President Chiang Kai-shek led the Republic of China and the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Mainland. After the end of World War II, during the subsequent resumption of the Chinese Civil War he lost Mainland China to the Chinese Communists. He retreated to Taiwan with the ROC government and vowed to one day re-take the Mainland (At that time, the ROC had occupied Taiwan before the post-war treaties were in effect, becoming the government in exile.) During the following years of rule, the KMT-led ROC government erected monuments commemorating Nationalist leaders, including statues of Chiang Kai-shek.