North trekking

The idea of ​​a military campaign from the Guangdong base to the North, in order to unite China by armed means under the rule of the Kuomintang , belonged to Sun Yat-sen . By the spring of 1926, the power of the National Government was recognized in the southern provinces adjacent to Guangdong : Guangxi and Guizhou . Their troops entered the NRA .

In a province bordering on Guangdong from the north of Hunan, the governor, who belonged to the pro-British Chili sum , ruled. The divisional commander, General Tang Shengzhi, rebelled against him, demanding recognition of the authority of the Kuomintang National Government. In April 1926, the NRA troops were sent to help him.

The May 1926 plenum of the CEC of the Kuomintang decided to prepare for the termination of the Hong Kong-Guangzhou strike to secure the rear during the Northern Expedition (the British authorities in February 1926 once again tried to carry out a military blockade of the Guangzhou port). To guide the mass movement in support of the Northern Expedition, the Plenum established the Joint Committee of Peasants, Workers, Traders and Students. The manifesto of this committee called for social unity. The plenum led to an extraordinary strengthening of Chiang Kai-shek’s power: he was elected to several posts at once — the head of the newly established Standing Committee of the Kuomintang CEC, the Chairman of the Military Council of the National Government, the Commander-in-Chief of the NRA, the head of the organizational department and the department of military personnel.

The Central Committee of the CPC, on the advice of the Comintern, recognized the tactics of retreat and concessions of Chiang Kai-shek for the sake of the unity of the revolutionary forces and the preparation of a military campaign against the North.

In May 1926, the Third All-China Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Peasant Unions of Guangdong were convened at the initiative of the CPC in Guangzhou. Both congresses supported the government’s decision on armed struggle against militarists, welcomed the start of the Northern Expedition.

In the summer of 1926, the militarist forces were positioned as follows: Manchuria , Shandong Province and the central district of Beijing - Tianjin were controlled by the Fengtian clique , the leaders of which were Zhang Jolin and Zhang Zongchang . Central China (south-west of Zhili , Henan , eastern Shaanxi , Hubei , Hunan ) was controlled by the Chili summit headed by Wu Peifu . East China ( Jiangsu Province with Shanghai , as well as Anhui , Zhejiang , Jiangxi , Fujian ) were controlled by Marshal Sun Chuanfang , who broke away from the Chili Accident.

The forces of the militarists, against whom the NRA acted, exceeded its strength, but the forces of the militarists were divided. In addition, in the rear in the north-west they had the surviving units of the 1st National Army of Feng Yuxiang . Soviet military specialists led by V. K. Blucher actively participated in the development of a plan for combat operations and battles. The Soviet Union put the NRA large quantities of weapons and aircraft.

Support for the campaign by the widest sections of the population was already apparent in Guangdong. Thousands of workers, very many of the Hong Kong strikers went on a campaign together with the NRA as porters, porters, road builders, guides, etc. Students, workers, and peasants created sanitary detachments.

The national government proclaimed the start of the Northern Expedition on July 1, 1926, but as early as the end of May 1926, a separate regiment of the 4th Corps of the NRA under the command of communist Ye Ting entered Hunan .

By the end of August, the entire province of Hunan was cleared of troops by Wu Payfu. The NRA was rapidly moving towards one of the largest economic centers of the country - the three-heights of Wuhan . On October 10, 1926, the capture of the most fortified of these three cities, Uchan , ended with the defeat of Wu Peifu’s troops in Hubei Province .

In September 1926, the main NRA forces were sent to Jiangxi Province against the militarist Sun Chuanfang , who broke with the Wu Peifu clique and controlled the five provinces of East China. Nanchang - the center of Jiangxi Province - was occupied by troops under the command of Chiang Kai-shek in November 1926, his military headquarters settled here. By the end of 1926, Fujian Province was occupied.

The successes of the NRA Northern Expedition revived the activity of the National Army. In September 1926, Feng Yuxiang returned from the USSR to China and announced the accession of his military forces to the NRA. The Soviet Union again supported its National Armies, restoring their combat effectiveness and ensuring their performance from the north-west to join the NRA.

