ABSTRACT
The Nationalists’ 1928 victory over the northern warlords temporarily ended almost fifteen years of civil wars following the Qing Dynasty’s collapse. This chapter will begin by reviewing the post-revolutionary division of China into competing northern and southern governments. It will provide a concise history of the warlord period, with a special focus on the military alliances and conflicts that surrounded the northern warlords. It will also outline Sun Zhongshan’s early history, his years as an anti-Manchu revolutionary, his efforts to establish the Republic of China, and his disaffection with Yuan Shikai. After discussing Sun’s formation of an opposition government in Guangzhou, it will examine his decision to ally with the Soviet Union. Following the arrival of Soviet military advisers to train the Nationalists’ army, Sun’s eventual successor-Jiang Jieshi-launched the 1926-27 Northern Expedition. When Jiang appeared able to achieve victory without outside assistance from Moscow, he broke with the USSR and purged his Communist allies. After completing the Northern Expedition, Jiang unified China in 1928 under a Nationalist government in Nanjing. The Guomindang thereafter ruled China until 1949, when they fled to Taiwan before the advancing Chinese Communists.
