Warlord Era

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Major Chinese warlord coalitions in 1925.
Warlord Era
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The Warlord Era (Chinese: ; pinyin: Jnf shdi, 19161928) was a period in the history of the
Republic of China when the country was divided among military cliques in the mainland regions of Sichuan, Shanxi,
Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangdong, Guangxi, Gansu, Yunnan and Xinjiang.
The era lasted from the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916 until 1928, when the conclusion of the Northern Expedition
with the Northeast Flag Replacement began the "Nanjing decade"; however, when old warlords, such as Wu Peifu
and Sun Chuanfang, were deposed, new minor warlords persisted into the 1930s and 1940s, as the central
government struggled to keep its allies under rein, a great problem for the Kuomintang (KMT) through World War
II and after the civil war. Some of the most notable warlord wars, post-1928, including the Central Plains War,
involved nearly a million soldiers. The division of the country continued after the Warlord Era until the fall of the
Nationalist government at the end of the Chinese Civil War.
Contents
1 Origins
2 North
2.1 Anhui hegemony (1916
1920)
2.2 Zhili hegemony (1920
1924)
2.3 Fengtian hegemony
(19241928)
3 South
3.1 Constitutional protection
(19171922)
3.2 Reorganization (1923
1925)
3.3 Northern Expedition
(19261928)
4 Reunification
5 Major factions
5.1 Northern factions
5.1.1 Major cliques
5.1.2 Minor cliques
5.1.3 Newer factions
The Beiyang Army in training
5.2 Southern factions
5.2.1 Minor southern
factions
6 See also
7 References
Origins
The origins of the armies and leaders which dominated politics after
1912 lie in the military reforms of the late Qing Dynasty. These did
not establish a national army but utilized regional armies and militias
which lacked standardization or consistency. The most powerful
army was the northern-based Beiyang Army under Yuan Shikai,
which received the best in training and modern weaponry. Officers
were loyal to their superiors and formed cliques based upon
geography and shared academy experiences. Units were composed
of men from the same province. This policy was meant to reduce
dialectal miscommunication but encouraged regionalist tendencies.
The Xinhai Revolution in 1911 brought widespread mutiny across
southern China. Soldiers once loyal to the Qing government began
to defect to revolutionary forces. Rebel troops established a provisional government in Nanjing the following year
under Sun Yatsen. The revolutionaries were not strong enough to defeat the Beiyang army and continued fighting
would almost certainly lead to defeat. Instead, Sun negotiated with Beiyang commander Yuan Shikai to bring an
end to the Qing and reunify China. In return, Yuan would become president. Yuan refused to move to Nanjing and
set the capital in Beijing, where his power base was secure.
Reacting to Yuan's growing authoritarianism, the southern provinces rebelled in 1913 but were effectively crushed
by Beiyang forces. Civil governors were replaced by military ones. In December 1915 Yuan made clear his
intentions to become emperor of China. The southern provinces rebelled again in the National Protection War, only
this time it was more serious because most Beiyang commanders abandoned Yuan. He renounced monarchy to
woo back his lieutenants, but by the time he died in June 1916, China was fractured politically. The North-South
split would remain during the course of the Warlord Era.
North
Yuan's death split the Beiyang army into two factions: the Anhui clique led by Duan Qirui and the Zhili clique led by
Feng Guozhang. The Northeast China-based Fengtian faction, led by Zhang Zuolin, was an amalgamation of
Beiyang and local units. Diplomatic recognition was usually given to any government that ruled Beijing, so capturing
this city was a high priority. In addition, they could collect the customs revenues and apply for foreign loans. All the
northern factions recognized the Beijing government as legitimate, even if they opposed it. They would argue that
while the government was legitimate, it lacked authority to dictate to provinces. The Beiyang government in Beijing
This military symbol was based on
the Five Races Under One Union flag.
would occasionally issue edicts to territory beyond their control to charge rival factions with treason, and when it
was expectedly ignored used that to justify military action. This practice ended in 1923 when Cao Kun bought the
presidency. The other northern factions were disgusted enough to refuse recognition.
