Northern Expedition

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For Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions in the Three Kingdoms period, see Northern Expeditions.

A portrayal of Chiang Kai-shek commanding the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition.

The Northern Expedition (Chinese: 北伐; pinyin: běi fá) was a military campaign led by the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1926 to 1927. Its main objective was to speed up the Chinese revolution against feudalism and imperialism plaguing China after the Xinhai Revolution and unify China under the Nationalist banner by ending the rule of local warlords.

The term “Northern Expedition” may also be understood to include a related campaign in 1928, which is otherwise called the Second Northern Expedition, during which the NRA captured Beijing (8 June 1928) and paved the way for the Chinese reunification (1928).

1 Objective
2 Outcome
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Objective

The Northern Expedition began from the KMT's power base in Guangdong province. In 1926 the May 30th Movement announced the chains for strike and protest against western imperialism and its warlord agents in China. At the same time, the alliance between KMT and CPC was questioned after the Zhongshan Warship Incident in March 1926, and the following events made Chiang Kai-shek the paramount military leader of KMT in effect. Although Chiang doubted Sun Yat-sen's policy of alliance with the Soviet Union and CPC, he still needed aid from the Soviet Union, so he could not break up the alliance at that time. Above all, Chiang needed a stage to indicate his role of paramount leader and military talent. On the other hand, the Soviet Union and CPC cherished the alliance more than Chiang, as they did need a stage to show their friendship to the KMT. Thus all three parties agreed to launch the Northern Expedition to solve their own problems.

The main target of this expedition consist of three notorious and powerful warlords of China: Zhang Zuolin who governed Manchuria, Wu Peifu in Central Plain of China and Sun Chuanfang in eastern coast of China. Advised by the famous Russian general Vasily Blyukher using the pseudonym Galen, the HQ of the expedition decided to use all its power to defeat these warlords one by one, first Wu, then Sun, last Zhang. On July 9, 1926, Chiang gave his lecture to 100,000 soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army, which was set up by the students trained in the Whampoa Military Academy and equipped with Russian arsenal in the opening ceremony, which was the official commencement of Northern Expedition. NRA were far better organized than the warlord armies which they faced, for they had good military advisors, better weapons and commissars from CPC to inspire the soldiers. In addition, the NRA was regarded as a progressive force on behalf of ordinary people persecuted by warlords, for which it received warm welcome and strong support from peasants and workers. It was no surprise the NRA could march from Zhu River area to Yangtze River in less than half a year and annihilate the main force of Wu and Sun, and strengthen its force from 100,000 to 250,000.

[edit] Outcome

Today, the Northern Expedition is viewed positively both in Mainland China and on Taiwan because it ended a period of disorder and started the formation of an effective Chinese central government. However it did not fully solve the warlord problem, as many warlords still held large armies that didn't necessarily obey central orders.

The irony is when old warlords such as Wu and Sun were brought down, new warlords such as Chiang, Li Zongren and his Guangxi Clique, Yan Xishan and his Shanxi Clique, Feng Yu-hsiang and his Northwestern Clique, Tang Shengzhi and his Hunan Clique, Chiang Kuang-Nai and his Fujian Clique, Sheng Shicai of Xinjiang Clique, Zhang Xueliang of Northeastern Clique, Long Yun of Yunnan Clique, Wang Jialie of Guizhou Clique, Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui of Sichuan Clique, Han Fuqu of Shandong Clique, Bie Tingfang (别廷芳) of Henan Clique, Ma Bufang and his family of Qinghai Clique, Ma Hongkui and his family of Ningxia Clique, Ma Zhongyin and his family of Gansu Clique, Chen Jitang and his Cantonese Clique, Lu Diping (鲁涤平) of Jiangxi Clique, Jing Yuexiu (井岳秀) of Shaanxi Clique, quickly took over power, and the wars between these new warlords claimed more lives than ever in the 1930's. This would prove to be a major headache for the KMT all the way through WWII and the following civil war.

However, Chiang did get the greatest benefit from the expedition, for the victory won him prominence in the political stage. Furthermore, Chiang made the military command superior to KMT party leadership, which resulted in his dictatorship later. Moreover, even before the objectives of the Northern Expedition had been achieved the first cooperation between KMT and CPC fell apart in the Wuhan Incident, where CPC members and parts of the KMT political left-wing broke ties with Chiang, but with the military firmly in his grasp, they proved no match for Chiang and as a result all of the CPC members of the KMT were expelled. This would also prove to be the beginning of a 20 year long KMT/CPC civil war that only had a partial ending by the KMT withdrawal to Taiwan in 1949.