War of the Cliques - Warlord Era 1922-1928 (Chinese History Documentary)

The Chinese Warlord Era was a violent period of chaos and civil war in which multiple factions (so called cliques) fought each other over supremacy in China. After the first Anhui-Zhili War the situation escalated further and more players joined this game of thrones.

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» SOURCES
Ch’en, Jerome, “The Chinese Communist Movement to 1927” in Fairbank, John K. & Twitchett, Denis (eds.) The Cambridge History of China: Volume 12, Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1, (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Dreyer, Edward L. China at War 1901-1949, (New York : Longman Publishing, 1995)

Gray, Jack, Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800s to 2000, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2002)

Jordan, Donald A, The Northern Expedition: China’s National Revolution of 1926-1928, (Honolulu, HI : University of Hawaii Press, 2019)

Jowett, Philip, Chinese Warlord Armies 1911-30, (Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2010)

Kwong Chi Man, War and Geopolitics in Interwar Manchuria: Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian Clique during the Northern Expedition, (Leiden : Brill, 2017)

McCord, Edward A. “Burn, Kill, Rape, and Rob: Military Atrocities, Warlordism, and Anti-Warlordism in Republican China” in Lary, Diana & MacKinnon, Stephen (eds.) Scars of War: The Impact of Warfare on Modern China, (Toronto : UBC Press, 2001)

McCord, Edward A. The Power of the Gun, The Emergence of Modern Chinese Warlordism, (Berkeley : University of California Press)

Nish, Ian, Japanese Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, (Wesport, CT : Praeger Publishers, 2002)

Sheridan, James E. The warlord era: politics and militarism under the Peking government, 1916-28 in Fairbank, John K. & Twitchett, Denis (eds.) The Cambridge History of China: Volume 12, Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1, (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Suleski, Ronald, Civil Government in Warlord Tradition, Modernization and Manchuria, (New York : Peter Lang Publishing, 2002)


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»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Mark Newton, Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller
Editing: Jose Gamez
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Research by: Mark Newton
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All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2022

[christerprestberg]

The Warlord Era has to be one of the most interesting and under-covered historic eras on youtube. Also, woop woop for Zhang Zongchang, clearly the best poet of the warlords ^^ .

[emperorcorning]

I really love how this channel has become more of a broad history channel for the interwar period. It's one of the most fascinating eras in recent human history, yet it gets so overshadowed by the 2 Great Wars and the Cold War.. Keep up the great work!!! :)

[FreeFallingAir]

This was very informative on a part of history that isn't covered in detail nearly enough. Really enjoyed it.

[Jon.A.Scholt]

Jesse and The Great War always do a great job on topics I don't know much about. They catch those events in history that normally slip through the cracks and don't get covered. And if they do it is never in much detail. Another enthusiastic endorsement for a video from Jesse and Co!

[_ArsNova]

Great to see a video on this. The Warlord Era has been partially covered in previous episodes, glad to see it getting something a little more comprehensive. Can't understate how crucial this period is though in modern China's development into what it eventually became, and gives a lens through which one might understand why someone like Chiang Kai-Shek was as much of a ruthless cutthroat as he was.

[taejo]

Honestly, if people research enough history of the Warlord Era, they will understand Modern China's history without much complication.

[Thearbiter]

I love the consistent attention to linguistic pronunciations. I feel it’s often a last thought when it comes to history lectures but, not on this channel. Keep up all the great work!

[patriciapalmer]

This is the 1st time I've seen more than a mention of the Warlord Era and it's essential in understanding the development of China in the modern era. Thank you !

[pacashka]

2 years have been past since I search this specific topic in these great channel. And now I have it

[hammertoolz]

Ah my youth spent studying early 20th Century Chinese history finally coming back to life. keep up the great work team

[kevx]

Man, this channel makes history class exciting!

[Dar_Skirata]

Thank you so much for this. I am fascinated by the Warlord era and how it created the political foundation for the events to come. The individual warlords themselves are incredibly interesting and I can only recommend everyone to read up on them and their shifting alliances further. There are some more factions and sub-factions that were missing here, but for a 30 minute documentary, this was just excellent.

[oldesertguy]

I'm not sure what it is about your videos, but they pack so much information into such a short space, and your photos and videos are always second to none. Keep it up.

[kevinbyrne]

Thank you for posting this video. I'm presently researching the life of a prominent Chinese man who lived during this era and this video clarified the confusing history of this period.

[xky]

The problem with these videos is that they try to draw Chinese map as small as possible. There are warloads in Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tebit, but they do not draw them.

[extrahistory]

Smedley Butler's reappearance at 21:25 actually got me hyped!

[zsaint]

The warlord era look fantastic now, but do remember all names of the warlords mentioned in the video are no better than bandit lords: most of them ruled their region with bandit-like soldiers and peasant conscripts, lake both equipments and will to fight, which is why KMT's Northern Expedition is a success.

[OmegaTrooper]

China's got so many Game of Thrones moments. Basically their entire history is Game of Thrones.

[vasilerogojan]

It's interesting to realise that in the warlord post-Qing China the former Entente countries, Italy and Japan, supported different factions in their advantages.

[arkasha]

I am really glad I came across your channel! Wonderfully composed impartial factual historical information. Thank you!