Anhui hegemony (19161920)
President Li Yuanhong was effectively sidelined by the Beiyang generals. Premier Duan Qirui dominated politics but
had to work with the Zhili clique in order to maintain stability. Many provinces refused to recognize their
government and called for the removal of all Beiyang generals from
politics. Duan's heavy-handed efforts to push China into World War I
and his secret loans from Japan led to his dismissal by Li in May 1917.
Knowing that Duan was plotting against him, Li asked influential Beiyang
Gen. Zhang Xun to protect the government. Instead, Zhang restored the
Qing dynasty in July. Duan toppled the monarchist regime and was hailed
as the savior of the republic, giving him greater clout. He was able to
declare war against Germany. His next task was to subdue the south, but
differences with the Zhili clique, which preferred negotiating a treaty, led
to his resignation to save the unity of the Beiyang. President Feng
Guozhang, however, had to recall Duan due to pressure from the Anhui
clique. The campaign in Hunan backfired, resulting in attrition, low morale
and bitterness. Duan resigned again in October 1918 but made every
effort to sabotage peace between north and south. His pro-Japanese
policies weakened him during the May Fourth Movement. The Zhili
clique made an alliance with the Fengtian clique of Zhang Zuolin and
defeated Duan in the Zhili-Anhui War of July 1920.
Zhili hegemony (19201924)
After the death of Feng Guozhang in 1919, the Zhili clique was led by Cao Kun. The alliance with the Fengtian was
only of convenience and war broke out in 1922 (the First Zhili-Fengtian War), with Zhili driving Fengtian forces
back to Manchuria. Next, they wanted to bolster their legitimacy and reunify the country by returning Li Yuanhong
to the presidency and restoring the National Assembly. They proposed that Xu Shichang and Sun Yatsen resign
their rival presidencies simultaneously in favor of Li. When Sun issued strict stipulations that the Zhili couldn't
stomach, they caused the defection of KMT Gen. Chen Jiongming by recognizing him as governor of Guangdong.
With Sun driven out of Guangzhou, the Zhili clique superficially restored the constitutional government that existed
prior to Zhang Xun's coup. Cao bought the presidency in 1923 despite opposition by the Kuomintang, Fengtian,
Anhui remnants, some of his lieutenants and the public. In the autumn of 1924 the Zhili appeared to be on the verge
of complete victory in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War until Feng Yuxiang betrayed the clique, seized Beijing and
imprisoned Cao. Zhili forces were routed from the north but kept the center.
Fengtian hegemony (19241928)
Main articles: AntiFengtian War and Northern Expedition
The alliance between Zhang Zuolin and Feng Yuxiang was tenuous. Feng had formed his own faction called the
Guominjun (Nationalist Army, or KMC) which was ideologically sympathetic to the southern Kuomintang
government but not a part of it. As a compromise, they gave the northern government to Duan Qirui, whose Anhui
The party emblem of the Kuomintang.
clique was near extinct. Fengtian was far stronger in terms of manpower, as KMC troops were stretched thinly
across a vast area. Negotiations in north-south reunification went nowhere since Zhang and Duan had little in
common with Sun Yatsen, who died in March 1925. Later that year fighting broke out after Fengtian Gen. Guo
Songling defected to the KMC, sparking the Anti-Fengtian War. Zhili Gen. Wu Peifu decided to ally with Zhang
against the traitor Feng. KMC forces were driven to the northwest but later joined the Northern Expedition of
Chiang Kaishek. Zhang took over the northern government in June 1927 as troops from the National Revolutionary
Army (NRA) were flooding into his territory. On 2 June 1928, Zhang resigned after agreeing to hand over Beijing
to the NRA. He was assassinated by a Japanese bomb while fleeing to Manchuria on 4 June. Five days later, NRA
troops seized the capital and extinguished the Beiyang government. Zhang's son and successor, Zhang Xueliang,
recognized the Nationalist government on 31 December.
