Lin Biao (5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Marshal of the People's Liberation Army and First Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1 August 1966 to 13 September 1971, succeeding Liu Shaoqi and preceding Zhou Enlai. Along with Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing, he was regarded as one of the two main counter-revolutionaries behind the Cultural Revolution, and he was purged in 1971, dying in a plane crash that same year.
Biography[]
Lin Biao was born in Huanggang, Hubei, Qing China in 1907, the son of a prosperous merchant family. He joined the Communist Youth League of China before graduating from high school in 1925, and he enrolled at the new Whampoa Military Academy later that year. He rose in the ranks of the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition, and he joined the Communist Party of China during the expedition. After the Kuomintang-CPC split, Lin sided with the CPC, and he was loyal to Mao Zedong during his struggle with the "28 Bolsheviks" in 1932. In 1934, he distinguished himself during the Long March. He was absent for much of the fighting during World War II, instead serving as a representative to the Comintern in Moscow.
During the Chinese Civil War, Lin commanded the decisive Liaoshen and Pingjin campaigns, leading the People's Liberation Army into Beijing in 1949. He also took control of the coastal provinces in southeast China from the KMT, and he became involved in politics following the war's end. In 1954, he became a Vice-Premier, became Vice Chairman of the CPC in 1958, became Defense Minister in 1959, became First Vice Premier in 1964, and became First Vice Chairman of the CPC in 1966. He supported the creation of Mao's personality cult in the early 1960s, and he was named Mao's designated successor as the sole Vice Chairman of the CPC in 1969. However, at the 1970 Lushan Conference, Mao became wary of Lin's growing power, and he was angered at Lin's alleged insulting of his wife Jiang Qing and his perceived hunger for power. Lin refused to make a self-criticism, and he became a recluse by 1971, with Zhou failing to mediate between Mao and Lin. When Mao decided to remove Lin and his supporters from power, Lin attempted to assassinate Mao. The attempts failed, and Lin attempted to defect to the Soviet Union with several family members. However, on 13 September 1971, his plane crashed in Ondorkhaan, Mongolia, and he was posthumously blamed for the Cultural Revolution.