Peng Dehuai (Peng Te-huai; simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Péng Déhuái; Wade-Giles: P'eng2 Te2-huai2) (October 24, 1898 - November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, and served as China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor peasant family, and received several years of primary education before his family's poverty forced him to suspend his education at the age of ten, and to work for several years as a manual laborer. When he was sixteen, Peng became a professional soldier. Peng participated in the Northern Expedition, and supported Wang Jingwei's attempt to form a left-leaning Kuomintang government based in Wuhan. After Wang was defeated, Peng briefly rejoined Chiang Kai-shek's forces before joining the Chinese Communist Party, allying himself with Mao Zedong and Zhu De. Peng was one of the few senior military leaders who supported Mao's suggestions to involve China directly in the 1950-1953 Korean War, and