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Central Plains War
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Central Plains War was a civil war within the factionalised Kuomintang (KMT) that broke out in 1930. It was fought between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the coalition of three military commanders who had previously allied with Chiang: Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren. The war spread wide across Central Plains, a core region of China.
In consolidating power for the Kuomintang in the Northern Expedition of 1927–1928, Chiang had forged alliances with the warlord armies of Yan, Feng, and Li.
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Encyclopedia
Central Plains War was a civil war within the factionalised Kuomintang (KMT) that broke out in 1930. It was fought between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the coalition of three military commanders who had previously allied with Chiang: Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren. The war spread wide across Central Plains, a core region of China.
In consolidating power for the Kuomintang in the Northern Expedition of 1927–1928, Chiang had forged alliances with the warlord armies of Yan, Feng, and Li. However, relations between Chiang and his warlord allies soon soured, resulting in the war. This war almost bankrupted Chiang's Nationalist Government and cost over 300,000 casualties on both sides. However, Chiang's victory allowed him to further consolidate power as the undisputed leader of most of China.
Background
Rise of Chiang Kai-shek
Compared to other senior party officials like Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek in contrast was rather a junior official in the Kuomintang (KMT) . He began to rise to prominence in 1917 in the Guangzhou government with his militaristic talent. In 1923, Chiang reached the turning point of his life when Chen Jiongming launched a rebellion against Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou. Chiang helped Sun to retreat out of Guangzhou which gained Sun's ultimate trust.
After Sun's death in 1925, the cliques in the Kuomintang began to surface. A power struggle between Chiang and Wang Jingwei split the KMT. However, Chiang was able to use his influence as the commandant of Whampoa Academy to assist on his eventual victory, and Wang was forced to leave the country for a couple years. In 1927, Chiang was chosen as the commander of the National Revolutionary Army and launched the Northern Expedition. The legitimacy of Chiang's government was thus seemingly decided.
Prelude of the war
In December 1928, Zhang Xueliang of Manchuria declared his unification with the Nationalist government, completing the Northeast Flag Replacement. The objective of the Northern Expedition, unifying China, was proclaimed to be a full success. However, this nominal unification was soon challenged. When the topic of reorganizing the army was brought up at a military conference in 1929, the fact that it would alter the existing territorial influences among the cliques in the party quickly aggravated the relationships between the central government and the regional powers.
Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong of the Guangxi clique broke off relations with Chiang firstly in March 1929. This effectively started the confrontation. In May, Feng Yuxiang of the Northwest clashed with Chiang. In November, Li Zongren issued an anti-Chiang declaration, along with Wang Jingwei, who headed the leftist faction of the Kuomintang and was a rival of the right-wing Chiang. In December, Tang Shengzhi and Zhang Fakui announced their support of anti-Chiang coalition. The Nationalist Government in Nanjing expelled Wang Jingwei from the party in March as a response to the anti-Chiang coalition.
In February 1930, Yan Xishan of the Shanxi clique demanded Chiang's resignation, which Chiang refused. Later that month, Yan was chosen to be commander-in-chief of the coalition while Feng, Li and Zhang Xueliang were chosen to be seconds in command. In April, all of them were sworn in to their positions except Zhang, who was not committed to either side at the time.
Preparations
The Anti-Chiang coalition divided their offense into various routes. Li Zongren led the Guangxi Army, and deployed the Army from Guangxi into Hunan province and struck Wuhan. Feng Yuxiang led the Northwest Army, deploying it from Henan into Shandong province to assault Xuzhou and Wuhan. Yan Xishan led the Shanxi Army and cooperated with the Northwest Army from Shandong to strike Xuzhou, and planned to march to Nanjing via railway.
On Chiang's side, Han Fuqu was assigned to defend the southern shore of the Yellow River to halt the Shanxi Army; The Central Army, commanded by Liu Zhi, was stationed in Xuzhou for defensive purposes.
Outbreak
The confrontation erupted in the midst of May. The battlefields in the north were generally in Henan and Shandong; the battlefields in the south were mainly in the area of Yuezhou, Changsha and Hunan province.
At first, with the assistance of its air force, Chiang's Central Army launched several major offensives. However, the Northwest Army, being top in strength among the coalition, crushed Chen Cheng and Chiang's forces in Gansu at the end of May; Chiang was almost captured when inspecting the frontline. But the Northwest Army could not capitalize on the victory as the Shanxi Army was unable to support it in time. This led the Northwest Army to turn to the defensive. Later in Kaifeng, the Northwest Army repulsed Chiang's attack, and nearly surrounded Chiang's forces. In August, the Shanxi Army and Northwest Army had a major clash with Chiang's forces while attacking Xuzhou. Losses for both sides piled up above 200,000. The Northwest Army ended up not receiving support from Shanxi Army in time, and fell short of success. The Shanxi Army retreated out of Jinan, and experienced heavy casualties while crossing the Yellow River.
Meanwhile on the southern battlefields, after the Guangxi Army captured Yueyang, Chiang's forces cut them off from behind. Guangxi Army was eventually forced to withdraw back to Guangxi.
In Shandong, the Shanxi Army captured Jinan on June 25. After defeating the Guangxi Army in Hunan, the Nanjing government decided to launch major counter-offensives on Shandong. Landed in Qingdao, Chiang's forces regained Jinan on August 15. Chiang's army then gathered in Gansu and Shaanxi province and launched the final offensive against the Northwest Army between the end of August and the beginning of September.
On September 18, Zhang Xueliang declared his support of Chiang Kai-shek. Two days after, Zhang's Northeast Army entered the Shanhai Pass. As a result, the coalition of Yan and Feng collapsed almost immediately. The Shanxi Army withdrew to the north of the Yellow River while the Northwest Army was totally defeated. On November 4, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang announced their retirement. Yan fled to Tianjin, and Feng's troops were annexed by Zhang. The conflict was now over.
Aftermath
The Central Plains War was the biggest civil war conflict inside the Kuomintang party since the Northern Expedition. Many provinces were affected, and both sides committed over 1,300,000 troops, causing over 300,000 casualties. As a result, the Nanjing government nearly faced bankruptcy. The troops that were originally tasked with destroying the Red Army were pulled away, which prevented Chiang from carrying out his plan to exterminate the Chinese Communist Party.
After the Northeast Army's entrance to Central China, Manchuria's defense was considerably weakened. It indirectly led to Japan's aggression in the Mukden Incident. In a wider view, this battle reflects the weakness behind the Nationalist government's unification. The Kuomintang was unable to resolve the internal dispute between the central government and the regional powers through political methods, and had to resort to military measures. Even though Chiang Kai-shek, who represented the central government, managed to achieve victory in the Central Plains War, the methods he used, including bribery of subordinates of the opposition, were not consistently effective. It did nothing to cement unity among the cliques in the party. The Xi'an Incident in 1936 and the collapse of the Kuomintang force in the Chinese Civil War are to an extent due the recurrence of this internal conflict.
See also
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