South
The south was a hotbed of revolutionary activity where opposition to the
Beiyang cliques was the strongest. The area revolted against the Qing in
1911 and against Yuan Shikai in 1913 and 1916. After the Qing
restoration debacle in Beijing, several southern provinces led by Tang
Jiyao and Lu Rongting refused to recognize the new Duan Qirui cabinet
and parliament. Sun Yat-sen gathered notable politicians, KMT members
of the dissolved National Assembly and southern militarists in late July
1917 to form a rival government in Guangzhou, known as the
Constitutional Protection government. The southern factions recognized
Guangzhou as the legitimate capital, even though it lacked international
recognition. Like the north, southern militarists would occasionally rebel
on the pretense of provincial rights, Guangxi especially. The southern
provinces were Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi and
Guangdong (including Hainan).
Constitutional protection (19171922)
In September Sun was named generalissimo of the military government with the purpose of protecting the
provisional constitution of 1912. The southern warlords assisted his regime solely to legitimize their fiefdoms and
challenge Beijing. In a bid for international recognition, they also declared war against the Central Powers but failed
to garner any recognition. In July 1918 southern militarists thought Sun was given too much power and forced him
to join a governing committee. Continual interference forced Sun into self-imposed exile. While away, he recreated
the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang). With the help of KMT Gen. Chen Jiongming, committee members
Gen. Cen Chunxuan, Adm. Lin Baoyi, and Gen. Lu Rongting were expelled in the 1920 Guangdong-Guangxi War.
On May 1921, Sun was elected "extraordinary president" by a rump parliament despite protests by Chen and Tang
Shaoyi, who complained of its unconstitutionality. Tang left while Chen plotted with the Zhili clique to overthrow
Sun in June 1922 in return for recognition of his governorship over Guangdong.
Reorganization (19231925)
Loyalists drove Chen out and Sun returned to power in March 1923. He reorganized the KMT along Leninist
democratic centralism and made an alliance with the Communist Party of China, which would be known as the First
United Front. The southern government abandoned protecting the 1912 constitution, since its rump parliament
defected to the north to join Cao's puppet government. Instead, its new purpose was to create a revolutionary
single-party state. The Whampoa Military Academy was formed to create a loyal officer corps to rid the KMT of
its dependence on unreliable and opportunistic southern generals. With the ouster of the Zhili clique in 1924, Sun
traveled to Beijing to negotiate reunification with Guominjun, Fengtian and Anhui leaders. He died of cancer in
March 1925, which ended the talks but also initiated a power struggle within the KMT. Tang Jiyao, claiming to be
Sun's chosen successor, tried to seize control of the southern government during the Yunnan-Guangxi War but was
routed. In the north the AntiFengtian War was waged from November 1925 to April 1926 by the Guominjun
against the Fengtian clique and their Zhili clique allies. The war ended with the defeat of the Guominjun and the end
of the provisional executive government.
Northern Expedition (19261928)
Main article: Northern Expedition
KMT Gen. Chiang Kai-shek emerged as the leader of the National Revolutionary Army, following the Zhongshan
Warship Incident. He set out on the long-delayed Northern Expedition in the summer of 1926. NRA forces easily
defeated the Zhili armies of Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang in central and eastern China. The Guominjun and Shanxi
warlord Yan Xishan joined forces with the KMT against the Fengtian. In 1927 the KMT-CCP alliance ruptured
with the Communists being brutally purged, which initiated the Chinese Civil War. Chiang established his capital in
Nanjing but still needed to take Beijing to get international recognition. Yan Xishan, now a KMT general, occupied
Beijing after the death of Zhang Zuolin. Zhang Xueliang, the new leader of Fengtian, submitted himself under the
condition he would continue to rule over Manchuria, but the Japanese would occupy Manchuria in 1931.
Reunification
Main article: Chinese reunification (1928)
By moving the capital to Nanjing, Chiang was secure in his power base, completing the Northeast Flag
Replacement of Chinese reunification in 1928. Many warlords were not defeated but co-opted into the new
national government, which would trouble Chiang. Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan rebelled in 1930 in the Central
Plains War. The northwest erupted into the Xinjiang Wars from 193137. Chiang had to put down the Fujian
Rebellion in 193334. Zhang Xueliang took part in the 1936 Xi'an Incident. In addition, minor warlords, bandits,
ethnic minority militias and the Communists were active in the countryside and peripheral regions. The KMT itself
was plagued by factionalism with influential leaders like Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin rebelling against Chiang.
