User:Kservice78/sandbox

Prelude:

After the Qing's defeat at the hands of the Japanese during the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Hung-chang noted to Ito Hirobumi "that China had been 'awakened from a sleep of a thousand years'" as a result of the war. Notably, China was soundly defeated, but Jansen, Chu, etc. continue by pointing out that "it was only when Japan had shown its ability to equal the West in killing and destruction that the West accepted it as civilized." The collapse of the Qing dynasty and subsequent destabilization led to rapid disorganization and power struggles as the nation struggled to unify.

Warlordism:

Yuan Shikai cut back on many government institutions in the beginning of 1914 by suspending parliament, followed by the provincial assemblies. His cabinet soon resigned, effectively making Yuan dictator of China. After Yuan Shikai curtailed many basic freedoms, the country quickly spiraled into chaos and entered a period of warlordism. "Warlordism did not substitute military force for the other elements of government; it merely balanced them differently. This shift in balance came partly from the disintegration of the sanctions and values of China's traditional civil government." In other words, during the warlord era, there was a characteristic shift from a state-dominated bureaucracy held by a central authority to a military-dominated culture held by many groups, with power shifting from warlord to warlord. Major Warlords:


 * 1) Chang Tso-lin "Warlord of Manchuria" became Japan's ally against Russia during the Russo-Japanese war. He had also served as the military governor of Mukden since 1911.
 * 2) Wu P'ei-fu was originally trained as a Confucian scholar, but later received Japanese military training at the Paoting military academy. He was thought by many Chinese and British observers to be a stabilizing force in Central China.
 * 3) Feng Yü-hsiang was a soldier since childhood and like Wu, was a graduate of Paoting. He was baptized by a Y.M.C.A leading in 1913; He was known as the "Christian General" as he encouraged his troops pursue Christianity. He seized Peking in 1924 and demonstrated how easily a major Chinese city could be overthrown.

A notable theme of warlordism is identified by C. Martin Wilbur. "He pointed out that a great majority of regional militarists were 'static,' that is to say that their principal aim was to secure and maintain control of a particular tract of territory."