Beiyang Warlord Fragmentation

After Yuan Shikai died in 1916, the Beiyang warlords lost their single leader and split into several cliques. The Anhui clique, headed by Duan Qirui (so called because Duan was from Anhui), controlled the Beijing government and relied on Japanese support. The Zhili clique, headed by Feng Guozhang, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu (so called because Feng was from Zhili), controlled Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei and Zhili and relied on British and American support. The Fengtian clique, headed by Zhang Zuolin, controlled the three northeastern provinces and relied on Japan. In the south there were also regional warlords such as the Yunnan and Guangxi cliques. Each warlord kept his army as his own power base and held his region, and under foreign manipulation they fought each other for the central government and for territory. From 1917 Duan Qirui, in office, took large Japanese loans in the name of joining the war, the “Nishihara Loans”, to build up his own power. The Zhili–Anhui War broke out in 1920; the Anhui clique lost, and the Zhili and Fengtian cliques jointly controlled the Beijing government. Zhili–Fengtian wars broke out again in 1922 and 1924, and power in Beijing changed hands among the cliques several times, with presidents and cabinets replaced frequently. Under warlord rule politics was dark; to expand their armies the warlords levied heavy taxes, issued paper money recklessly and pressed men into service, and together with constant war this seriously damaged the economy and left the people in extreme hardship. The resulting anger also pushed progressive Chinese to seek a new path to national salvation. The Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army, begun in 1926, dealt the warlords a heavy blow, and their rule ended in 1928.