The last Chinese dynasty, the Manchu [Qing] was overthrown in 1911 by a diverse revolutionary coalition that immediately lost control of the Republic to General Yuan Shikai. After Yuan's death in 1916, the Beijing-based regime hosted a succession of short-lived warlord governments. In 1926 Nationalist armies, led by Chiang Kai-shek, marched north with their Communist allies from Guangzhou in a drive to defeat the warlords. In the midst of this Northern Expedition, Chiang purged the Communists. By summer 1928, the Nationalists had succeeded in unifying the country from their new capital in Nanjing. Beijing ("northern captial") had been renamed Beiping ("northern peace"). In mid-1922 Dr. Sun Yat-sen organized the Northern Expedition, observing that the whole nation are at "daggers drawn" against Old Hsu and his associates but are without the power to expel them from the political stage. Both the Kuangsi and the Northern punitive expeditions are inspired by the same motives in spite of the difference in the spheres of operations. Prior to the dispatch of the Cantonese troops the people of Kuangsi had made many appeals to the Canton Government to send out the expedition. On the contrary, certain persons are now trying to obstruct the Northern Expedition which is being dispatched at present. Sun Yat-sen died of cancer in Beijing in March 1925, but the Nationalist movement he had helped to initiate was gaining momentum. During the summer of 1925, Chiang, as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, set out on the long-delayed Northern Expedition against the northern warlords. Within nine months, half of China had been conquered. The National Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition in July 1926. After it took Wuhan, the Guangzhou Government moved there. In 1926, with the north extension of Northern Expedition, the center of Great Revolution shifted from the Pearl River basin to the Yangtze River basin. On 26 November 1926, the KMT Central Political Committee decided to move the capital to Wuhan. In middle December, most of the KMT central executive commissioners and National Government commissioners arrived in Wuhan, set up the temporary joint conference of central executive commissioners and National Government commissioners, performed the top functions of central party headquarters and National Government. The Northern Expedition was a military campaign led by the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1926 to 1928. Its main objective was to unify China under the Kuomintang banner by ending the rule of local warlords. The Northern Expedition kicked off on May 20, 1926. It led to the demise of the Beiyang government and the Chinese reunification of 1928. The Northern Expedition, which would sweep away the rule of the warlords, break the military and political control of imperialist countries over China and end people's tribulation. The Northern Expedition was warmly welcomed and supported by the people all over China. It all struck a heavy blow at the reactionary warlords and kindled the flame of revolution over half of China. Chiang led a military expedition to subdue warlords in central and northern China and unify the nation. This Northern Expedition lasted three years. Chiang Kai-Shek became commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army and held a ceremony for the Northern Expedition on July 9, 1926. He also made a declaration that notified the entire country that "the purpose of the revolutionary war is to build an independent free nation... by overthrowing the warlords and imperialism." The Northern Expedition for unification was officially opened in the solemn Pledge Ceremony. On March 22, 1927, troops of the National Revolutionary Army entered Shanghai and, two days later, captured Nanjing, where a reorganized national government was established on April 18, 1927. Once the expedition reached Shanghai, the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the Communists and massacred many CCP members. Soon thereafter, the ongoing Northern Expedition brought the remaining provinces into the fold. With the elimination of the rival Beijing-based government, the government in Nanjing became internationally recognized as China's legitimate government. The National Revolutionary Army launched the Second Northern Expedition in April 1928 to attack Chang Zong-chang in Shandong and Chang Tso-lin in Beijing. Unexpectedly, the Japanese created the Jinan Massacre on May 3 and the National Revolutionary Army was compelled to make a detour to advance northward. By the end of May 1928 Chang Tso-lin decided to retreat outside the border, but he was killed by a Japanese bomb at the Huanggutun railway station outside Shenyang on June 4. By June 8 Yan Xi-shan's troops occupied Beijing. After the assassination of Chang Tso-lin by the Japanese, Chang's son Chang Xue-liang succeeded him in power. Despite Japanese obstruction, Chang Xue-liang declared obediance to the Nationalist Government and flew the national flag on 29 December 1928 in the Northeastern Provinces, thereby completing the Northern Expedition. China's unification was the last thing a foreign power wanted to see especially Japan and they tried every possible way to obstruct it. During the disordered warlord period, Japan at first supported Tuan Ch'i-jui, attempting to control the Peking Government and the political situation of China. When Tuan failed, Japan focused on Chang Tso-lin in Manchuria, supported Chang Tsung-chang in Shantung and Sun Chuang-fan, who was defeated in Kiangsu and Chekiang. When the National Revolutionary Army advanced toward Shantung during the Northern Expedition, the Japanese Cabinet headed by Tanaka Giichi implemented its "scorpion-type policy" in one hand, planning to Capture the whole of Manchuria and North China using the Shantung and Liaotung peninsulas as its nippers, and presented the so-called "Tanaka Memorial," formulating its measures to swallow China. In 1927 when the national revolutionary army advanced to Shan-dong Province, Japans sent troops to give secret support to warlord Zhang Zong-chang. The Japanese dispatched reinforcements to Shantung on the pretext of protecting Japanese residents, and stopped the National Revolutionary Army from advancing northward. Japan provoked the "May Third Incident" in which Japanese troops opened fire on Chinese forces and civilians, and five thousand Chinese were killed. Diplomat Cai Gong-shi was killed in cold blood and other high-ranking officials of the foreign ministry were insulted and brutalized. Japan attempted to kidnap CommandingGeneral Chiang Kai-shek of the Northern Expedition Army in order, to totally disrupt the Northern Expedition mission of the National' Government at one stroke. As the Revolutionary Army, turned around and advanced toward Peking and Tientsin by crossing the Yellow River to carry on its mission, Japan then forced Chang Tso-lin-to concede the rights on five railways in Manchuria and Mongolia by signing a secret treaty. The Japanese Army issued a mobilization order, concentrated its troops in Fengtien, dispatched reinforcements to Chintsou, attempting to disarm the Fengtien Army that was retreating toward Northeast China and to stop by force the National Revolutionary Army from entering Manchuria. After the Northern Expedition in 1928 the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-Shek established Nanjing as the capital of China China in opposition to a government in Beijing led by northern warlords and an alternate alternate government in Wuhan led by Wang Jingwei . After the completion of the Second Northern Expedition Expedition in 1931, Chiang's government became the only recognized Chinese Chinese government. Nanjing was also the capital of the Taiping Rebellion in the mid- 19th century. At the end of the Northern Expedition the country was reunified and placed under the Executive Yuan. After the successful ending of the Northern Expedition, the Republic of China started to push for the unification of the financial system of the entire country and began several reforms. Before long, however, the Japanese Invasion of China during the Second World War prompted the Chinese to launch the eight-year War of Resistance against Japan in 1937.

