"On Protracted War": A Strategic Beacon Illuminating the Victory of the War of Resistance

As a brilliant exemplar of adapting Marxist military theory to the Chinese context, Mao Zedong's *On Protracted War*, completed in 1938, profoundly influenced the historical course of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression through its far-sighted scientific foresight and practical guidance for action. This work not only provided solid theoretical support and strategic guidance for China's victory in the War of Resistance but also continues to inspire the Chinese people to unite as one and forge ahead on the path toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

作为马克思主义军事理论中国化的光辉典范，毛泽东于1938年著就的《论持久战》，以高瞻远瞩的科学预见力和切实可行的实践指导性，深刻影响了抗日战争的历史进程。该著作不仅为中国抗日战争的胜利提供了坚实的理论支撑和战略指导，也持续激励着中国人民在实现中华民族伟大复兴的道路上勠力同心、奋勇前行。

Clearing the Fog of Thought, Pointing the Way for the War of Resistance

拨开思想迷雾 指明抗战方向

Refuting erroneous arguments and establishing the conviction of victory. At the initial stage of the full-scale War of Resistance, two extreme and harmful currents of thought pervaded China: the theory of national subjugation, which gave rise to tendencies of compromise, and the theory of quick victory, which gave rise to tendencies of underestimating the enemy. At this critical moment of ideological confusion, Mao Zedong's *On Protracted War* was like a clap of thunder. Guided by dialectical materialism and historical materialism, it profoundly analyzed the concrete conditions of Japan's invasion of China and scientifically pointed out the direction of development for China's War of Resistance. Mao pointed out that although Japan was a strong country with formidable military, economic, and organizational power, the war it had launched was aggressive and regressive, and its unjust cause would find little support. Moreover, Japan was small in territory and population, poor in resources, and could not withstand a protracted war of attrition. China, though a weak country with relatively backward military equipment and economic strength, was waging a just war of counter-aggression and would enjoy ample support. Moreover, China was vast in territory and rich in resources, with a large population, giving it the deep potential to sustain a protracted war. On this basis, Mao concluded: "The War of Resistance Against Japan is a protracted one," and "the final victory will be China's." This judgment shattered the gloom of the theory of national subjugation and the illusions of the theory of quick victory, allowing people to see the dawn of victory and strengthening their conviction that the War of Resistance would surely triumph.

驳斥错误论调，树立必胜信念。全面抗战初期，国内弥漫着两种极端且有害的思想，即产生妥协倾向的“亡国论”与产生轻敌倾向的“速胜论”。在思想混乱的关键时刻，毛泽东的《论持久战》犹如一声惊雷，以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义为指导，深刻剖析日本侵华的具体情况并科学指明中国抗战的发展方向。他指出，日本虽是强国，军事、经济和组织力强大，但它发动的战争是侵略性的、退步的，失道寡助，且其国小人少，资源匮乏，经不起长期战争消耗；中国虽是弱国，军事装备和经济实力相对落后，但中国进行的是反侵略的正义战争，得道多助，且中国地大物博、人口众多，具备支持持久战的深厚潜力。基于此，毛泽东得出结论：“抗日战争是持久战”，“最后胜利属于中国”。这一论断打破了 “亡国论” 的阴霾和 “速胜论” 的幻想，让人们看到了胜利的曙光，坚定了抗战必胜的信念。

Dialectically analyzing contradictions and predicting the stages of the war. Based on his profound insight into the laws of motion of the contradictions between China and Japan, Mao Zedong creatively divided the War of Resistance into three stages: strategic defensive, strategic stalemate, and strategic counteroffensive.[1]1 The three strategic stages — defensive, stalemate, and counteroffensive — were the framework Mao Zedong set out in *On Protracted War* for the course of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In the strategic defensive stage, Japan, relying on its military superiority, attempted to quickly subjugate China. Because the enemy was strong and we were weak, large swaths of Chinese territory fell. However, the tenacious resistance and heroic struggle of the Chinese people accumulated strength and bought time for the subsequent war effort. In the strategic stalemate stage, the Japanese army's offensive momentum gradually weakened as its front lines lengthened, its forces became dispersed, and its supplies became difficult. Meanwhile, China, through its earlier resistance and strategic arrangements, made the Anti-Japanese National United Front more consolidated, and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines developed vigorously. In the strategic counteroffensive stage, the strength of the Chinese forces gradually increased, while the Japanese army grew increasingly exhausted, dispersed, and demoralized. Finally, China would completely defeat the Japanese army and achieve total victory in the War of Resistance. The course of history fully confirmed Mao's scientific foresight. The division into these three stages not only provided a clear strategic blueprint for the War of Resistance but also an important basis for military decision-making.

