China: Unification (1920s)



Figure 1.--Guangzhou (Canton) is often described as the cradle of the Chinese revolution. This postcard photograph shoes a revolutionary being led off to his execultion in Guangzhou (Canton). Notice the boys in the military. The post card is undated. We think it was taken during the 1927 Guangzhou Communist insurection, but it could have been taken earlier during the KMT Guangzhou rebellion.

Sun Yat-sen's republican revolutionary movement was damaged by Yuan Shikai's attempt to become a new emperor. The student-led May Fourth Movemnent help revive the fortunes of the Nationalists. After Yuan's death a governent survived in Beijing. A succession of warlords replaced Yuan. It still was the government recognized by foreign powers. Sun Yat-sen returned from his refuge in Japan and helped restablished a rival government in Guangzhou (Canton). He managed to obtain support from southern warlords. He restablished the KMT (October 1919). A wave of patriotic, nationlist sentiment spread throughout China after World War I. The Chinese were increasingly resentful of the foreign concessions, but now the Japanese with their Twenty-One Demands bore the brunt of Chinese ire. The war lords were another matter of concern. Sun Yat-sen and the KMT (republicans/nationalists) had considerable popular support, but little military strength. The result was a three-way struggle for power among warlords, Nationalists and Communists. Sun had become president of the southern Guangzhou government. Sun become president of the southern government (1921). Sun spent his last years trying to strengthen his government in the south and unify the country. Sun attempted to obtain help, especially military assistance, from the Western democracies. None were prepared to assist. Sun and the KMT still had the taint of revolutionaries. Sun eventually turned to the Bolsheviks which has just emerged victorious in the Russian Civil War. The Bolsheveks because they were actively fomenting revolution were being isolated by the major world powers. China offered an opportunity to break out of that isolation and help create a friendly power along its long border. Soviet propaganda issued strongly-worded attacks on Western imperialism along with criticism of capitalism. The Soviets had a quandry. The KMT was anti-imperialist, but it was not a Communist Party. And there was a small Communist Party in China--the CCP. The Bolsheviks decided on a dual policy, supporting both Sun and the KMR as well as the small CCP. The Soviets hoped that the two consolide, but saw advantages with whoever managed to unify China. Thiswas the beginning of the dpic struggle between the Nationalists and the Communists. The alliance between the KMT in Guangzhou and the southern warlords btoke down (1922). Sun fled to Shanghai. Sun as the leader of the not very sucessful KMT, accepted Soviet aid. Sun by that time saw that Soviet support was critical. Sun obtained a pledge from a Soviet representative in Shanghai that the Soviet Union would provide assistance for Chinese unification (1923). Soviet advisers, including Comintern agent Mikhail Borodin, quickly began arriving in China. They attempted to reorganize the KMT along the lines of the SovietbCommunist Party. The Comintern, essentially an agency of the Soviet secret police, ordered the CCP to cooperate with the KMT. They were to join the KMT, but retain their CCP identity. Sun was thus able to arrange an alliance with the still small CCP. He then began a campaign to supress the warlords and unifying China. Sun died of cancer (1925). Chiang Kaishek, the KMT military commander seized control of the party. Chiang launched the well-known "Northern Expedition". He campaigned from Guangzhou (Canton) north to to Shanghai. This essentially unified Southern China with the great bulk of the country's popilation. Most importantly, the KMT won control of the Lower Yangzi. Chiang also seized many foreign concessions. Chiang who did not trust the Communists anyway, fell out with them and launched a campaign against the CCP (1927). One of the CCP members who managed to escape was Mao Zedong.

Chinese Republic

The Republic that Sun helped create had many early problems. The major problem was that the Republic did not have an army. Military power was in the hands of Yuan Shikai (1859-16) and the other former Imperial Army commanders which had no loyalty to the Republic. This of course was a recipie for disaster. They would become known as war lords.

Yuan Shikai

Sun Yat-sen's republican revolutionary movement was damaged by Yuan Shikai's attempt to become a new emperor. Thus the authority of Yuan Shikai soon eclipsed that of the new Parliament. Yuan moved to establish a dictatorship. Yuan revised the original democratic constitution with no consultation.

KMT

Song Jiaoren (1882-1913) founded the Guomindang/Kuomintang (National People's Party--KMT) (1912). Song was an associate of Sun. The KMT was a nationalist party and commonly referred to as the Natiionalists. It was an alliance of several parties with a national orientation which at the time largely meant an anti-foreign/imperilist orientation. Sun's Tongmeng Hui Party was but one of the parties joining the KMT.

