Using complete sentences, describe the events and consequences of the Chinese Civil War.

The Chinese Civil War was a conflict fought over a period of nearly 20 years, intermittently from 1927 to 1936, then full-scale from 1946 to 1950, between the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong. The war can be divided into two phases with a significant interruption in between for cooperation against the Japanese invasion during World War II.

The first phase started in 1927 when the KMT turned against the CCP due to ideological differences and the power struggle that ensued after the death of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the KMT. Clashes and massacres marked this phase, with the most notorious being the Shanghai Massacre of 1927, where Chiang Kai-shek's troops purged Communists from the joint KMT-CCP Shanghai government.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the KMT and the CCP formed a Second United Front to defend against the Japanese invasion. While the KMT bore the brunt of the fighting, the CCP expanded its influence in the countryside through guerrilla warfare and land reforms, gaining peasant support.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the Chinese Civil War resumed. This second phase of the war saw a series of large-scale military confrontations. The CCP's strategy focused on mobilizing the peasantry, while the KMT, supported by the United States, tried to maintain control of the cities and key transport routes.

By 1949, the CCP had gained control of most of the country. Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1st, while the KMT retreated to the island of Taiwan and continued to claim to be the legitimate government of China. The United States and many Western nations continued to recognize the KMT as the government of China until the 1970s, when many switched recognition to the PRC.

The consequences of the Chinese Civil War were significant: it resulted in two separate governments claiming to be China's legitimate ruling body (PRC on the mainland and the Republic of China, ROC, in Taiwan), the spread of communism in Asia, and the Cold War's influence expanding into East Asia.