographic reconstruction; original chart artwork is not republished

Warlord regions use the nearest published coalition map from 1925 or 1928–1937. District-level allegiances changed, so these are represented by a disclosed regional reference.

proxy: 1938–1945 earliest separate multipart source reference · reconstruction: 1933-05-31 · reconstruction: 1935.82 · reconstruction: 1936–1937reference forpost1933Manchukuo · reconstruction: Late1935 regionalbase;1936 source · trace: 1925 regionalcoalitions · trace: 1933occupation;1940publishedprovince reference · vector: 1932–1937

Layer records and reconstruction methods