Central Plains War
The Central Plains War (traditional Chinese: 中原大戰; simplified Chinese: 中原大战; pinyin: Zhōngyúan Dàzhàn) was a series of military campaigns in 1929 and 1930 that constituted a Chinese civil war between the Nationalist Kuomintang government in Nanjing led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and several regional military commanders and warlords who were former allies of Chiang.
After the Northern Expedition ended in 1928, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Zhang Fakui broke off relations with Chiang shortly after a demilitarization conference in 1929, and together they formed an anti-Chiang coalition to openly challenge the legitimacy of the Nanjing government. The war was the largest conflict in the Warlord Era, fought across Henan, Shandong, Anhui and other areas of the Central Plains in China, involving 300,000 soldiers from Nanjing and 700,000 soldiers from the coalition.[11]
First phase[edit]
Formation of anti-Chiang coalitions, first conflicts[edit]
Feng controlled the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan. His partial control of Shandong provided him with large amounts of revenue needed for his military; however this was greatly affected by the fact that there was a famine and rebellion in Gansu. Feng asked Chiang for this territory[21]
Hunan was controlled by the Guangxi clique (in addition to their other lands); this made the clique a threat to Chiang, who proceeded to appointed his own protege into power in Hunan. This angered the Guangxi clique, who ran Chiang's governor out of office. Chiang did not tolerate this action and prepared for war, while Feng was bribed with offers of large amounts of territory in Shandong for his neutrality. Other Northern Chinese leaders were also bribed for their neutrality so Chiang could focus entirely on the Wuhan armies.[22]
Following the demilitarization conference in 1929, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong of the Guangxi clique broke off relations with Chiang in March 1929, which effectively started the confrontation between these commanders and the Nanjing government. In May, Feng Yuxiang of the Northwest Army also clashed with Chiang. In November, Li Zongren issued a declaration to form anti-Chiang coalition along with Wang Jingwei. In December, Tang Shengzhi and Zhang Fakui announced their support of the anti-Chiang coalition. The Nanjing government responded by expelling Wang Jingwei from the party for his participation in the anti-Chiang coalition. The coalition created a new KMT government in Beijing to show their defiance of the Nanjing government. In February 1930, Yan Xishan of the Shanxi clique demanded the resignation of Chiang from the KMT, which was refused. Later in the same month, Yan assumed the leadership position in the anti-Chiang coalition, with the assistance of Feng and Li while Zhang Xueliang chose to remain "loyal" to Chiang.[23]
Allies of Chiang Kai-shek[edit]
The Nanjing government enjoyed support from the Chinese Muslims of the Gansu province in Northwest China. While the region was originally under the sphere of influence of the Northwest Army, influential Muslim leaders including Ma Tingrang, Ma Zhongying and Ma Fuxiang broke off relations with Feng Yuxiang in 1928. Forces of the Chinese Muslims remained loyal to the Nanjing government through the war, diverting forces of Feng away from the Central Plains.[24]
The Northwest Army
The Shanxi Army
The Central Army
Aftermath[edit]
The Central Plains War was the largest armed conflict in China since the Northern Expedition ended in 1928. The conflicts spread across multiple provinces in China, involving different regional commanders with combined forces of more than one million. While the Nationalist government in Nanjing came out victorious, the conflict was financially costly which had a negative influence on the subsequent Encirclement Campaigns over the Chinese Communist Party.
After the entrance of the Northeast Army into central China, the defense of Manchuria was significantly weakened, which indirectly led to Japanese aggression in the Mukden Incident. While Chiang emerged from the war having consolidated his power as the supreme leader and established himself as an accomplished military commander, the regional factions in the Kuomintang and their rivalries remained unsolved, which led to various problems later in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.[26]