Although he admitted to making a mistake regarding The Great Leap Forward, that does not change the fact that his intensely flawed policies caused the deaths of an estimated 45 million Chinese citizens. His terrible policy-making decisions did not end there, either. In 1966, Mao started the movement named the Cultural Revolution. In this, he decided to reassert his dominance and authority over the Chinese government, justifying the actions of him and his government with the phrase, “fight selfishness, criticize revisionism,” with revisionism meaning revisionist government officials that held ideals that would revise traditional and fundamental Marxist values. Mao held these authorities to a lower standard, considering them to not be sufficiently revolutionary. A fair amount of the public would buy into it, with students saying, “to rebel is justified.” However, nothing about the Cultural Revolution was …show more content…
No matter how high up an official was in the Communist party, they could be subject to punishment. Victims of his discipline were not only politically undermined and shamed, they were detained and humiliated for the public to see. While detained, many were subject to cruel treatment, being beaten and tortured. Some were killed or driven to kill themselves. In addition, as was the case of Liu Shaoqi who died in 1969, many died as a result of the lack of medical care provided to victims. Though many statistical figures regarding Mao and his tyranny are guesses or estimates, historians believe the Cultural Revolution alone caused the deaths of anywhere between 2 million and 30 million Chinese citizens. Combined with the estimated 45 million casualties from the Great Leap Forward and the general tyranny of his reign, it’s estimated that Mao was responsible for anywhere between 49 million and 78 million deaths. China is not the only country that felt his presence, though, as he became a prominent player in the Korean war, aiding and allying himself and his nation with North