Years: 1926-1928 Battle deaths: 126,500 [1] Nation(s) involved and/or conflict territory [note] China Published prior to 2013 | Altered: 2014-08-04 08:55:39 The Northern Expedition (Chinese: 北伐; pinyin: běi fá), was a military campaign led by the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1926 to 1928. Its main objective was to rule China by ending the rule of Beiyang government as well as the local warlords. It led to the end of the Warlord Era, the reunification of China in 1928, and the establishment of the Nanjing government. The main targets of this expedition were three notorious and powerful warlords: Zhang Zuolin who governed Manchuria, Wu Peifu in the Central Plain region and Sun Chuanfang on the east coast. Advised by the famous Russian general Vasily Blyukher under 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, and finally Zhang. On July 9, 1926, Chiang gave his lecture to 100,000 soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), which was set up by the students trained in the Whampoa Military Academy and equipped with Russian and German weapons in the opening ceremony, which was the official commencement of Northern Expedition. NRA soldiers were far better organized than the warlord armies which they faced due to their military advisers. 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. Following the defeat of the Zhili clique, Chiang decided to purge all Communists from the Kuomintang. In the Shanghai massacre of April 12, thousands of Communists were executed or went missing, while others were arrested and imprisoned. The purge caused a split between the KMT’s left and right wings. The leftists, led by Wang Jingwei in the KMT capital at Wuhan, condemned Chiang’s purge. Chiang, however, subsequently established his own capital in Nanjing. As a result, the Nationalist party and its military forces were in a state of disarray during the summer of 1927. The Northern Expedition is viewed positively in China today because it ended a period of disorder and started the formation of an effective central government. However, it did not fully solve the warlord problem, as many warlords still had large armies that served their needs, not those of China. Source: Wikipedia, published under the GNU FDL. Retrieved 2014-08-04 SOURCES: FATALITY DATA Notes on fatalities [1] Battle deaths: Correlates of War, Intra-State War Data v4.1 #700

Terms of Use Map Satellite 200 km [ 1926 - 1928 ] Sun Yat-sen died of cancer in Beijing in March 1925, but the Nationalist movement he had helped to initiate was gaining momentum. During the summer of 1925, Chiang, as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, set out on the long-delayed Northern Expedition against the northern warlords. Within nine months, half of China had been conquered. By 1926, however, the Guomindang had divided into left- and right-wing factions, and the Communist bloc within it was also growing. In March 1926, after thwarting a kidnapping attempt against him, Chiang abruptly dismissed his Soviet advisers, imposed restricti ons on CCP members' participation in the top leadership, and emerged as the preeminent Guomindang leader. The Soviet Union, still hoping to prevent a split between Chiang and the CCP, ordered Communist underground activities to facilitate the Northern Expedition, which was finally launched by Chiang from Guangzhou in July 1926. In early 1927 the Guomindang-CCP rivalry led to a split in the revolutionary ranks. The CCP and the left wing of the Guomindang had decided to move the seat of the Nationalist government from Guangzhou to Wuhan. But Chiang, whose Northern Expedition was proving successful, set his forces to destroying the Shanghai CCP apparatus and established an anti-Communist government at Nanjing in April 1927. There now were three capitals in China: the internationally recognized warlord regime in Beijing; the Communist and left-wing Guomindang regime at Wuhan; and the right-wing civilian-military regime at Nanjing, which would remain the Nationalist capital for the next decade... But in mid-1927 the CCP was at a low ebb. The Communists had been expelled from Wuhan by their left-wing Guomindang allies, who in turn were toppled by a military regime. By 1928 all of China was at least nominally under Chiang's control, and the Nanjing government received prompt international recognition as the sole legitimate government of China. The Nationalist government announced that in conformity with Sun Yat-sen's formula for the three stages of revolution--military unification, political tutelage, and constitutional democracy--China had reached the end of the first phase and would embark on the second, which would be under Guomindang direction. ***** ...stepped-up military aggression abroad. A prelude to this state of affairs was Tanaka Giichi's term as prime minister from 1927 to 1929. Twice he sent troops to China to obstruct Chiang Kai-shek's unification campaign.