The Long March was a giant military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Red Army of the Communist Party to withdraw, in 1934, from the encirclement campaigns by Kuomintang troops under Chiang Kai-shek's orders. The army took 370 days (from 16 October 1934 to 22 October 1935) to move from Jiangxi to Shaanxi and to travel about 12,000 km between arid highlands, roadless mountains, snow-capped peaks and impressive rivers such as the Chang Jiang. All while continuing to fight to open the road.
The Long March brought Mao to the head of the revolution and gave all the commanders, including Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Lin Biao and Deng Xiaoping a huge and lasting prestige.