Second Northern Expedition

The Second Northern Expedition was an extended campaign of General Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, the successful attempt to unite China.

Introduction

China had been ripped apart by Civil War and political corruption brought about by the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1911 and the Warlord Era, running from 1917-26. The Warlord Era was a period fought among the many Governors and local leaders of China's different provinces that had been left without a strong central government to keep them in check. At the same time, political parties, like the Kuomintang, began to spring up all over China, mainly in the populated cities, where intellectual atmosphere was at its greatest level. Many workers and middle class citizens were drawn to the parties as they sought involvement in political affairs and security from the warlords.

The Kuomintang was one such Political Party that had risen up in the turmoil of the Warlord Era. Under Sun Yatsen, its charismatic first leader, the part came to dominate politics and military affairs in Southern China, particularly in Guangzhou and Guangxi Provinces. They came to ally themselves with other parties, including the Chinese Communist Party, in order to help create a more unified front and symbol of unity among the Chinese people. It had been Sun Yatsen's dream to unify China under one flag, which gave birth to the idea of the Northern Expedition. This led to the use of Soviet Agents "Borodin" and "Galen" to help train the Kuomintang's troops so that it could take on the armies of the Warlords. By the time of Sun Yatsen's death and the rise of Chiang Kai-shek, his chief confident and military leader, the dream of the Expedition had become a reality. When the armies of the Northern Expedition arrived on the Yangtze, it seemed only a matter of time before the dream of a united China was to be achieved.

The Situation

The Military Forces of the Kuomintang had defeated the warlords Sun Chuanfang, "Warlord of Nanking" and Wu Peifu, the proclaimed "Lord of the Plains" and forced them to withdraw across the Yangtze River and then to the Yellow River in only a year. Yet, the Kuomintang was struck with a series of crises that had torn the party in two parts: The Leftist, led by Kuomintang politician Wang Jingwei, established themselves in Wuhan, while the Rightists, under Chiang Kai-shek, moved to Nanking; a split solidified by the April 12 Incident, also known as the "Shanghai Massacre", which had resulted in the deaths of thousands of Communists. This event prompted the government in Wuhan to publicly strip Chiang of all his positions in the party, creating the aforementioned split. As a result, the party and its military forces were disorganized in the late summer of 1927.

For the warlords, it was unprecedented opportunity to rebuild their armies and counter the now waning power of the Kuomintang. Sun Chuanfang, the most active of these, began to marshal his military forces with his ally Xu Kun of Zhi-lu Clique, one of China's finest generals. At the same time, Sun was communicating with Zhang Zuolin, Warlord and Governor of Manchuria, requesting assistance of any kind in the hopes of regaining his lost territory, including Nanking, his capital, and one of China's most prosperous cities. He brought up an army of One-hundred Thousand men and drew them up on the Lower Yangtze River. His plan was to launch an all-out attack upon the Nationalist Kuomintang forces under the leadership of Chiang and his two confidants: Li Zongren, Governor of Guangzhou and Guangxi Provinces in Southern China, and Bai Chongxi, hailed by many as "the Second Zhuge Liang", for his military leadership, drive them away from the Yangtze and Nanking and pursue them southward back into Guangzhou, where the expedition had started.

Facing these rejuvenated warlord armies were three Kuomintang Armies, referred to as the "Route Armies". The First Route Army, north of Nanking in Jiangsu Province; the Second Route, to the west of the First and centered around the city of Xuzhou, and the Third on the west of Xuzhou closer to Wuhan in the South, protecting against any intervention by the Leftist Wuhan forces. The Nationalists could afford to muster the same amount of manpower but was very divided by political tensions and leadership conflicts. Yet, it was the element of surprise that gave Sun and Xu Kun the advantage for their attack was not fully expected by Chiang or his military commanders. Finally, the Nationalists had stationed many of their troops on the northern side of the Yangtze in order to hold Xuzhou that had left them exposed to the warlord armies and their impending counteroffensive. Chiang had thus sent a large number of troops into positions in which they could neither defend properly, without the combined support of the army, nor defend with any real purpose, setting the stage for the last great struggle of the Warlord Era in China

The First Phase

Sun Chuanfang, on July 24th, ordered the counterattack to begin. His army, including Xu Kun's Zhi-Li Jun, tore through the surprised Nationalist forces, resulting in the loss of Xuzhou in Northern Jiangsu province. The Second Route Army, stationed in the area, was forced to withdraw south, using the Long-Hai railway as a escape route. The other Route Armies also began to retreat south toward the Yangtze as the warlord armies routed any remaining troops in their path. Chiang, who was astounded to hear that Xuzhou had fallen, sacked the army's commander, Wang Tianpei, and ordered that Xuzhou be retaken. Against the advice of Li Zongren, who thought it was better to withdraw south, Chiang, having exclaimed, "I will not return to Nanking until Xuzhou is back in our possession". He launched his attack with the Second Route Army in August, resulting in a terrible defeat for the Nationalists ^[1] . This defeat led to Chiang's immediate resignation on Aug. 6th as head of the Nanking Government, prompting him to move to Shanghai, where his loyal supporters followed. Following this, Li Zongren and other military leaders evacuated the whole army to the Yangtze with the principle goal of defending Nanking.

