Anti-Fengtian War

The Anti-Fengtian War (Fan Feng Zhan Zheng, 反奉战争) was the last major civil war within the Republic of China's northern Beiyang government prior to the Northern Expedition. It lasted from November 1925 to April 1926 and was waged by the Guominjun against the Fengtian clique and their Zhili clique allies. The war ended with the defeat of the Guominjun and the end of the provisional executive government. The war is also known as either Guominjun-Fengtian War (Guo Feng Zhan Zheng, 国奉战争), or the Third Zhili-Fengtian War (Di San Ci Zhi Feng Zhan Zheng, 第三次直奉战争).

Cause

The Second Zhili-Fengtian War led to the creation of the provisional executive government in Beijing on November 1924. An informal triumvirate was formed by Fengtian's Zhang Zuolin, the Guominjun's Feng Yuxiang, and the Anhui clique's Duan Qirui. Duan became head of state but his position was merely a figurehead as his clique was virtually destroyed during the course of the war. His small army of bodyguards operated only within the capital.

Zhang was the strongest of the three and he controlled the wealthy northeastern provinces. Feng's smaller army controlled the poor northwest. The power sharing arrangement between Zhang and Feng was destined to fail as they had very little in common. Zhang was a monarchist backed by Japan while Feng dabbled with radical politics with Soviet support. Duan did not help as he played these two against each other to increase his own power.

Throughout the summer of 1925 both Zhang and Feng began soliciting help from their former Zhili enemies. Wu Peifu, seething from Feng's betrayal during the Beijing coup, sealed an alliance with Zhang in November. This alliance will last until the defeat of both cliques in the Northern Expedition in 1928.

Course

In October, Guo Songling defected to the Guominjun and laid siege to Mukden against his former Fengtian superiors beginning on November 22. Chiang Kai-shek tried to convince Sun Chuanfang to defect to the Kuomintang because Sun was not happy about the Zhili clique's alliance since he only recently fought against the Fengtian clique. Sun, however, executed Chiang's emissaries which caused Chiang to retaliate by executing Sun's envoys.

In a stunning reversal of fortune, Guo was killed in December 24. The Guominjun began hemorrhaging from fighting the armies of Wu Peifu, Zhang Zuolin, Li Jinglin, and Zhang Zongchang. In January, Feng resigned and moved to the Soviet Union to study. Japan directly provided air and naval support which indirectly led to the March 18 Massacre by Duan's troops against protesters. Though Duan expressed his remorse, the Guominjun removed him from office the next month.

In April, the Guominjun released Cao Kun to appease the Zhili clique but Wu did not respond. Zhang Xueliang's army occupied the capital with Wu's troops arriving a little later. They sacked the city causing much chaos and leading to the collapse of much of the Beiyang government's bureaucracy from which it would never fully recover.

Guominjun troops tried to flee through Shanxi but the Shanxi clique led by Yan Xishan maintained a very strict neutrality policy and attacked any soldiers that encroached their borders. Yan, and ex-Tongmenghui member, was sympathetic with the Guominjun but he did not want draw his province into civil wars. He would side with Feng during the Northern Expedition and Central Plains War.

Aftermath

Zhang and Wu could not agree on who should lead the new government. Wu wanted to restore Cao to the presidency. They resorted to putting a series of powerless interim cabinets in office. The war had caused the Zhili clique to shift their armies northward, leaving their southern flank and industrial base thinly defended to the underestimated KMT south. This was crucial when in July 1926, the KMT launched their Northern Expedition. After a year of fighting, the Zhili clique was virtually vanquished so Zhang personally took charge of the government. Feng would later merge his Guominjun into the National Revolutionary Army.