Violent Struggle

The Violent Struggle (simplified Chinese: 武斗; traditional Chinese: 武鬥; pinyin: wǔdòu), also known as Wudou or Factional Conflicts, refers to the violent conflicts between different factions (mostly of Red Guards and "rebel groups" composed mostly of students and workers) during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The factional conflicts started in Shanghai and Chongqing in December 1966, and then spread to other areas of China in 1967 which brought the country to the state of civil war.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Most violent struggles took place after the power seizure of rebel groups, and gradually grew out of control in 1968, forcing the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party as well as the Chinese government to take multiple interventions in the summer of 1968.^[11]

During much of the fighting weapons were either acquired by the rebel groups through raids on arms depots or direct support from local military establishments. Weapons used in armed conflicts included some 18.77 million guns (some say 1.877 million^[12]), 2.72 million grenades, 14,828 cannons, millions of other ammunitions and even armored cars and tanks.^[6] Researchers have pointed out that the death toll in violent struggles ranged from 300 thousand to 500 thousand, while certain documents from the Chinese Communist Party have revealed that 237,000 people were killed and another 7,030,000 were injured or permanently disabled.^{[6][13][14][15]} Notable violent struggles include the battles in Chongqing, in Sichuan, and in Xuzhou.^[1][6][16]