Zhu De Zhu De ( Wade – Giles : Chu Teh ; pronounced ; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976 ) was a Chinese general , politician , revolutionary , and one of the pioneers of the Chinese Communist Party . After the founding of the People ' s Republic of China , in 1955 Zhu became one of the Ten Marshal s of the People ' s Liberation Army , of which he is regarded as a principal founder . Life . Early life . Zhu was born on December 18 , 1886 to a poor tenant farmer ' s family in Hung , a town in Yilong County , a hilly and isolated part of northern Sichuan province . His family relocated to Sichuan during the migration from Hunan province and Guangdong province . Despite their poverty , Zhu was sent to a classic private school in 1892 . At age nine , Zhu was adopted by his prosperous uncle , whose political influence allowed him to gain access to Yunnan Military Academy later on . Before the repeal of imperial examinations in 1906 , he attained the rank of " Xiucai " , which allowed him to qualify as a civil servant . Enrolling in Sichuan high school around 1907 , upon graduating in 1908 he returned to Yilong high primary school as a gym instructor . An advocate of modern science and political teaching , rather than the strict classical education afforded by schools , he was dismissed from his post and entered the Yunnan Military Academy in Kunming . There , he joined the Beiyang Army and the Tongmenghui secret political society ( the forerunner of Guomindang ) . Nationalism and Warlordism . At the Yunnan Military Academy , Zhu met Cai E ( Tsai Ao ) . He continued to teach at the Academy after his graduation in July 1911 . Siding with the revolutionary forces after the Chinese Revolution , he joined Brigadier Cai E in the October 1911 expeditionary force that marched on Qing forces in Sichuan , and served as a regimental commander in the campaign to unseat Yuan Shikai in 1915 - 16 . When Cai became governor of Sichuan after Yuan ' s death in June 1916 , Zhu was made a brigade commander . Following the death of his mentor Cai E and his own wife , Zhu developed a strong opium habit and fell into a life of decadence . His troops continued to support him and he became a warlord . In 1920 , after his troops were driven from Sichuan toward the Tibet border , he returned to Yunnan as a public security commissioner of the provincial government . Around this time , his second wife and child were murdered by rival warlords , which may have contributed to his decision to leave China for study in Europe . He first travelled to Shanghai where he broke his opium habit and reportedly met Dr Sun Yat - sen . He attempted to join the Chinese Communist Party in early 1922 , but was rejected due to his former warlord ties . Converting to Communism . In late 1922 , Zhu went to Europe , studying at Göttingen University in Germany until 1925 . Here he met Zhou Enlai and was expelled from Germany for his role in a number of student protests . Around this time he joined the Communist Party of China . Zhou Enlai was one of his sponsors . In July 1925 , he traveled to the Soviet Union to study military affairs , returning to China in July 1926 to persuade Sichuan warlord Yang Sen to support the Northern Expedition . His failure to do this did not affect his standing in the Communist Party however , as he was soon named head of a new First United Front military institute in Nanchang . In 1927 , following the collapse of the First United Front , KMT authorities ordered Zhu lead a force against Zhou Enlai and Liu Bocheng ' s Nanchang Uprising . However , having helped orchestrate the uprising , Zhu and his army defected from the Guomindang . The uprising failed to gather support , however , and Zhu was forced to flee Nanchang with his army . Under the false name of Wang Kai , Zhu managed to find shelter for his remaining forces by joining the warlord Fan Shisheng . ' Zhu Mao ' . Zhu ' s close affiliation with Mao Zedong began in 1928 when under the assistance of Chen Yi and Lin Biao , Zhu defected from Fan Shisheng ' s protection and marched his army of 10 , 000 men to the Jinggang Mountains . Here Mao had formed a soviet in 1927 , and Zhu began building up his army into the Red Army , consolidating and expanding the Soviet areas of control . Zhu ' s leadership made him a figure of immense prestige . Locals credited him with supernatural abilities . During this time Mao and Zhu became so closely connected that to the local peasant farmers they were known collectively as " Zhu Mao " ( homophonic to 猪毛 , or pig ' s pelage ) . In 1929 , Zhu and Mao were forced to flee Jinggangshan to Ruijin following Guomindang military pressure . Here they formed the Jiangxi Soviet which would eventually grow to cover some 30 , 000 square kilometers ( 11 , 584 square miles ) and include some three million people . In 1931 , Zhu was appointed leader of the Red Army in Ruijin by the CPC leadership . Zhu successfully led a conventional military force against the Guomindang in the lead up to the Fourth Counter Encirclement Campaign ; however he was not able to do the same during the Fifth Counter Encirclement Campaign and the CPC fled . Zhu helped form the 1934 break out that began the Long March . Red Army leader . During the Long March , Zhu and Zhou Enlai organized some battles . There were few positive effects since the real power was in the hands of Bo Gu and Otto Braun . In the Zunyi Conference , Zhu supported Mao Zedong ’ s criticisms of Bo and Braun . After the Zunyi Conference , Zhu coopered with Mao and Zhou on military affairs . In July 1935 , Zhu and Liu Bocheng were with the Fourth Red Army while Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai with the First Red Army . When separation happened ， Zhu was forced by Zhang Guotao , the leader of Fourth Red Army , to go south . The Fourth Red Army barely survived the retreat through Sichuan Province . Arriving in Yan ' an , Zhu directed the reconstruction of the Red Army under the political guidance of Mao . During the Second Sino - Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War , he held the position of Commander - in - Chief of the Red Army and , in 1940 , Zhu devised and organized the Hundred Regiments Offensive . Mao supported this offensive at first . While a successful campaign , Mao attributed it as the main provocation for the devastating Japanese Three Alls Policy later and used it to criticize Peng at the Lushan Conference . Later life . After 1949 Zhu was named Commander - in - Chief of the People ' s Liberation Army ( PLA ) . Due to this appointment , he is regarded as a principal founder of the PLA . He was also the Vice - Chairman of the Communist Party ( 1956 – 1966 ) and Vice - Chairman of the People ' s Republic of China ( 1954 – 1959 ) . In 1950 Zhu oversaw the PLA during the Korean War . In 1955 , he was made a marshal . In 1959 , he tried to protect Peng Dehuai in the Lushan Conference . He just gave some mild criticisms of Peng . Mao Zedong wasn ' t satisfied with Zhu De ' s behavior . After the conference , Zhu was dismissed from vice chairmen of Central Military Commission . In April 1969 , during the summit of the Cultural Revolution , Zhu was dismissed from his position on the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China , and the activity of the National People ' s Congress was halted . However , due to the support of Zhou Enlai , he was not harmed or imprisoned . In August 1969 , Lin Biao issued a command that dispatched important martial figures to distant areas due to the tension between China and Soviet Union , and Zhu De was driven to Guangzhou . In 1973 Zhu was reinstated in the Standing Committee . He continued to be a prominent elder statesman until his death in July 1976 . His death came six months after the death of Zhou Enlai , and just two months before the death of Mao Zedong . Zhu was cremated three days after his death . He would have turned 90 years old in December 1976 .