The Fallout from the Northern Expedition

Zhang Zuolin paid for his defeat by the Northern Expedition with his life. Japan assassinated their former Manchurian ally by detonating a bomb as his train passed. Manchuria was becoming chaotic as refugees arrived fleeing battles and famine in Shandong.

Other former warlords also died as family members of their victims took revenge.

The Nationalists suspended the Constitution and decreed that China had entered a period of tutelage when the KMT would guide China and, in theory, towards eventual democracy.

The KMT had to face multiple issues, including strong provincial and regional governors who controlled the most important land tax and who all had local armies.

Chinese spoke many different local tongues and a national speech project was pursued.

The Soong family, all of whom had studied in the USA, became close with the Nanjing government. Many became leading cabinet ministers. Meiling married Chiang Kai-shek.

But the middle sister Qingling, also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, publicly resigned from the KMT and chose exile in Moscow. While the business minded siblings appreciated Chiang's rejection of communism, Qingling thought it was subverting the principles of her late husband.

Image: "Nanjing (01)" by SqueakyMarmot is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

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