Some sources attribute Chiang Kai-shek with responsibility for millions of deaths in scattered mass death events caused by the Nationalist Government of China. He has been deemed partially responsible for the man-made 1938 Yellow River flood, which killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians in order to fend off a Japanese advance. This accusation is usually sourced from Rudolph Rummel who was referring to the Nationalist regime as whole rather than Chiang Kai-Shek in particular. Regardless, the Nationalist government of China has been accused by Rummel of mass killings; he alleged that, based on various claims, the Nationalist government of China was responsible for between 6 and 18.5 million deaths.