The successes of the NRA caused an attempt to consolidate the forces of the opposing militarist cliques, inspired by the powers. In November 1926, at a meeting of the largest militarists in Tianjin , it was decided to create a unified "army of appeasement of the state" led by Zhang Tszolin . However, the old confrontation was not overcome, and the coordination of the militarists was insufficient.

Impressed by the NRA victories, many militarists, fearing defeat, went over to her side in order to preserve their strength. The number of the NRA has increased, but its revolutionary political qualities have declined. The differences in the NRA command and the Kuomintang leadership intensified. Particularly acute was the question of the new location of the National Government ( Guangzhou , from where the Northern Expedition began, has already become a deep rear). Chiang Kai-shek insisted on transferring the residence of the government and the Kuomintang CEC to Nanchang, where his headquarters were. The left Kuomintang, especially the communists, insisted on transferring the government to Wuhan, where the guard was the regiment of the communist Ye Ting and the labor movement spread. The October 15, 1926 CEC Conference of the Kuomintang, which had taken left-wing positions, decided to call Wang Jingwei from abroad to take over his post as chairman of the National Government. This decision was aimed at weakening the influence of Chiang Kai-shek.

On January 1, 1927, Wuhan was recognized as the capital of China and the seat of the National Government. Chiang Kai-shek stayed in Nanchang. The Kuomintang leadership was alarmed by the growth of its claims to military leadership. On March 10, 1927, the III Plenum of the CEC of the Kuomintang in Hankow deprived Chiang Kai-shek of his many responsible posts in the CEC of the Kuomintang, but left the post of commander-in-chief of the NRA. Two communists were introduced into the Wuhan government, which was led by Wang Jingwei from abroad: Tan Pingshan became Minister of Agriculture, Su Zhaocheng - Minister of Labor.

The help of workers, students, the bourgeoisie of the cities occupied by the NRA came under anti-militarist and anti-imperialist slogans. The village population was outraged by the arbitrariness of local militarists in taxation and also supported the NRA.

In Wuhan, after the occupation of the city, the NRA immediately launched strikes at numerous foreign enterprises, and there were anti-foreign rallies and demonstrations. On January 4, 1927, the city masses together with the NRA fighters seized the territory of the English concession in Hankow. The territory of the English concession in Jiujiang was also liberated on January 7-8. The national government has secured from England official confirmation of the return of these concessions to China.

The attack on Shanghai , which was under the rule of the militarist Sun Chuanfang , was carried out by the NRA troops under the command of Bai Chunxi , subordinate to Chiang Kai-shek. March 21, when parts of the NRA approached Shanghai, an armed uprising was launched under the leadership of the communists. Workers attacked the militarist Sun Chuanfang's troops. On the night of March 22, 1927, Shanghai was liberated, a provisional city government headed by the communists was recognized, which recognized the authority of the Wuhan government. The NRA troops entered Shanghai on March 22, when Sun Chuanfang's troops left the city.

The day after Shanghai, March 23, Nanjing was occupied by another group of troops, Chiang Kai-shek. During the fighting, incidents occurred in the city, several foreigners were injured. On March 24, the warships of England and the United States subjected the Nanking occupied by the NRA to massive bombardment. In the port concentrated warships and other powers. On April 11, 1927, England, the USA, Japan, France and Italy sent a joint ultimatum to the headquarters of Chiang Kai-shek and the Wuhan government, demanding to punish those responsible for the incidents that occurred during the occupation of Nanjing, apologize, pay very high compensation and prohibit anti-foreign actions on the territories subject to them. . There was a threat of military intervention by the powers.

The demarche of powers was perceived by Chiang Kai-shek as a signal to curb the Communists. On April 12, 1927, on the orders of Chiang Kai-shek, anti-communist actions were carried out in Shanghai. Anti-communist actions took place in other cities of the country. On April 18, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek created in Nanking a government headed by him, whose power extended to four provinces: Jiangsu , Zhejiang , Fujian , Anhui .

