Mao Zedong

1893 - Born on the 26th of December in a village called Shaoshan in Xiangtan County.

1911 - Served in a local regiment in Hunan. However, he disliked military service and later returned to school in Changsha.

1918 - He traveled with Professor Yang Changji.

1920 - He developed his theory of violent revolution. His theory was inspired by the Russian revolution and was likely influenced by the Chinese literary works: Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Mao sought to subvert the alliance of imperialism and feudalism in China.

         - Led several labor struggles based upon his studies of the propagation and organization of the contemporary labor movements.

1921 - On the 23rd of July, he attended the first session of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai.

1925 - Mao's interest in the revolution was rekindled after hearing of the uprisings in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

1927 - He returned to Hunan where, in an urgent meeting held by the Communist Party,

1927 - He conducted the famous Autumn Harvest Uprising in Changsha, Hunan, as commander in chief. Mao led an army, called the "Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants", but was defeated and scattered after fierce battles.

1931-1934 - He helped establish the Soviet Republic of China and was elected Chairman of this small republic in the mountainous areas in Jiangxi.

1937-1945 - Led the Communist resistance against the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

1949 - On the 21st of January, Kuomintang forces suffered massive losses against Mao's Red Army.

         - On the 10th of December, Red Army troops laid siege to Chengdu, the last KMT occupied city in mainland China, and Chiang Kai-shek evacuated from the mainland to Taiwan that same day.

1954-1959 - He was the Chairman of the PRC.

         - He launched the second Five Year Plan known as the Great Leap Forward, a plan intended as an alternative model for economic growth to the Soviet model focusing on heavy industry that was advocated by others in the party.

1962 - Mao lost esteem among many of the top party cadres and was eventually forced to abandon the policy,  also losing some political power to moderate leaders.

1969 - He declared the Cultural Revolution to be over, although the official history of the People's Republic of China marks the end of the Cultural Revolution.

1976 - Died at the age of 82, on the 9th of September at 10 minutes past midnight in Beijing. He died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known in the U.S as Lou Gehrig's Disease and elsewhere as Motor Neurone Disease.