Lin Biao

Lin Biao (Birth name: Lin Yurong: Chinese: 林育蓉) (Chinese: 林彪; December 5, 1907 – September 13, 1971) was a Chinese communist military leader. Lin was a general in the First Chinese Civil War (1927-1936),the  Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945),World War 2 (1939-1945) the Second Chinese Civil War (1945-1949),the Korean War (1950-1953),and the Cultural Revolution (1966). He was general of the People's Liberation Army from 1927-1971.

After the war, Lin was key in creating Mao Zedong's personality cult. He wrote the introduction to The Little Red Book. Lin was rewarded for his service to Mao by being named Mao's successor in the Ninth Party Congress, 1966. This he remained until his death in 1971 and was considered a traitor just like Ernst Röhm during Night of the Long Knives (1934) in Nazi Germany as well as Genrikh Yagoda,Nikolai Yezhov in 1938 and 1940 and Lavrenty Beria in 1953 in the Soviet Union before and after Stalin’s death.

Lin died in September 1971 when his aeroplane crashed in Mongolia. He was attempting to flee China with his son after what appeared to be a failed military coup. After Lin Biao's death, he was branded a traitor by the Communist Party of China. He, along with Jiang Qing (Mao's forth wife) and the Shanghai Radicals are still officially blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution (1966).

References
 Lin's introduction to the Little Red Book
 The Encyclopaedia Britannica's article on the man

Category:1907 births
Category:1971 deaths
Category:Chinese generals
Category:Vice Premiers of the People's Republic of China
Category:20th-century Chinese military people