the chinese civil war (chinese ; 中国内战) (russian ; гражданская война в китае) was a civil war fought from 1927 to 1949 because of differences in thinking between the chinese communist party (ccp) and the kuomintang (kmt, or chinese nationalist party). the war was a fight for legitimacy of the government of china. the war began in april 1927 because of the northern expedition (國民革命軍北伐) and mostly ended in 1950. some people say the war has not ended, but no large battles have started since that year. relations between the republic of china (roc) and the people's republic of china (prc) are still poor because both claim to be the legitimate sovereign government of all of china. the chinese civil war was the third-largest war of all time, after world war 1 and world war 2. it was part of the interwar period in the aftermath of the great war from 1918 to 1939 and was also part of the cold war in the aftermath of world war 2 from 1945 to 1949 . the war is usually divided into two parts: 1927-1937 and 1946-1949 . it started and stopped several times before the second sino-japanese war and there was less fighting after the empire of japan had invaded. the war between the ccp and the kmt started again in 1946 after japan's defeat in world war ii. the ccp took control of most of china, and the kmt had only islands left. about two million chinese fled to taiwan in late 1949. in 1950, no large battles were started. the loss of the kmt in mainland china is said to be for several reasons: