CHINA: The Warlord Era, 1917-1927

TIMELINE
THE BOXER THE THE WAR
REBELLION WARLORD AGAINST THE ERA OF MAO ZEDONG
PERIOD JAPAN

THE CULTURAL
WORLD WAR 1 WORLD WAR 2 REVOLUTION

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980

1990 2000
FOUNDATION
OF THE CCP
THE
FOUNDATION OF
THE END OF THE PRC, 1949
THE QING
EMPIRE
THE CIVIL WAR ERA
Knowledge Check:

1. In which year did the Emperor, Guangxu, and the Dowager Empress, Cixi, die?
2. Where did the 1911 rebellion take place?
3. Which General was sent to quell the rebellion, but actually did a deal with the rebels?
4. How long did foreign forces hold out for during the Boxer Rebellion?
5. What does LACKPANTS stand for?

1. 1908
2. Wuchang (Wuhan)
3. Yuan Shikai
4. 55 days
5. Laissez faire
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Recap:
A revolution had taken place in China during 1911-12

Nationalists led by the general Yuan Shikai had overthrown the Emperor

A new republic had been created

The leader of the nationalist GMD party, Sun Yat Sen allowed Yuan to become the
first president of the new republic, as he had the loyalty of the army.

However, Yuan Shikai betrayed the revolution and tried instead to make himself a
new emperor, and banned the GMD. Sun Yat Sen fled abroad once more.
 SUN YAT SEN

THE NATIONAL PEOPLE’S

PARTY or Guomindang (GMD)
YUAN SHIKAI
First as president, then as a kind of military dictator,
Yuan Shikai eventually made himself Emperor. His reign
lasted only 83 days, largely due to widespread
opposition across China and partly because he was
unwell. He abdicated in March 1916. He died later that
year. He had tried some reforms, but his reign ended any
chance of a democratic republic being peacefully
established.
WORLD WAR 1 and CHINA

During this period the main

Imperial Powers were busy
fighting their war in Europe
and China was of little interest
to them. China was officially
on the side of the allies, but
Japan took this opportunity to
increase its dominance in
China, especially in
Shandong, where the
Germans had bases.
WITH THE DEATH OF
YUAN SHIKAI, THERE
WAS NO-ONE STRONG
ENOUGH TO CONTROL
ALL OF CHINA FROM THE
CENTRE.

CHAOS AND ANARCHY

BROKE OUT. EACH
REGION WAS
DOMINATED BY A
FORMER IMPERIAL
GENERAL WHO USED
HIS FORCES TO RULE AS
A WARLORD.

WHAT IS A WARLORD?
WARLORDS
EACH WARLORD HAD ALMOST COMPLETE
POWER OVER THEIR PROVINCE, TAXING THE
ORDINARY PEOPLE AND OFTEN RULING WITH
GREAT VIOLENCE AND CRUELTY.

THE WARLORDS COMPETED WITH EACH

OTHER TO SEIZE BEIJING AND TAKE CONTROL
OF THE COUNTRY.
The warlords were not only cruel and arbitrary,
but did not have the ability to address problems
like natural disasters. They were often in the pay
of foreign interests, thus increasing the
revolutionary feelings in China.
THE END OF WORLD WAR 1,1918

WHEN THE GREAT WAR

ENDED, THERE WAS MORE
HUMILIATION FOR CHINA.
EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD
FOUGHT ON THE ALLIES’
SIDE, JAPAN WERE
ALLOWED TO KEEP THE
GERMAN SETTLEMENTS IN
CHINA AND OTHER AREAS
WHERE JAPAN HAD TAKEN
CONTROL.
 CHINA IN THE 1920s: TWO NEW POLITICAL PARTIES
THE GUOMINDANG (GMD) THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (CCP)

JIANG JIESHI

LIU SHAOQI, ZHOU ENLAI,

MAO ZEDONG, ZHU DE
SUN YAT SEN

NATIONALISTS COMMUNISTS
THE GUOMINDANG (GMD)
Sun Yat Sen had left China when Yuan Shikai made himself ruler
but returned in 1917, setting up a nationalist government
Guangzhou. His Three Principles were an ideology that stressed
the strength of the People as a whole, rather than individual
freedom. He sought to raise China out of poverty and end the
power of foreigners, creating a modern, democratic country.

The only country who offered to help the GMD overthrow the
warlords was Bolshevik Russia who agreed to supply arms. The
Soviets wanted to spread revolutionary ideas and wanted to Sun Yat Sen’s Three
Principles:
support the GMD’s struggle.
1 NATIONAL FREEDOM
2 DEMOCRACY
3 PEOPLE’S WELFARE
FOUNDATION OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
OTHERS BECAME
DISILLUSIONED WITH
NATIONALIST POLITICS AND
BELIEVED THAT COMMUNISM
WAS THE ANSWER TO CHINA’S
PROBLEMS. THE CCP WAS
FOUNDED IN THIS HOUSE IN
SHANGHAI in JULY, 1921.
Communism is a political system where
the workers control the economy and
society

THE COMMUNISTS
The Soviets supported the Communist
party with money and advice, but
wanted it to cooperate with the GMD
The Communist party was inspired
by the success of the Russian
revolution. The founders of the CCP
were supported by Russian agents
and money from the new Soviet
Union, who wished to spread
communist ideas around the world.
Although Mao was one of the
founders of the CCP, he was by no
means a leading figure at this stage
of the party. He is shown here in
this museum reconstruction of the
foundation of the CCP.
JIANG JIESHI (Chiang Kai Shek)

When Sun Yat Sen died in 1925

the power struggle to replace
him as leader of the nationalist
GMD was won by Jiang Jieshi,
a young general, educated in
Japan and the USSR. His
military skills allowed him to
rapidly unite China by fighting a
series of campaigns against the
warlords 1925-1927 Jiang became leader of the Guomindang (GMD) in 1925 and succeeded in uniting
China and making himself president of the republic.
THE UNITED FRONT

Starting in the south, Jiang Jieshi’s

national army went north, defeating the
warlords who were unpopular and no
match for his well trained army. The
GMD worked with the Communists
during the expedition, with peasants
providing intelligence and guerilla forces
and contributing the the eventual
success of the campaign to end the rule
of the warlords and create a unified
Republic of China with Jiang at its head.
The Warlord Era Ends, 1928
After over two years of campaigning, the
GMD had succeeded in creating a united
China, even though it was fragile and
economically very weak. The warlord era
was over, but it would be difficult forJiang to
exert control over the whole of China.

Although he had worked with the CCP from

the start, Jiang hated Communism and once
the Northern Expedition was over he turned
against them and tried to destroy the CCP

The GMD’s army was known as the NRA and had a Soviet Jiang liked to be called the Generalissimo
military adviser whose strategy of encirclement and
gaining the support of the peasants was crucial in the
success of the Northern Expedition
KEY QUESTIONS: The Warlord Era, 1917-27

1. WHO WERE THE WARLORDS?

2. WHAT CAUSED THEIR APPEARANCE IN CHINESE SOCIETY?
3. WHAT WAS CHINA LIKE DURING THE TIME OF THE WARLORDS?
4. HOW WERE THE WARLORDS DEFEATED?
5. WHAT DO YOU THINK WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR DEFEAT?