Chiang's actual power was weaker beyond the provinces surrounding Jiangsu. In short, warlordism did not end but
took on a different appearance. All cliques now wore the Zhongshan suit and had party membership, effectively
becoming KMT franchisees. It was not until after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1950 that anything resembling
a united, centralized government like that prior to 1915 re-emerged.
Major factions
Main article: List of warlords and military cliques in the Warlord Era
Northern factions
Major cliques
Anhui clique
Duan Qirui
Xu Shuzheng
Lu Yongxiang
Ni Sichong
Qu Tongfeng
Wu Guangxin
Jin Yunpeng
Duan Zhigui
Zhang Jingyao
Chen Shufan
Zhili clique
Feng Guozhang
Cao Kun
Wu Peifu
Sun Chuanfang
Lu Jianzhang
Li Chun
Wang Zhangyuan
Chen Guangyuan
Feng Yuxiang
Qi Xieyuan
Wang Chengbin
Li Jinglin (former Fengtien)
Fengtian clique
Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Xueliang
Zhang Zuoxiang
Zhang Zongchang
Wan Fulin
Zang Shiyi
Wu Junsheng
Guo Songling
Yang Yuting
Chu Yupu
Tang Yulin
Minor cliques
Guominjun
Feng Yuxiang (former Zhili clique)
Hu Jingyi
Sun Yue
Shanxi clique
Yan Xishan
Xinjiang clique
Yang Zengxin
Ma Fuxing
Ma Shaowu
Jin Shuren
Sheng Shicai
Ma clique
Qinghai
Ma Qi
Ma Lin
Ma Bufang
Ma Buqing
Ningxia
Ma Hongbin
Ma Hongkui
Gansu
Ma Zhongying
Ma Hushan ;
Newer factions
Hebei
Song Zheyuan (former
Guominjun)
Henan
Bie Tingfang (former
Guominjun)
Rehe
Tang Yulin (former
Fengtien)
Sun Dianying (former
Guominjun)
Shaanxi
Jing Yuexiu
Yang Hucheng
Suiyuan
Fu Zuoyi (former
Shanxi clique)
Shandong
Liu Zhennian
Han Fuqu (former
Guominjun)
Southern factions
Yunnan clique
Cai E
Tang Jiyao
Long Yun
Old Guangxi Clique
Lu Rongting
Lin Hu
Tan Haoming
Shen Hongying
Chen Binghun
New Guangxi Clique
Li Zongren
Huang Shaoxiong
Bai Chongxi
Kuomintang (KMT)
Sun Yatsen
Chiang Kaishek
Hu Hanmin
Wang Jingwei
Liao Zhongkai
He Yingqin
Sichuan clique
Liu Xiang
Yang Sen
Deng Xihou
Tian Songyao
Sichuan / Xikang
Liu Wenhui
Minor southern factions

Guangdong
Chen Jiongming
Chen Jitang
Fujian
Cai Tingkai
Jiang Guangnai
Guizhou
Hunan
Tan Yankai
Zhao Hengti
Jiangxi
Lu Diping
Hubei
Yu Hanmou
Zhang Fakui
Liu Xianshi
Wang Jialie
Chinese Communist Party
(CCP)
Mao Zedong
Zhou Enlai
Zhu De
Peng Dehuai
Tang Shengzhi
Wang Zhanyuan
See also
National Revolutionary Army
Whampoa Military Academy
History of the Republic of China
Sino-German cooperation until 1941
Kuomintang
Chinese nationalism
Military of the Republic of China
Politics of the Republic of China
List of warlords and military cliques in the Warlord Era
References
Chen, Xianqing ( Chn Xinqng) (2007), "" (The Republic of China warlord
cliques discussed) (http://www.2499cn.com/junfamulu.htm)
McCord, Edward A. (1993), The Power of the Gun: The Emergence of Modern Chinese Warlordism
(http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft167nb0p4;brand=ucpress), Berkeley, Calif: Cambridge
University Press
Waldron, Arthur (1995), From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point, 1924-1925
(http://books.google.com/books?id=MOK2HJ7BHigC), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-52332-
X
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Minor southern factions

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