Zhu De

Zhu De (1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Zhu was born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan. He was adopted by a wealthy uncle at age nine and received a superior early education that led to his admission into a military academy. After graduating, he joined a rebel army and became a warlord. Afterward he joined the CCP. He commanded the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. By the end of the civil war he was also a high-ranking party official.

Zhu is regarded as one of the principal founders of the People's Republic of China, and was a prominent political figure until dying in 1976. In 1955, he was ranked first among the ten marshals. He was chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1959 to 1976.