It's the return of biography episodes today and first on deck is Sun Yat-sen's unlikely successor, Chiang Kai-shek. I say unlikely because for most of his early life Chiang was a fairly anonymous foot-soldier for a failing political movement. It was only after Sun enjoyed some lucky breaks that Chiang was eventually handed the responsibility of shaping what would become the most powerful army in China. And having that army made up for a lot of Chiang's deficiencies as a leader. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011

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