辩证分析矛盾，预判战争阶段。毛泽东基于对中日双方矛盾运动规律的深刻洞察，创造性地将抗日战争划分为战略防御、战略相持与战略反攻三个阶段。在战略防御阶段，日本凭借军事优势，企图迅速灭亡中国。由于敌强我弱，中国大片国土沦陷。但中国人民的顽强抵抗和英勇斗争，为后续的抗战积蓄了力量、争取了时间。在战略相持阶段，日军由于战线拉长，兵力分散，补给困难，进攻势头逐渐减弱。此时的中国则通过前期的抵抗和战略布局，使抗日民族统一战线更加巩固，敌后游击战争蓬勃发展。在战略反攻阶段，中国军队力量逐渐增强，日军则日益疲惫、兵力分散且士气低落。最终，中国将彻底击败日军，取得抗日战争的全面胜利。历史的发展也完全印证了毛泽东的这一科学预见，这三个阶段的划分不仅为抗日战争提供了清晰的战略蓝图，也为军事决策提供了重要依据。

Scientifically Analyzing the Situation, Revealing the Laws of the War of Resistance

科学分析形势 揭示抗战规律

Grasping the nature of the war and establishing strategic principles. In *On Protracted War*, Mao Zedong pointed out that Japan, by hoping to invade China through war and realize its political ambition of monopolizing China and dominating East Asia, committed acts of aggression that seriously violated international justice and human conscience and constituted an unjust war. This not only drew condemnation and opposition from the international community but also sparked considerable anti-war sentiment and contradictions within Japan itself, greatly weakening Japan's war capability and war will. In contrast, China's War of Resistance, waged to defend national sovereignty, national dignity, and the people's right to survival, was a just war of counter-aggression. Countries and peoples in the international community who cherished peace and upheld justice would inevitably sympathize with and aid China's war effort. At the same time, Mao also placed the War of Resistance within the global perspective of the World Anti-Fascist War, clearly stating that China's War of Resistance was an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War. The protracted war on the Chinese front not only pinned down large numbers of Japanese troops but would also have a great impact on the final victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. This precise and comprehensive grasp of the nature of the war laid a solid foundation for establishing correct strategic principles.

把握战争性质，确立战略方针。毛泽东在《论持久战》中指出，日本妄图通过战争侵略中国，实现独占中国、称霸东亚的政治野心，这种侵略行径严重违背国际正义和人类良知，是非正义的战争，不仅遭到国际社会的谴责和反对，也在其国内引发了诸多反战情绪和矛盾，会极大削弱日本的战争实力和战争意志。而中国进行的抗日战争是为了捍卫国家主权、民族尊严和人民的生存权利，是正义的反侵略战争，国际社会中爱好和平、主持正义的国家和人民必然会同情和援助中国抗战。同时，毛泽东还将抗日战争纳入世界反法西斯战争的全局视野，明确指出中国抗战是世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分。中国战场的持久抗战不仅拖住了日本大量兵力，也会对世界反法西斯战争的最终胜利产生极大影响。这种对战争性质精准而全面的把握，为确立正确的战略方针奠定了坚实基础。

Innovating the tactical system to solve the problem of the enemy being strong and ourselves being weak. Facing Japan's advantages in military equipment and technology, military training and quality, and war preparation and mobilization, Mao Zedong put forward a set of highly innovative tactical principles: "offensive within the defensive, quick decisions within protracted war, exterior lines within interior lines."[2]2 "Offensive within the defensive, quick decisions within protracted war, exterior lines within interior lines" were Mao's tactical principles for overcoming the enemy's military advantages by taking the initiative locally. "Offensive within the defensive" required the Chinese army, at the strategic defensive stage, not to engage in passive, purely defensive operations, but to actively seek out the enemy's weaknesses and launch timely local offensives. "Quick decisions within protracted war" meant, under the framework of a protracted strategic war, emphasizing quick decisions at the campaign and tactical levels. By concentrating superior forces to achieve numerical superiority locally, the Chinese army would launch surprise attacks on isolated and dispersed Japanese units, swiftly concluding battles to avoid being drawn into prolonged wars of attrition, thereby reducing their own losses and effectively destroying the enemy's effective strength. "Exterior lines within interior lines" meant that, in the overall situation where the entire War of Resistance was fought on interior lines, at the campaign and battle levels the Chinese army would form a posture of fighting on exterior lines locally through flexible strategy and tactics, thereby breaking the enemy's encirclement and blockade and seizing the initiative.

创新战术体系，破解敌强我弱。面对日军在军事装备和技术、军事训练与素质、战争准备与动员等方面的优势，毛泽东提出了一套极具创新性的战术原则：“防御中的进攻、持久中的速决、内线中的外线”。“防御中的进攻”，要求中国军队在战略防御阶段，不能消极被动地进行单纯防御，而要积极主动寻找敌人的弱点，适时发起局部进攻。“持久中的速决”，是指在战略的持久战框架下，强调战役战术上的速决战。集中优势兵力，在局部形成力量对比上的优势，对孤立、分散的日军实施突然攻击，迅速解决战斗，避免与日军陷入长期的消耗战，以减少自身损失并有效消灭敌人有生力量。“内线中的外线”，是指在整个抗日战争处于内线作战的大形势下，在战役和战斗层面上，中国军队通过灵活的战略战术，形成局部外线作战态势，从而打破敌人的包围与封锁，争取主动地位。

Guiding the Practice of the War of Resistance, Driving the Shift in the Battlefield Situation

指导抗战实践 推动战局转变

Leading military practice and reshaping the battlefield landscape. *On Protracted War* provided comprehensive and detailed guidance for the military practice of China's War of Resistance, becoming the key theoretical support for reshaping the battlefield landscape. *On Protracted War* emphasized, at the strategic level, trading space for time. China's vast territory gave it a strategic depth advantage, which the Chinese army could fully utilize. By taking the initiative in strategic retreat and putting up tenacious resistance, it could slow down the Japanese offensive, consume Japanese strength, and gain time to mobilize the entire nation and accumulate strength for a strategic counteroffensive. *On Protracted War* also broke the auxiliary role assigned to guerrilla warfare in traditional military theory, pointing out the important strategic position of guerrilla warfare in the War of Resistance, emphasizing the mobilization of the masses to conduct guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and establish anti-Japanese base areas. Guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines not only effectively pinned down large numbers of Japanese troops but also established many anti-Japanese base areas in the enemy's rear, "turning the enemy's rear into their frontlines as well," forming a strategic pattern of mutual coordination with the frontal battlefield. This greatly changed the battlefield situation and created conditions for the strategic counteroffensive.

引领军事实践，重塑战场格局。《论持久战》为中国抗日战争的军事实践提供了全面且细致的指导，成为重塑战场格局的关键理论支撑。《论持久战》在战略上强调以空间换时间，中国地域广阔，具有战略纵深优势，中国军队可充分利用这一优势，通过主动的战略退却和顽强的抵抗，迟滞日军进攻，消耗日军实力，赢得时间来动员全国人民，积蓄战略反攻的力量。《论持久战》也打破了传统军事理论中游击战的辅助地位，指出游击战在抗日战争中的重要战略地位，强调发动群众，开展敌后游击战，建立抗日根据地。敌后游击战不仅有效牵制了大量日军，且在敌人后方建立了众多抗日根据地，“将敌人的后方也变成他们的前线”，形成了与正面战场相互配合的战略格局，极大改变了战场态势，为战略反攻创造了条件。