Parlimentary elections (1913)

The Republic held elections for a bicammeral Parliament (February 1913). Song and the KMT campaigned against Yuan and his administration. The KMT won a majority in Parliament. Yuan's response was to order Song's assassination (March 1913). This was a favorite tactic. He had already begun assasinating generals which supported the Republic.

Southern rebellion

Popular feeling became increasingly hostile toward Yuan. Sun and KMT figures organized a rebellion in the south (summer 1913). Guangzhou (Canton) in particular was a center of Republic strength. Yuan used his military forces to supress the rebellion. Sun and other KMT plotters sought refuge in Japan.

Yuan's Government (1913-16)

Yuan used his military and police power to intimidate the new Parliament (October 1913). They formally elected Yuan president of the Republic of China. The major world powers recognized Yuan's government. Yuan help obtain international recognition by agreeing to autonomy for Outer Mongolia and Xizang. China was still the titular soverign power, but Tsarist Russia was given a free hand in Outer Mongolia and Britain continuance to play a role in Tibet which it could influence from India. Having defeated the KMT and achieving international recognition, Yuan proceeded to make himself essentially a new emperor in all but name. Yuan banned the KMT and ordered KMT delegated ejected from Parliament (November 1913). Next he disolved Parliament altogether as well as the provincial assemblies. Then he issued a new Constitution which made him president for life. The final step was to prepare to restore the imperial system (late-1915). This proved to be his undoing. Rebellions brokeout throughout China. A sucession of war lords declared their independemce. Even his cloest associates began to desert him. Amist the turmoil, Yuan died of natural causes (June 1916).

World War I (1914-18)

China was not a factor in World War I. but the war affected the country. China was far away from both the Eastern and Western Fronts and at the time saw itself victimized by all of the major beligerant countries. Some early fighting, however, occurred in China. Japan which had a naval treaty with Britain declared war on Germany. The British wanted to use the Japanese rather than weaken the Grand Fleet to dispatch vessels to the Pacific. Japan spmewhat to Britain's surprise, eagerly joined the war, seeing the possibility of acquiring Germany’s Pacific colonies and take over its Chinese concessions. The Japanese dispatched a naval squadron to intercept the German Pacific Squadron commanded by Admiral von Spee seeking refugee in Tsingtao Harbour. The Japanese blockaded Tsingtao and minor naval skirmishes occurred. The Japanese landed troops on the Shantung Peninsula and moved south toward Kiaochow (September 2, 1914). Kiaochow had a garrison of 5,500 German and Austro-Hungarian troops. The Japanese drive was reinforced by a British expiditionary regiment made up of Indian (Sikh) and Welsh troops (September 24). After some intense fighting the Germans and Austro-Hungarians surrendered (November 7). This was the only significant fighting taking place in China. Britain like the other major beligerant countries were running short of men because of the terrible casulties. The British suffered dreadful casulties on the Somme (1916). One effort to address this problem was to recruit workers throughout the Empire. As Britain had Chinese treaty ports, this meant China was one of the countries where workers were recruited. Most came from Shan Tung (Shandong), but there were also recruits from Honan (Hunan). The British also recruited missionry and sinologue officers. About 100,000 Chinese were recruited. The Chinese labor units under British military descipline debarked from Weihaiwei (Weihai) which was a British treaty port until 1930. The Chinese were used to dig trenches and build other fortifications. They were not used in the actual fighting, but about 2,000 died from mines, illness (such as the Inflenza Epidemic after the War), and other causes. A few were shot as a result of a mutiny at Boulogne. [Summerskill] China declared war on Germany (1917). There was no real Chinese concern about Germany as the British and Japanese has seized Germany's concessions in China. China sa, however, diplomatic problems since Japan had joined the Allies and the Royal Navy commanded the seas. Despite the declaration of war, I do not know of any significant Chinese contribution to the Allied war effort. China after the War benefited from American insistence at Versailles that the Open Door Policy be accedpted by the major powers. This was a major issue at the Washington Naval Conference (1921-22).

