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.

Zhu was born on 1 December 1886, to a poor tenant farmer's family in Hung, a town in Yilong County, Nanchong, a hilly and isolated part of northern Sichuan province.

At age nine he was adopted by his prosperous uncle, whose political influence allowed him to gain access to Yunnan Military Academy.

An advocate of modern science and political teaching rather than the strict classical education afforded by schools, he was dismissed from his post[3] and entered the Yunnan Military Academy in Kunming.

In 1920, after his troops were driven from Sichuan toward the Tibetan border, he returned to Yunnan as a public security commissioner of the provincial government.

[17] In July 1925, after being expelled from Germany, he traveled to the Soviet Union to study military affairs and Marxism at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East.

Zhu returned to China in July 1926 to unsuccessfully persuade Sichuan warlord Yang Sen to support the Northern Expedition.

[15] In 1927, following the collapse of the First United Front, Kuomintang authorities ordered Zhu to lead a force against Zhou Enlai and Liu Bocheng's Nanchang uprising.

Under the false name of Wang Kai, Zhu managed to find shelter for his remaining forces by joining warlord Fan Shisheng.

"[22] This development became a turning point, with the merged forces forming the "Fourth Red Army", with Zhu as Military Commander and Mao as Party representative.

[33] When separation between the two divisions occurred, Zhu was forced by Zhang Guotao, the leader of Fourth Red Army, to go south.

[37] While a successful campaign, Mao later attributed it as the main provocation for the devastating Japanese Three Alls policy later and used it to criticize Peng at the Lushan Conference.

[43] After the conference, Zhu was dismissed from vice chairmen of Central Military Commission, not in least part due to his loyalty for the fallen Peng.

[36] In April 1969, during the summit of the Cultural Revolution, Zhu was dismissed from his position on the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and the activity of the National People's Congress was halted.

[44] In October 1969, Lin Biao issued a command named "Order Number One" that evacuated important martial figures to distant areas due to the tension between China and Soviet Union, and Zhu De was taken to Guangdong.

His known relationships were with: Zhu De Peng Dehuai Lin Biao Liu Bocheng He Long Chen Yi Luo Ronghuan Xu Xiangqian Nie Rongzhen Ye Jianying