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The Warlord Era (, 19161928) was a period in the history of the Republic of China when the control of the country was divided among its military cliques in the mainland regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangdong, Guangxi, Gansu, Yunnan and Xinjiang. The era lasted from the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916 until 1928 (with the conclusion of the Northern Expedition with the Northeast Flag Replacement, the beginning of the "Nanjing decade"). However, when old warlords, such as Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang, were deposed, new minor warlords persisted into the 1930s and 1940s, as the central government struggled to keep its allies under rein, a great problem for the Kuomintang (KMT) through World War II and after during the Chinese Civil War. Some of the most notable warlord wars, post-1928, including the Central Plains War, involved nearly a million soldiers. The division of the country continued after the Warlord Era until the fall of the Nationalist government at the end of the civil war. == Origins == The origins of the armies and leaders which dominated politics after 1912 lie in the military reforms of the late Qing Dynasty. These did not establish a national army but utilized regional armies and militias which lacked standardization or consistency. The most powerful army was the northern-based Beiyang Army under Yuan Shikai, which received the best in training and modern weaponry. Officers were loyal to their superiors and formed cliques based upon geography and shared academy experiences. Units were composed of men from the same province. This policy was meant to reduce dialectal miscommunication and encourage regionalistic tendencies. The Xinhai Revolution in 1911 brought widespread mutiny across southern China. Soldiers once loyal to the Qing government began to defect to revolutionary forces. Rebel troops established a provisional government in Nanjing the following year under Sun Yatsen. The revolutionaries were not strong enough to defeat the Beiyang army and continued fighting would almost certainly lead to defeat. Instead, Sun negotiated with Beiyang commander Yuan Shikai to bring an end to the Qing and reunify China. In return, Yuan would become president. Yuan refused to move to Nanjing and set the capital in Beijing, where his power base was secure. Reacting to Yuan's growing authoritarianism, the southern provinces rebelled in 1913 but were effectively crushed by Beiyang forces. Civil governors were replaced by military ones. In December 1915 Yuan made clear his intentions to become emperor of China. The southern provinces rebelled again in the National Protection War, only this time it was more serious because most Beiyang commanders abandoned Yuan. He renounced monarchy to woo back his lieutenants, but by the time he died in June 1916, China was fractured politically. The North-South split would remain during the course of the Warlord Era. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Warlord Era」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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