"Brief History of the Chinese Warlords, 1920-1937" Topic

"In China's long history the massive size of its empire both past and present creates many geographical, cultural, and chronological problems when dealing with the study of Chinese warfare in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This issue is prevalent in our Western understanding of China after the Revolution of 1911 which succeeded in the overthrow of the the Qing Empire. China's first attempt at a more republican form of government was come to be a fragile coalition of Warlords who in 1912 signed a series of treaties and alliances to form the Beiyang government in what is today Beijing, China.

Two of the smaller warlord cliques in the earliest era, Kuomintang (Nationalist dominated, but nominally a Marxist-Leninist party as well) and the independent Chinese Communist Party, later struggled for control over all of China after 1928 and beyond, only interrupted officially from 1937-September 1945 after the War with the Japanese Empire ended with its capitulation.

Throughout 1912-1932 the independent Warlord cliques were by far the most powerful entities in China with the largest and most sophisticated armies, and therefore the most political power. Some armies were as small as 3,000-5,000 men, with some as large 50,000 or more. When many of these warlords sided with the National Revolutionary Army, the military wing of the Kuomintang, there forces were as large as 600-750,000…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

In my Space 1939 campaign timeline I had Fu Manchu form a Warlord Coalition, trick Mao and Chiang Kai Chek into a meeting and assassinate them both. The Armies got better food, pay and weapons, the Flying Tigers got more planes and pilots and there was no Nan King atrocity. The Imperial Japanese were not happy…

Interesting timeline my friend.

Amicalement
Armand