An Emperor and Warlordism (1916-1931)
Yuan Shikai was among the men representing the new Nationalist Party, and held the honor of the uprising's success due to his direct command of the Qing Beiyang armies. Presumably due to a feeling of not having done enough for the rebellion, he immediately ordered the presidency from Sun's hands after taking China from the Qing.
Unable to stop him due to his military might, Sun was forced to flee as Yuan used the presidency to slaughter any opposition within the Parliament. The presidency became another dynasty under Yuan's heel, but Yuan quickly proved to not fit a leader's archetype. Suffering territorial pressure almost immediately from imperial Japan, and pressured by growing opposition from his people, Yuan abdicated the throne in 1916.
Yuan Shikai was among the men representing the new Nationalist Party, and held the honor of the uprising's success due to his direct command of the Qing Beiyang armies. Presumably due to a feeling of not having done enough for the rebellion, he immediately ordered the presidency from Sun's hands after taking China from the Qing.
Unable to stop him due to his military might, Sun was forced to flee as Yuan used the presidency to slaughter any opposition within the Parliament. The presidency became another dynasty under Yuan's heel, but Yuan quickly proved to not fit a leader's archetype. Suffering territorial pressure almost immediately from imperial Japan, and pressured by growing opposition from his people, Yuan abdicated the throne in 1916.
The former emperor soon died of kidney disease without resolving anything. With no centralized government to control the country, China broke apart in a spectacular display reminiscent of the Three Kingdoms era almost fifteen centuries earlier. Local warlords ruled portions of China, engaging in luxurious lifestyles with no care for the unity of their country. President Sun and his remaining supporters were forced to retreat to Guangdong Province, where they set plans to unify their country once more. There, Dr. Sun formed an alliance with another political party in exile, the Communists, in 1923 in the United Front. He also published his life's work "The Three Principles" a year later, in the hopes of reorganizing China under his ideals.
However, Sun ultimately did not live to see his life's work prevail, as the president finally expired in 1925 after a lengthy battle with cancer. His death lead to a brief power struggle among his comrades, among which the commander of his bodyguard and the commander-in-chief of his armies, Chiang Kai Shek, ultimately won out.
Chiang completed Sun’s militarization, and ended warlord rule in 1931 with the aid of the United Front. Despite the Communists being fondly looked upon by Dr. Sun for their view on the people's equality, Chiang saw an early danger in many Communists infiltrating the Party. Fearing that its non-nationalistic ideals would pollute the spirit of China, he turned his military attentions to the Communists. China was again in civil war, with the Communists fleeing to rural areas while he controlled the cities in the East.
Japan and World War II (1931-1945)
While Chiang fought the Communists, Japan had acted slowly upon China, conquering its land little by little. Having taken Korea in the Sino Japanese war, Japan concluded, in the words of a Japanese admiral, that "in order to conquer the world it is necessary to conquer China first, and in order to conquer China it is necessary to conquer Manchuria first."
Japan invaded China in 1931, seizing the native home of the late Qing empire from Nationalist rule and establishing the now adult Puyi as a puppet leader. With this asset taken, Japan began a campaign to conquer China, starting with the coastal urban regions to cut China off from outside Allied aid, and finishing the job by taking the deep countryside.
Chiang ignored the threat early on and continued fighting Chinese communists, up until he was forced by own men to form the second United Front (1937-1945) with said Communists. The few fronts he placed up at the time against the Japanese were left without any sort of reinforcement or even tactical retreat: they were essentially sitting ducks for the advancing Japanese army. As a direct result of his active neglect over China, mass murder and wartime attrition occurred, both for the Chinese military and his own people.
As a direct result of Chiang's neglect, two of his own generals on December 1936 kidnapped the president and, with convincing from his own wife, forced him to fight the Japanese forces. Reluctantly, Chiang established the Second United Front in January 1937 with the current leader of the Communist resistance, Mao Zedong.
Famous for his unorthodox guerilla warfare tactics, Mao had ensured the survival of the Communists during the Long March to the countryside with this tactic. Now seeing that Chiang is in the same boat as him, Mao agreed to give his expertise against Japan.
Shortly after the establishment of the Second United Front, a war atrocity occurred. This was the loss of China's capital, known as the Rape of Nanjing.
Chiang completed Sun’s militarization, and ended warlord rule in 1931 with the aid of the United Front. Despite the Communists being fondly looked upon by Dr. Sun for their view on the people's equality, Chiang saw an early danger in many Communists infiltrating the Party. Fearing that its non-nationalistic ideals would pollute the spirit of China, he turned his military attentions to the Communists. China was again in civil war, with the Communists fleeing to rural areas while he controlled the cities in the East.