May Fourth Movement (1919)

The Chinese Government had signed a secret arrangemnent with Japan aceeding to the loss of Shandong. This was done to avoid a war with Japan and stave off thev more expsnsive implmntation of od Twenty-One Demands. After the War, at the Paris Peace Conference, the details of the secret deal with Japan became public knowledge (1919). The reaction in China was furious. The Chinese not only objected to the loss of an important province, but viewed the transfer as a betrayal by the Western powers who were widely despised because of the seizure of port cities. The Chinese also increasingly came ton see Japan as an aggressive neigboring power. And it all thoroghly dstroyed the legitimacy of the alreay unpopular corrupt warlord government established by Yuan Shi-kai (袁世凱). Students in Beijing staged massive demands against both the Chinese Government and Japan (May 4). Some 3,000 students from 13 Beijing universities assembled at the Gate of Heavenly Peace at Tiananmen Square. They protested the Versailles Peace Conference. The students passed out fliers insisting that China would never accept the concession of Chinese territory to Japan or any other power. The students then marched to the legation quarter (where foreign embassies were located). They presented protest letters to foreign missions. Then in the afternoon, the students confronted the three Chinese cabinet officials who had been involved in the secret treaties that encouraged Japan to enter the war. The Chinese minister to Japan was beaten. Aro-Japanese cabinet minister’s house was burned. It is at this point that the police interbene and and 32 students. Reports of the Beijing students’ demonstration and arrest spread throughout China. The press immdiately demanded that the Government release the students. Students also staged demonstrations in Fuzhou. Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Wuhan. This was followed by shop closings (June 1919). Students led a boycott of Japanese goods. Japanese nationals resident in China were attacked. Newly formed labor unions join the students and stage strikes. The disorders in cities throughout China scared the Government. As aresult, the Government agreed to manynof the demands. Thdehy released the arrested students and dismissed the three cabinet officials. Ultimatelly the entire cabinet resigned. The Chinese delegation at Versailles Peace Conference rejected the Treaty. Intelectuals and the general public were also outraged. The result was the May Fourth Movement. The intelectual off shoot of the patriotic student demonstrations was the New Culture Movement. Students and intectuals discussed China's future. A wide range of visions were offered. Students returning home from studies and often work abroad added to the political ferment. The ideas ranged from liberal democracy to communism and many permutations in between. Military power, however, still resided in the hands of the war lords (the former Imperial Army commanders).

War Lord Era

The phenomenin of the War Lords began with the military reforms implmented in the final years of the Qing (Maychu) Dynasty. The Emperess Dowger did not attempt to establish a national army. Instead she made use of regional armies and militias. They lacked any standardization or overall consistency. This made it virtually impossible to build a string modern army, but avoided threatening vested intersts that may have endangered the imperial system. The most powerful military force in China was the northern-based Beiyang Army commanded by Yuan Shikai. Based around Beijing and with influence in the royal court, Yuan which received financial support. His firces thus had modern weapons and were the best trained. Officers in the various regional forces were loyal to their superiors. This was true during the late-Imperial era. The regional commanders formed cliques or lose alliances based upon factors like geography and personal military academy experiences. The various units were made up of recruits from the same province. This policy reduce possible dialectal miscommunication, but it also encouraged regional rather than national, loyalties. This balcanization became even more of a problem after the Imperialm system was overthrown. Many commanders had been to a degree layal to the mperor (meaning the Dowger Emperess), there was, however, only a few war lords and their forces to support new Republic (1911-12). Yuan was able, as a result, to seize control of the Republic and smash the KMT. The student-led May Fourth Movement help revive the fortunes of the Guomindang/Kuomintang (KMT) and other Nationalists. After Yuan's death a war lord governent survived in Beijing. A succession of warlords replaced Yuan. Yuan and the other war loads were former commanders of the Imperial Army. It still was the government recognized by foreign powers. Other war lords also controlled various regions as virtually feudal fiefdoms with vartying degress of independence from central control. Besides the larger struggle for control of the nation, people in villages throughout China were caught in the croosfire between cometing regial war lords and between the war lords and Nationalist and Communist forces. And in the abssence of a strong national goverment, banditry flourished. Local militias were organized to protect villages. The War Lord era did not end with Chiang's the Northern Expedion (1925-27), but continued to be a prblem with China's abiloty to procedute the war with Japan.

Guomindang/Kuomintang (KMT)

Sun Yat-sen returned from his refuge in Japan and helped restablished a rival government in Guangzhou (Canton). He managed to obtain support from southern warlords. He restablished the KMT (October 1919). A wave of patriotic, nationlist sentiment spread throughout China after World War I. The Chinese were increasingly resentful of the foreign concessions, but now the Japanese with their Twenty-One Demands bore the brunt of Chinese ire. The war lords were another matter of concern. Sun Yat-sen and the KMT (republicans/nationalists) had considerable popular support, but little military strength. The result was a three-way struggle for power among warlords, Nationalists and Communists. Sun had become president of the southern Guangzhou government. Sun become president of the southern government (1921). Sun spent his last years trying to strengthen his government in the south and unify the country. Sun attempted to obtain help, especially military assistance, from the Western democracies. None were prepared to assist. Sun and the KMT still had the taint of revolutionaries.

