Reintegration in China under the Warlords, 1916-1927
“Reintegration in China under the Warlords, 1916-1927” by Shelly Yomano
Most historians see the years 1916-1927 as chaotic disintegration but Shelly Yomano argues that these years were actually years of integration and illumination and so an important link between the presidency of Yuan Shikai and Guomindang.
Yomano says that the recent trend of analyzing warlord interactions in factional terms is a step in the right direction, but claims that the assumption that factional relationships were strong and static is flawed. She criticized Andrew Nathon’s argument that “Since factions are incapable of building sufficient power to rid the political system of rival factions, they have little incentive to do so (22-23),” and Hsi-sheng Ch’i’s argument that a factional leader would “stop fighting rather than eliminate an essential national actor (23).” These statements, Yomano says, can be contradicted with direct evidence. At the end of the major wars in the 1920s such as the Zhili-Anfu War of 1920 and the Zhili-Fengtian War of 1922, the victors demanded the dismantling of the losing factions and the punishment of the leaders. These are clearly acts that meant to disband not protect the rival factions.
The view of the warlord system as static doesn’t take into account the great changes occurring in the 1920s. China wasn’t slowly disintegrating between 1916-1927, but trying to escape the hole it had already fallen in.
After Yuan Shikai’s death, China rapidly began to fragment with his generals in arms against each other in their quest for dominance of various regions. From 1916-1918, major warlords were able to form alliances with each other and created three main factions: Anfu, Zhili, and Fengtian. The Anfu was then destroyed in the Zhili-Anfu War of 1920. Yomano says that most historians fail to see that beginning in 1920, the Zhili under the leadership of Wu Peifu, succeed in uniting 8 provinces of China into one faction. Wu then went on to try to reunify China. The Zhili eliminated the Fengteng in the Zhili-Fengtian War of 1922, was able to put Li Yuanhong who was under Zhili control into the presidency, gain control of most of China though Sun Yatsen in the south, Zhang Zuolin (the dismissed Fengtong leader) in the northeast, and the last of the Anfu power lead by Lu Yongxian in Shanghai and Zhejian, were still threats. The Jiangsu-Zhejiang War began between the Zhili and Lu Yongxian’s forces in 1924. Lu’s army was forced to flee to Japan after 40 days. Zhang Zuolin knew that the Zhili planned to attack him next and so initiated a surprise attack. Feng Yuxiang then defected and joined with Zhang Zuolin, claiming Beijing for the Fengtian; stopping Wu Peifu’s campaign as well as his attempt to reunify China. Zhang Zuolin controlled northern China, and southern China was split between various warlords.
Thus, although the attempt failed, 1918-1924 was not a period of disintegration and fragmentation, but a period in which the Zhili tried and almost succeeded in the reunification of China.