Japan and World War II (1931-1945)
While Chiang fought the Communists, Japan had acted slowly upon China, conquering its land little by little. Having taken Korea in the Sino Japanese war, Japan concluded, in the words of a Japanese admiral, that "in order to conquer the world it is necessary to conquer China first, and in order to conquer China it is necessary to conquer Manchuria first."
Japan invaded China in 1931, seizing the native home of the late Qing empire from Nationalist rule and establishing the now adult Puyi as a puppet leader. With this asset taken, Japan began a campaign to conquer China, starting with the coastal urban regions to cut China off from outside Allied aid, and finishing the job by taking the deep countryside.
Chiang ignored the threat early on and continued fighting Chinese communists, up until he was forced by own men to form the second United Front (1937-1945) with said Communists. The few fronts he placed up at the time against the Japanese were left without any sort of reinforcement or even tactical retreat: they were essentially sitting ducks for the advancing Japanese army. As a direct result of his active neglect over China, mass murder and wartime attrition occurred, both for the Chinese military and his own people.
As a direct result of Chiang's neglect, two of his own generals on December 1936 kidnapped the president and, with convincing from his own wife, forced him to fight the Japanese forces. Reluctantly, Chiang established the Second United Front in January 1937 with the current leader of the Communist resistance, Mao Zedong.
Famous for his unorthodox guerilla warfare tactics, Mao had ensured the survival of the Communists during the Long March to the countryside with this tactic. Now seeing that Chiang is in the same boat as him, Mao agreed to give his expertise against Japan.
Shortly after the establishment of the Second United Front, a war atrocity occurred. This was the loss of China's capital, known as the Rape of Nanjing.
Rape of Nanjing (December 1937-January 1938)
By early December of 1937, the Japanese had made significant progress in their advances on the coast in the east. With bombings, cities such as Shanghai fell quickly to the might of the Rising Sun. The Nationalist fronts against them were crushed easily, and their pleas for help were actively ignored by Chiang, who was still occupied with the Communist resistance.
The Nationalist capital, Nanjing, was taken and over six lengthy weeks was effectively raped by the Japanese army. Despite orders suggesting only takeover, soldiers and naval officers chose instead to cripple the city entirely in the hopes of ushering a quick surrender from the stubborn leader of China.
Over six weeks, the soldiers shot, buried, and burned about four hundred thousand Chinese, the vast majority of them innocents who have never held a gun. Families were separated, with survivors never seeing their family again. Eyewitness accounts report dead bodies everywhere, clogging the Yangtze River where they attempted to escape, and blocking roads where they were subsequently crushed by passing military vehicles. Over twenty thousand women were raped by the soldiers, some of them with bamboo shoots and left to die from their sustained injuries.
The loss of a major city, combined with the massacre of so many innocents, left many citizens questioning the effectiveness of the Party during World War II. Despite this, Chiang refused to capitulate, and relocated the capital to Chongqing in the countryside, where the Japanese were unable to advance due to the rocky landscape of the region.
It should be noted that the soldiers responsible were left unpunished, and Japan refuses to acknowledge the full magnitude of the event. This still leads to tensions between China and Japan today.
By early December of 1937, the Japanese had made significant progress in their advances on the coast in the east. With bombings, cities such as Shanghai fell quickly to the might of the Rising Sun. The Nationalist fronts against them were crushed easily, and their pleas for help were actively ignored by Chiang, who was still occupied with the Communist resistance.
The Nationalist capital, Nanjing, was taken and over six lengthy weeks was effectively raped by the Japanese army. Despite orders suggesting only takeover, soldiers and naval officers chose instead to cripple the city entirely in the hopes of ushering a quick surrender from the stubborn leader of China.
Over six weeks, the soldiers shot, buried, and burned about four hundred thousand Chinese, the vast majority of them innocents who have never held a gun. Families were separated, with survivors never seeing their family again. Eyewitness accounts report dead bodies everywhere, clogging the Yangtze River where they attempted to escape, and blocking roads where they were subsequently crushed by passing military vehicles. Over twenty thousand women were raped by the soldiers, some of them with bamboo shoots and left to die from their sustained injuries.
The loss of a major city, combined with the massacre of so many innocents, left many citizens questioning the effectiveness of the Party during World War II. Despite this, Chiang refused to capitulate, and relocated the capital to Chongqing in the countryside, where the Japanese were unable to advance due to the rocky landscape of the region.
It should be noted that the soldiers responsible were left unpunished, and Japan refuses to acknowledge the full magnitude of the event. This still leads to tensions between China and Japan today.