Officially, Liu was recognised as a revolutionary, military strategist, and theoretician and one of the founders of the People's Liberation Army.

Liu's nicknames The Kutuzov of China and The One-eyed Dragon, also reflect his character, military achievement, Soviet officer education and the fact that he lost his right eye in battle.

In the following year, he enrolled in the Chongqing Military Academy and later joined the army against Yuan Shikai, who was planning to undermine the Xinhai Revolution and proclaim himself Emperor.

In December 1926, along with Zhu De and Yang, Liu masterminded the Luzhou and Nanchong uprising, fought against local warlords, while supporting the Northern Expedition.

After joining the CCP, Liu led the Nanchang Uprising together with Zhu De, He Long, Ye Ting, Li Lisan and Zhou Enlai, effectively declaring war on the KMT.

[citation needed] During this uprising, Liu was appointed the first chief of staff of the newly born Chinese Red Army.

[2] Later on, Liu gave a lecture on the subject at the 6th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which was held in Moscow.

By October he was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Red Army, assisting Zhu De and Zhou in the war against Chiang Kai-shek's 4th Suppression on the Central Soviet Territory.

During his time in the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet (and during the subsequent Long March) Liu experienced conflicts with other CCP leaders, including Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai.

Liu grew to oppose the leadership of Bo and Braun later, after the Red Army began to suffer repeated defeats.

[citation needed] During the Long March, near the end of 1934, Liu was reappointed as Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army and commander of Central Column, which consisted of the majority of the CCP senior leaders, such as Bo, Braun, Zhou and Mao.

As a result of this conference, Bo, who was then Braun's command in military, was replaced by a new three-man team consisting of Mao, Zhou and Wang Jiaxiang.

In May, Liu was appointed commander of avant-courier army and worked with commissar Nie Rongzhen on securing the route for the remaining troops.

Liu, Deng and Deputy Commander Xu Xiangqian led their troops to Shanxi, and carried out bushfighting around Taihang Mountain.

After rounds of successful battles against the Japanese army, they set up the Jin–Ji–Yu Base Area (晉冀豫抗日根據地) which consisted of parts of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan.

At the same time, Liu integrated regular forces with militia, using frontal attack and bushfighting to frustrate the Japanese army's suppression and clean-out efforts.

In 1945, Liu attended the 7th National Congress of the CCP in Yan'an, and prepared the counterattack against the Japanese and the forthcoming civil war with KMT armies.

They assisted in the CCP's quick occupation of Manchuria, and won advantageous status for Mao and his peace talk delegation in Chongqing.

Far away from the power base, with few support armies and supplies, Liu led self-sufficient soldiers and broke rounds of heavy blockade, while boosting his strength back to the original 100,000.

In Nov 1948, Liu, Deng, Chen, Su and Tan Zhenlin together formed the Military Committee to command the massive Huai Hai Campaign, which was carried out by CCP troops in East China and the central plain to fight against the KMT main forces in Xuzhou and Anhui.

In this decisive battle, more than 500,000 KMT soldiers were annihilated; among the POWs was General Du Yuming, Chiang's most distinguished protégé.

In January 1950, Liu was appointed chairman of the Southwestern Division of the Central People's Government of PRC, together with Gao Gang, Rao Shushi, Peng and Lin Biao.

During his short tenure as governor, Liu led his soldiers in the crackdown of bandits and restored law and order, oversaw economic development, and more importantly, made plans for the CCP invasion of Tibet.

He organised the translations of numerous military textbooks from the Soviet Union and other countries, introducing major campaigns from ancient times to World War II to students, and sowing the seeds of the PLA's evolution into a modern army.

Although Liu was appointed vice-chairman of the Central Military Committee of the CCP and PRC in 1954 as a reward for his contributions, these titles did not promise real power as Peng's did.

In 1956, after Nikita Khrushchev shook the Communist world by making his famous Secret Speech denouncing the cult of personality that surrounded Joseph Stalin, Mao wanted to ensure that a similar incident within the CCP would not happen.

He wrote an article, On the Ten Major Relationships, arguing that the CCP should learn from foreign countries selectively, analytically and with criticism.

Under heavy pressure, his health worsened (he eventually lost all sight in his remaining eye), and he finally submitted his resignation as president.

[5] Unlike other PLA marshals and generals, such as Peng Dehuai and Lin Biao, Liu never sought to win Chairman Mao's political trust and support, but on the other hand this prevented him from suffering from the backlash of a political fallout with Mao as did Peng and Lin did in 1959 and 1971, respectively.

Zhu De Peng Dehuai Lin Biao Liu Bocheng He Long Chen Yi Luo Ronghuan Xu Xiangqian Nie Rongzhen Ye Jianying