Strengthening political mobilization and consolidating the joint force of the War of Resistance. In *On Protracted War*, Mao Zedong regarded political mobilization as the core strategy for consolidating the joint force of the entire nation for the War of Resistance. Through a systematic exposition of the political essence of the war, mobilization strategies, and organizational methods, he constructed the theoretical framework that "the soldiers and the people are the foundation of victory."[3]3 "The soldiers and the people are the foundation of victory" was a key slogan Mao used to emphasize the importance of mass mobilization in winning the war. This not only directly guided the practice of the War of Resistance but also profoundly influenced the historical process by which the Chinese Communist Party mobilized the masses and consolidated its strength. In Mao's view, "a great national revolutionary war of this kind cannot be won without extensive and thorough political mobilization." Guided by this thinking, the Chinese Communist Party actively advocated for and promoted the formation and development of the Anti-Japanese National United Front. Through extensive and deep-reaching propaganda and mobilization, it inspired the patriotic fervor of the broad masses of the people, causing people of all ethnicities, regions, and walks of life across the country to throw themselves enthusiastically into the torrent of the War of Resistance. The formation of a nationwide War of Resistance greatly strengthened China's fighting power, plunging the Japanese invaders into the boundless ocean of a people's war of unified will and concerted effort by the Chinese nation.

强化政治动员，凝聚抗战合力。毛泽东在《论持久战》中，将政治动员视为凝聚全民族抗战合力的核心战略，通过系统论述抗战的政治本质、动员策略和组织方法，构建了“兵民是胜利之本”的理论框架，不仅直接指导了抗日战争的实践，更深刻影响了中国共产党发动群众、整合力量的历史进程。在毛泽东看来，“如此伟大的民族革命战争，没有普遍和深入的政治动员，是不能胜利的”。在这一思想指导下，中国共产党积极倡导和推动抗日民族统一战线的形成和发展。通过广泛深入的宣传动员，激发了广大人民群众的爱国热情，使全国各族人民不分地域、不分阶层、不分职业，都积极投身到抗日战争的洪流中。全民族抗战的形成，极大增强了中国抗战的力量，使日本侵略者陷入了中华民族团结一心、众志成城的人民战争的汪洋大海。

Condensing the National Spirit, Inspiring Future Generations to Forge Ahead

凝聚民族精神 激励后人奋进

Forging the spirit of the War of Resistance and strengthening the foundation of faith. Facing the darkest hour of the fall of Nanjing and the crisis in North China, and the ideological division between the theory of national subjugation and the theory of quick victory, Mao Zedong used *On Protracted War* to scientifically analyze the laws of war and the characteristics of the nation, profoundly expound the relationship between the War of Resistance and the destiny of the Chinese nation, and situate China's War of Resistance within the global pattern of the World Anti-Fascist War. This grand narrative that transcended nationalism raised the spirit of the War of Resistance to a universal faith in the pursuit of human justice. Countless sons and daughters of China, inspired by *On Protracted War*, harbored a deep hatred for the aggressors and a firm belief in victory, united in their hatred of the enemy, advanced wave upon wave, and built a great wall of steel with their flesh and blood to resist the foreign enemy. In *On Protracted War*, Mao Zedong also elaborated in detail on the course of development and bright prospects of the War of Resistance, making people believe that as long as they persisted in a protracted war and fully mobilized and relied on the masses, they would surely drive the Japanese aggressors out of China. This firm belief in victory became a powerful spiritual force that supported the entire Chinese nation in its indomitable and continuous struggle through the difficult and bitter years of the War of Resistance.

熔铸抗战精神，筑牢信仰根基。面对南京沦陷、华北危急的至暗时刻，面对“亡国论”和“速胜论”的思想分裂，毛泽东以《论持久战》科学分析战争规律与民族特质，深刻阐述了抗日战争与中华民族命运的关系，并将中国抗战置于世界反法西斯格局中。这种超越民族主义的宏大叙事，使抗战精神升华为追求人类正义的普遍信仰。无数中华儿女在《论持久战》的鼓舞下，心怀对侵略者的刻骨仇恨和对胜利的坚定信念，同仇敌忾、前赴后继，以血肉之躯筑起了抵御外敌的钢铁长城。毛泽东在《论持久战》中还详细阐述了抗战的发展脉络和光明前景，这让人们坚信，只要坚持持久抗战，充分动员和依靠群众，就一定能将日本侵略者赶出中国。这种对胜利的坚定信仰，成为支撑整个中华民族在艰难困苦的抗战岁月中不屈不挠、持续抗争的强大精神动力。

(The author is an assistant researcher at the Institute of Contemporary China Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系中国社会科学院当代中国研究所助理研究员）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心