The Fall of the Qing, Warlordism and Chaos, 1900-34 » Chiang Kai-shek: The Northern Expedition, Shanghai and the Extermination Campaigns

Chiang Kai-shek takes charge

Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, and the leadership of the Guomindang (the Nationalist Party) was open. Chiang Kai-shek was well placed. He had been the commander of the Whampoa Military Academy, so he had the loyalty of the officers it trained, and he now led the Guomindang's army, the National Revolutionary Army. By 1926 he was the most powerful man in the party.

Chiang shared Sun's aim of reuniting China. But he did not share Sun's willingness to work with the communists. He was a strong nationalist, he distrusted the Soviet Union, and he feared that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was growing too strong inside the United Front.

Key terms:

• Northern Expedition: the military campaign of 1926-28, led by Chiang Kai-shek, to defeat the warlords and unite China under the Guomindang.
• Purge: the violent removal of a group of people from a party or organisation, because they are seen as a threat.
• Extermination Campaigns: the series of Guomindang attacks, 1930-34, aimed at destroying the communists in Jiangxi.
• Soviet (in Jiangxi): an area run by the communists, with its own government, army and laws.

The Northern Expedition, 1926-28

In July 1926 Chiang set out from Guangzhou with the National Revolutionary Army. The target was the warlords who ruled central and northern China. The army was better trained and more disciplined than most warlord armies, and it had Soviet advisers and weapons. Communists also helped by organising workers and peasants ahead of the army, which made it easier to win support. Some warlords were beaten in battle and others simply changed sides.

The expedition was halted in 1927 by the events below, then restarted in 1928. In June 1928 Guomindang forces took Beijing. The warlord Zhang Zuolin, who ruled Manchuria and had held Beijing, had left the city and was killed on 4 June when Japanese officers blew up his train. His son Zhang Xueliang then declared his loyalty to the Guomindang at the end of 1928. China now looked united under the Guomindang, with its capital at Nanjing.

The reunification was real in name more than in practice. Many warlords kept their armies and their areas, and simply said they supported Chiang. Chiang's government held the richest cities and the Yangzi valley, but not the whole country.

The Shanghai Massacres, 1927

As the army neared Shanghai in March 1927, communist-led workers rose up and took control of much of the city, so that Chiang's troops arrived to find it largely in their hands. The Shanghai trade unions were strong, and the communists were popular with workers. This alarmed Chiang. It also alarmed the city's businessmen and bankers, who gave him money, and the foreign powers with interests in Shanghai.

On 12 April 1927 Chiang struck. His soldiers, helped by armed gangsters from the Green Gang, attacked union members and communists across the city. Hundreds were shot in the first days and many more were arrested. Similar killings followed in other cities in the weeks after. They are known as the Shanghai Massacres, or the Shanghai Purge.

The results were serious:

• The United Front ended. The Guomindang and CCP were now enemies. Chiang set up his own government at Nanjing, and a left-wing Guomindang government in Wuhan broke with the communists soon after, in July 1927.
• The CCP was badly hurt. Its leaders in the cities were killed or driven underground, and it lost most of its members and its base among the workers.
• Civil war began. From 1927, the Guomindang and the communists were fighting each other, a conflict that lasted, with a pause for war with Japan, until 1949.
• The Soviet Union lost influence. Its advisers were sent home, and its policy of backing the Guomindang had failed.

The communists retreat to Jiangxi

After 1927 the communists tried risings in cities, such as Nanchang in August 1927, but they were crushed. A new approach came from Mao Zedong. He led a force of peasants to the mountains of Jinggangshan, where he joined Zhu De in 1928, and built a Red Army. Mao argued that the communists' best hope was the peasants in the countryside, not the city workers who had been killed in 1927.

The communists moved to the south-east, and by 1931 they controlled a large area around Ruijin in Jiangxi province. In November 1931 they set up a government there, the Chinese Soviet Republic. They took land from landlords and gave it to the peasants, which won them support. They built up a Red Army that used guerrilla tactics, avoiding big battles they could not win.

The Extermination Campaigns, 1930-34

Chiang was determined to destroy the communists, and between 1930 and 1934 he launched five Extermination Campaigns to destroy the Jiangxi Soviet. The Guomindang often called them "encirclement campaigns".

By October 1934 the Jiangxi Soviet could not hold out. The communist leaders decided to break out. What happened next is the Long March, the subject of the next lesson.

Chiang gave the campaigns priority over resisting Japan, even after Japan took Manchuria in 1931. His slogan was to bring internal order first and then deal with foreign enemies. Many Chinese found this unpopular.

Change and continuity: China in 1900 and in 1934

Common mistakes

Exam-style question

Explain TWO ways in which the government of China in 1934 was different from the government of China in 1900. [6 marks]