Li Zongren, if only in name, the de facto leader of the Nanking Government, set out to negotiate the possible reconciliation between the Wuhan and Nanking Governments. The talks, however, were interrupted on Aug. 24th when Sun's troops, supported by Wuhan dissenters, attacked the Yangtze warship that Li was staying on. Yet, the talks had succeeeded in getting Wuhan to cooperate with the Nanking Government. Wang Jingwei, upon the end of negotiations, order the purging of all Communists with Wuhan. This resulted in a military coup by Communist troops in Nanchang of Jiangxi Province, leaving Eight Thousand Nationalists dead while many others fled. As a result, chaos broke out in Wuhan, contributing to it destabilization and the strengthening of the Nanking Government ^[1] .

The Battle of Longtan

On Aug. 25th, Sun Chuanfang's Army, now close to the Yangtze, launched an all-out attack upon the Nationalist Forces. The worst hit was the First Route Army, defending the strategically placed city of Longtan, vital to the supply of Nanking via Shanghai. The battle raged around Longtan, especially on Mt. Wulongshan, where Nationalist troops stubbornly held out far longer than any expected, assuring that Sun could not continue his advance to Nanking. Bai Chongxi, recognizing the importance of Longtan, ordered reinforcements to be brought up as quickly as possible. Units of the Seventh and Nineteenth Corps arrived on the scene on the 28th and pushed Sun's battered army back to Longtan, relieving Mt. Wulongshan's defenders and buying time for further troops to arrive. On August 30th, the full might of the Second Route Army attacked Longtan and, by late afternoon, recaptured the city. Sun's army, with losses equal to two-thirds of their original strength, fled across the Yangtze in defeat ^[1] .

The Final Push and Outcome

The period between September and Novemeber were calm periods of time in which the Nationalists, once more led by the reinstated Chiang Kai-shek, reorganized themselves, though it was not until Jan. 2 that it was formally announced. The Wuhan Government, finally bowing to pressure, reconciled itself with Chiang and formally merged with the Nanking Government. On Dec. 12, the Nationalist forces, after reoccupying most of the territory lost that summer, recaptured Xuzhou. In response, Zhang Zuolin ordered that all loyal troops join his Anguo-jun Army, which had formed in response to the losses incurred by Sun Chuanfang's counteroffensive. Yet, it was not until April 2nd, following the conclusion of the Fourth Meeting of the Congress of the Kuomintang that Chiang ordered the beginning of the Second Expedition ^[1] .

The Nationalists swept across the remains of Sun Chuanfang's and Xu Kun's Zhili Clique forces and reached the Yellow River in mid-April, 1928. Yet, the Second Expedition failed in its objective to unite the rest of China. Manchuria remained under Zhang Zuolin's control and Beijing still controlled by Yan Xishan, warlord of Hebei. On June 4, Zhang, who was heading north from Beijing by train, was assassinated by Japanese conspirators, operating from Japan's Kwantung Army. His son, Zhang Xueling, also known as the "Young Marshall", following his rise to power, began to work with Chiang and the Kuomintang in the hopes of resisting Japanese aims in the area, these fears being confirmed three years later.

In this move, Yan Xishan, the ruling lord in Beijing, followed his more powerful neighbor and 'submitted' himself to Chiang. While Nanking became the Nationalist capital of China, Beijing was renamed "Beiping" or "Northern Peace". However, in the south, Li Zongren, who had become disgusted with Chiang's policies, returned to Guangzhou and Guangxi and formed the "Guangxi Clique" while Long Yan, also a member of the Nationalist Government, created a clique in Yunnan. With the Communists in control of most of Jiangxi, Chiang had been able to direct control over the coastal territories, running from the Yellow River to the borders of Guangzhou. The struggle to unite China was going to be a war in the interior; a war between Nationalists and Communists.

ee also

* National Revolutionary Army
* Whampoa Military Academy
* Chiang Kai-shek
* Military of the Republic of China
* History of the Republic of China
* Sino-German cooperation
* Central Plains War
* Kuomintang

References

*Ah Xiang: "The Campaigns of 1927-37"
*Fenby, Jonathan. Chiang Kai-Shek. "China's Generalissimo and the Nation he Lost". Carrol & Graf Publishing. New York, New York, 2003
* [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Rep/rep-event.html Chinese History - The Republic of China (1911-1949)]