Soviet Dual Policy

Sun eventually turned to the Bolsheviks which has just emerged victorious in the Russian Civil War. The Bolsheveks because they were actively fomenting revolution were being isolated by the major world powers. China offered an opportunity to break out of that isolation and help create a friendly power along its long border. Soviet propaganda issued strongly-worded attacks on Western imperialism along with criticism of capitalism. The Soviets had a quandry. The KMT was anti-imperialist, but it was not a Communist Party. And there was a small Communist Party in China--the CCP. The Bolsheviks decided on a dual policy, supporting both Sun and the KMR as well as the small CCP. The Soviets hoped that the two would consolidate, but saw advantages with whoever managed to unify China. Thiswas the beginning of the dpic struggle between the Nationalists and the Communists. The alliance between the KMT in Guangzhou and the southern warlords btoke down (1922). Sun fled to Shanghai. Sun as the leader of the not very sucessful KMT, accepted Soviet aid. Sun by that time saw that Soviet support was critical. Sun obtained a pledge from a Soviet representative in Shanghai that the Soviet Union would provide assistance for Chinese unification (1923). Soviet advisers, including Comintern agent Mikhail Borodin, quickly began arriving in China. They attempted to reorganize the KMT along the lines of the Soviet Communist Party.

Alliance with the Communists

The Comintern, essentially an agency of the Soviet secret police, ordered the CCP to cooperate with the KMT. They were to join the KMT, but retain their CCP identity. Sun was thus able to arrange an alliance with the still small CCP. They were two ideologically different parties. The alliance was the First United Front. Their forces madeup the National Revolutionary Army (NRA). The common goal uniting these the KMT and CCP nationalism. This made the alliance possible, for a time under Sun. Chiang KaiShek, an anti-Communist military commander, succeeded Sun YatSen as head of the KMT (1925), This and the CCP's separate organization and goals would soon destabilize the alliance.

Supressing the War Lords: The Northern Expedition (1925-28)

Sun then began a campaign to supress the warlords and unifying China. Sun died of cancer before this could be achieved (1925). Chiang Kaishek, the KMT military commander seized control of the Party. Chiang launched what became known as the Northern Expedition with the NRA to subdue the remaining warlords. The campaign was a huge success. Chiang ampaigned from Guangzhou (Canton) north to to Shanghai. This essentially unified Southern China with the great bulk of the country's population. Most importantly, the KMT won control the Lower Yangzi. Chiang also seized many foreign concessions, except for Hong Kong and Shangahai. As Chiang's forces appraoched the all-important city of Shanghai, the Communist workers inside the city who had been clandestinely organized by the CCP, seized control of the city. The CCP became known for organizing the rural, peasntry. At thetime, however, it was a party based on organizing urban workers. And Shanghai was China's business center where the CCP had been sucessful and organizing workers. When Chiang actually entered the city, he ordered a massacre of the Communisrs in the city. Thousands of Cmmunists were shot which meant many of the CCP founders.

Conflict with the Communists (1927)

The Communists were an important part of the KMT coalition. They had a strong following among workers in many cities. Chiang who did not trust the Communists, fell out with them. The KMT and the Communist split was the beginning of the Civil War. Ching launched a military campaign against the CCP (1927). One of the CCP members who managed to escape was Mao Zedong. The Communists were in the 1920s a largely urban movement. Mao for example while of peasant orgins, became a Communist because he worked in a library where he read Marxist books. To escape the KMT campaign against the CCP, the Communists abandoned their urban base and fled to the countryside. Chiang with German military advisors tried to cut them off and destroy them. Chiang's goal was to "eliminate the cancer of Communism." He almost complete this, but the Communuists broke out from the KNT military encirclement (1934). The Communists were almost completely defeated. Suronded by KMT forces, Mao led the Long March and established the Communists in northwestern China. They began with about 100,000 people. After a year and 6,000 miles they were down to 6,000-8,000 people.







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Created: 2:24 AM 6/25/2010
Last updated: 2:29 AM 12/24/2013