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What is the Central Plains War? Please briefly introduce the deployment and situation of the warring parties. |
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See answer below. |
From 1928 to 1930, famine occurred in Shaanxi and Gansu in northwest China, and Henan in the Central Plains. At first, the Nanjing Nationalist Government paid attention and provided relief to the victims. In 1930, the Central Plains War broke out. As the northwest territory was the Feng Yuxiang’s turf, the Nanjing Central Government thus changed its attitude towards disaster relief as it did not want to benefit him. Meanwhile, the political situation concerned the people and therefore they dared not organise relief activities. During the war, Henan was the main battlefield. The war together with the political situation exacerbated the famine, which killed millions of people.
It was said that Chen Jitang believed in feng shui and numerology. Before opposing Chiang Kai-shek, he turned to a fortune teller and got the message that “ji bukeshi” (機不可失), literally means “the opportunity must not be missed”. Thinking that the right time had come, he decided to act. However, it turned out that the “ji” should have been interpreted as plane (“feiji”, 飛機) instead of opportunity (shiji, 時機). Since Chen’s Guangdong Army was no match for Chiang’s, the Guangdong Air Force thus became his trump card in the revolt. Therefore, when Huang Guangrui took the air force to join Chiang, Chen lost his ace and the anti-Chiang plan failed.
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What is the Central Plains War? Please briefly introduce the deployment and situation of the warring parties. |
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The Central Plains War (also known as the Chiang Kai-shek’s War against Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren) broke out from May to November 1930. The war was named because the main battlefield was in Henan and other areas located in what was known as the “Central Plains” in ancient times. During the Northern Expedition, Chiang, Feng, Yan, Li, and others served as commander-in-chief of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Army Group respectively. However, after the victory of the Northern Expedition, Chiang’s army became the “Direct Decedent”. He even pressed to demilitarise other cliques that provoked disputes. From March to June 1929, the war between Chiang and the Guangxi clique broke out. On 10 February 1930, Yan telegrammed Chiang and urged him to made comity for the good of the nation and to settle the inter-clique conflicts. Later, 45 people including Yan, Feng, and Li telegrammed jointly to call for a KMT voting to resolve disputes. The 57 generals of the former Second, Third, and Fourth Army Group urged Chiang to step down in a joint telegram. To advocate the use of military force to revolt Chiang, they recommended Yan as commander-in-chief of the Republic of China’s Army, Navy and Air Forces, and Feng and Li as deputy commanders. On 5 April, the Nationalist Government listed Yan as wanted and actively prepared for the war. The anti-Chiang camp mobilised a force of more than 600,000, while Chiang, serving as commander-in-chief, deployed a force of more than 700,000 for combat. The battle kicked off in May. To fight against Chiang, Yan and Feng attempted to seize Xuzhou (徐州), an important strategic point. Yan’s army marched to the south from Tianjin-Pukou Railway (津浦鐵路), and Feng’s army advanced eastward from Gansu-Haizhou Railway (隴海鐵路). Meanwhile, Li’s army advanced on Hunan threating Wuhan (武漢). At the beginning of the war, the anti-Chiang army obtained control in both north and south battlefields. However, Chiang’s army started to gain the upper hand in late July. On 1 September, Yan, Feng, and other commanders formed another Nationalist Government in Beiping (北平), creating a standoff with the Nanjing Nationalist Government who fought against it to be the legit regime to rule China. The Northeast warlord Zhang Xueliang, who was initially on a wait-and-see approach, once telegrammed to express his neutrality but later showed gradual support for Chiang. It was not until after he assumed the post of deputy commander-in-chief of the Nationalist Government's Army, Navy, and Air Forces on 9 October 1930 that he swiftly led his troops to advance southward through the Shanhai Pass. Since then, the anti-Chiang army gradually lost. On 4 November, Yan and Feng telegrammed to dismiss the headquarters of the navy, army and air forces. This marked the end of the seven-month-long Central Plains War, which involved more than a million forces. This civil war that claimed over 300,000 lives and 500 million military expenditure was the largest of its kind since the founding of the Republic of China. |