In Wuhan, the cooperation of the left wing of the Kuomintang with the Communists continued. In the first days of April 1927, Wang Jingwei again headed the National Government. The territory of the Wuhan center included the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi. Hostile forces were threatening this area from all sides: the troops of the Fengtian clique from the north, the army of the Kuomintang general Li Tsishen from the south, the troops of Chiang Kai-shek from the east, the army of the Sichuan militarist Yang Sen from the east. The economic situation of the area, blocked by the enemies, deteriorated every day.

The difficulties of the Wuhan government were aggravated by the insurrections of the military commanders of the NRA, irritated by the actions of the communists, who intensified the speeches of detachments of peasant unions and workers' pickets. On May 17, 1927, the commander of the NRA division, Xia Dawin, revolted, demanding to curb the peasant unions. On May 21, 1927, the NRA regiment commander Xu Kesyan in the main city of Hunan Province Changsha disarmed the workers' pickets and expelled the Communists. The same thing was done in Nanchang by the commander of the NRA Corps, Zhu Peide.

On July 15, 1927, the CEC of the Kuomintang in Wuhan made a decision to break with the CPC, but this did not lead to the unification of the Wuhan Kuomintang group with the Nanking group, whose positions at that time strengthened. On June 20, 1927, a group called "xishan" joined the Nanking Kuomintang, which had influence in Shanghai. In the summer of 1927, the power of the Nanking government was recognized by the militarists who ruled in the provinces of Guangxi , Guangdong , Sichuan . But Wuhan remained independent. Wang Jingwei even claimed the party supremacy in the Kuomintang.

At the beginning of May 1927, Chiang Kai-shek's troops resumed the Northern Expedition. In order to prevent their advancement and the defeat of the pro-Japanese militarist Zhang Zongchan, who retreated to Shandong , Japan landed its troops in the Shandong port of Qingdao . This hampered the implementation of the Northern Expedition. On August 12, Chiang Kai-shek resigned and left for Japan.

Taking advantage of the absence of Chiang Kai-shek, the Wuhan commander-in-chief Tang Shengzhi opposed his allies from Guangxi province in the fall of 1927, but his troops were defeated, and the troops of the Kwangsi militarists occupied Wuhan. Wang Jingwei and his supporters relocated to Guangzhou.

In November 1927, Chiang Kai-shek returned from Japan to China. In December, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the NRA. In February 1928, the IV Plenum of the CEC of the Kuomintang established the National Government of China headed by Chiang Kai-shek in Nanking. Nanjing became the official capital of China.

In April 1928, the NRA resumed the Northern Expedition. In an alliance with the NRA, the National armies of Feng Yuxiang, which controlled the provinces of Henan , Shanxi , Gansu , and the army of the governor of the province of Shanxi, Yan Xishan, took part in the campaign. The NRA troops were opposed by the coalition army of the northern militarists, led by Zhang Zolin.

Under the pressure of the NRA, the militarist troops retreated to the center of Shandong Province - the city of Jinan . To prevent the defeat of the army of Zhang Zolina, Japanese troops fired at Jinan, occupied by the NRA. Thousands of Kuomintang soldiers and civilians died. At the request of Japan, the NRA was forced to leave the city of Jinan and the Tianjin-Pukou railway zone.

The troops of Yan Xishan, who occupied Beijing in June 1928 (immediately renamed Beiping) and Tianjin, advanced more successfully. The death of Zhang Zholin in June 1928 made it easier for the KMT to unite the country. His son, Zhang Xuelyang , who inherited his father’s possessions, recognized the Nanking government in December 1928. In the spring of 1929, the power of Nanking was recognized by the Dalai Lama of Tibet. .

The military unification of China under the rule of the Kuomintang meant, according to the teachings of Sun Yat-sen , the end of the “military period” of the national revolution. At the end of 1928, the CEC of the Kuomintang, according to the doctrine of Sun Yat-sen, announced the beginning of January 1, 1929 of the “period of political custody” for a period of six years. This period was to prepare the establishment in the country of constitutional government exercised by the National Assembly, elected by the people.

• Blagodatov A.V., Notes on the Chinese Revolution, 1925–1927, M., 1970.
• Cherepanov AI, The Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army of China (Notes by the Military Adviser), M., 1968
• Yuryev MF, Revolution of 1925—1927 in China, M., 1968