Chiang Kai-shek

He became the Commandant of the Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place as leader of the KMT when Sun died in 1925. After Japan invaded China in 1937 Chiang agreed to a temporary truce with the CPC. A major split between the Nationalists and Communists occurred in 1927; and under Chiang's leadership the Nationalists fought a nation-wide civil war against the Communists.