User:Alligator33/sandbox

Introduction: The Northern Expedition was a military campaign lead by the GMD from 1926 to 1928. Beginning in the GMD controlled province of Guangdong its main objective was to unify China under the GMD banner by ending the rule of Chinas warlords. This was accomplished by capturing each warlord’s province, overpowering its defenders and driving the warlord out. The Northern Expedition led to the end of the Beiyang government and to the Chinese federation of 1928. Once the warlords had been dealt with the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek seized their opportunity and attacked the Communists claiming many of the cities that were captured from warlord control.

Causes: The main cause of the Northern expedition was the warlords that controlled the provinces of China and the lack of unity within China that this caused as the warlord government was not fair to its people. Both the GMD and the CCP sought to unify China and formed a partnership to remove the warlords from power. Chiang Kai-shek commented on the need for the Northern Expedition by stating “To protect the welfare of the people we must overthrow all warlords and wipe out reactionary power so that we may implement the Three People’s Principles and complete the Nationalist revolution.”1 A secondary motivator for the Northern Expedition was the need of the GMD and CCP to expand over China to build a larger powerbase in order to influence more people and attempt to draw them into their party, so it was inevitable that they would march north and claim cities, even if the warlords had been dealt with.

Key aspects: The key aspects of the Northern expedition are the three prongs of attack that were used to defeat the warlords. The western prong rapidly advanced through Hunan Province to capture the Triple city of Wuhan, while the other two prongs moved through Jiangxi province to capture the city of Hangzhou.2 This resulted in the Northern Expedition forces capturing the eastern and central provinces south of the Yangzi River. After this however, the CCP and left wing GMD established a government in Wuhan and implemented radical reforms to the point where Britain forfeited its concessions in Jiujiang and Hankou while Chiang Kai-shek and the right wing of the GMD were becoming increasingly conservative. Chiang was critical of the CCP and its Russian supporters so began looking for allies from the conservative classes. Chiang Kai-shek then used a Shanghai gang, known as the Green Gang, to attack the CCP in Shanghai and take full control of the city before establishing a government in Nanjing. After Nanjing became the undisputed capital and Chiang was appointed commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army, the GMD progressed in a pincer movement and captured Beijing. This completed the Northern Expedition, leaving China seemingly united under Chiang Kai-shek and his GMD.

Outcomes: The main outcomes of the Northern Expedition were the abolition of the warlords from power in their provinces and to an extent bringing stability to the country as there were now only two main entities battling each other, instead of several violent warlords vying for control. As well as this, the Northern Expedition resulted in the Nationalists gaining an edge over the Communists by wrestling Shanghai from their grasp as well as other cities that fell to the Northern Expedition. This left the Nationalists in a very strong position as they had a large amount of control over the country, especially in urban areas, while the communists were forced to retreat to Jiujiang.

Roles of key individuals and groups: Key groups involved in the Northern Expedition are the GMD and the CCP. During the Northern Expedition, the CCP and GMD were allies under the First United Front. The role of these two groups was to remove the warlords from China and to unite the country. To do this the Northern Expeditions forces set out from Guangzhou railway station with Sun Yixian’s three principles as its philosophy. The Northern Expedition forces, while less vast than the combined strength of the warlords, was able to defeat each of the warlords individually. This was due to the rivalry between the warlords that prevented them from joining forces. Chiang Kai-shek was a key individual in the Northern Expedition as he was the leader of the Nationalist forces. After the warlords had been defeated Chiang utilised the forces that he had gathered for the expedition as well as some captured from warlord territory to deal the Communists a heavy blow and elevate his own party by seizing valuable cities of China. This resulted in the Nationalists under Chiang having control of most of the urban areas of China.

Role of revolutionary ideas in causing the event: The revolutionary ideas of the GMD in undertaking the Northern Expedition were Sun Yixian’s three principles of the people. These principles were: 1.	Nationalism. This was the core of Sun’s philosophy and linked the other principles together. Sun’s explanation for China's current weakness was an absence of patriotism among the masses, which allowed other powers to exploit the nation. 2.	Democracy. This would educate the people about the political process and enable them to become more involved in running China. Sun called for a five-power system of government, that would include the following branches: •	Executive •	Legislative •	Judicial These would be supplemented by two Chinese bodies to manage both civil service examinations and to punish governmental corruption. The people would eventually have the power to elect representatives to the national government, but because the masses still lacked education, Sun suggested a period of “political tutelage” led by the Nationalist Party.

3.	The livelihood of the people. Sun believed that cooperation to enhance the community’s quality of life, rather than the class struggle suggested by Marx, was the driving force of revolution. For Sun the true goal of revolution was not to encourage class conflict but to improve people's lives through peaceful means. Primarily, this meant using governmental resources and powers to control key methods of production and improve the nation's economy. These ideas formed the foundation of the GMD’s beliefs and what they were supposed to represent in the eyes of the common people in China. They were the basic principles that the GMD followed during the Northern Expedition to win over the populace and give themselves some legitimacy as a government party.

Importance of the Northern Expedition: Historians regard the Northern Expedition as an important event in the Chinese revolution and it has been acknowledged in many publications. The significance of the Northern Expedition is evident in the way that it resulted in the unification of the vast majority of the country under a single, legitimate government. The Northern Expedition is also seen as one of the most important events in the rise of the CCP, as the Nationalists gained control of most of the cities, forcing the Communists out into rural areas and putting them on the back foot. This, combined with other factors, eventually led to the mass Communist retreat, the Long March, which resulted in the CCP regaining its strength and reorganising itself under the leadership of Mao Zedong, who led the rise of CCP.

Conclusion: The Northern Expedition was a significant event in the course of the revolution in China. The key groups involved were the GMD and the CCP, which worked together under the First United Front to achieve their aim of ridding China of the warlords that were battling each other for control. This alliance was fragile and lasted only until the warlords were dealt with, at which point the GMD and CCP fell back into conflict. Overall, the Northern Expedition’s main achievement was giving China back to the revolutionary groups to fight over, rather than being an unstable battleground for violent warlords to battle for control