Today in History: Chiang Kai-Shek is kidnapped in the Xi'an Incident, 1936 (China)

The Xi'an Incident (traditional Chinese: 西安事變; simplified Chinese: 西安事变; pinyin: Xī'ān Shìbìan) was a political crisis that took place in Xi'an, Republic of China in 1936. Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Republic of China, was detained by his subordinates, Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, in order to force the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) to change its policies regarding the Empire of Japan and the Communist Party of China (CPC).[1]
Prior to the incident, Chiang Kai-shek focused on fighting Communists within China rather than the external threat of the Japanese.[2] After the incident, Chiang aligned with the Communists against the Japanese. The crisis ended after two weeks of negotiation, in which Chiang was eventually released and returned to Nanjing, accompanied by Zhang. Chiang agreed to end the ongoing civil war against the CPC and began actively preparing for the impending war with Japan.[1]

For a much longer scholarly article: https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms20143 

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