Mao's designated successor and the military genius who won the Chinese Civil War, third among the Ten Marshals
Told that the public saw him as 'Mao's best student,' Lin Biao was pleased and said: 'I don't have any talent. What I know, I learned from Chairman Mao.'
Lin Biao was one of the Chinese Communist Party's most brilliant military commanders, who led the Liaoshen and Pingjin campaigns in Manchuria to annihilate the Kuomintang's main forces and marched the People's Liberation Army into Beijing. Ranked third among the Ten Marshals in 1955, he became Minister of National Defense and spearheaded Mao Zedong's personality cult while vigorously advancing the Cultural Revolution. In 1966 he was made the Party's sole Vice Chairman and Mao's designated successor, reaching the apex of power before falling out with Mao in the early 1970s. After a failed coup attempt, he died in a plane crash over Mongolia on 13 September 1971 while fleeing toward the Soviet Union.
Career Timeline
- 1925Entered Whampoa Military Academy; joined the CCP
- 1932Commander, 1st Red Army Corps
- 1937Commander, 115th Division — victory at Pingxingguan
- 1948–1949Northeast Field Army commander; won Liaoshen and Pingjin campaigns, entered Beijing
- 1955Marshal of the PRC, third among the Ten Marshals
- 1959Minister of National Defense — led Mao's cult of personality and politicization of the PLA
- 1966–1971Sole Vice Chairman of the CCP, Mao's designated successor