Great Northern Expeditions (WOIOCG)

Northern Expedition Part of the Warlod Era and Interwar Period
Date 9 July 1926 – 29 December 1928 (2 years and 173 days) Location Southern to northern China Result North: - Beiyang, Japanese and Russian victory South - NRA victory
Belligerents
National Revolutionary Army	Beiyang government Supported by Japan Russia
Commanders and leaders
Chiang Kai-shek Feng Yuxiang Li Zongren Bai Chongxi He Yingqin Yan Xishan Zhang Fakui Li Jishen Tan Yankai Cheng Qian Deng Yanda	Zhang Zuolin † Zhang Xueliang Zhang Zongchang Yang Yuting Wu Peifu Sun Chuanfang Chu Yupu

The Northern Expedition (Chinese: 北方行動, Běifāng Xíngdòng) also known as the First Chinese Civil War (Chinese: 第一次國共內戰, Dì Yī Cì Guó Gòng Nèizhàn) was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China, which had become fragmented in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1911. The expedition was led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and was divided into two phases. The first phase ended in a 1927 political split between two factions of the KMT: the right-leaning Nanjing faction, led by Chiang, and the left-leaning faction in Wuhan, led by Wang Jingwei. The split was partially motivated by Chiang's Shanghai Massacre of Communists within the KMT, which marked the end of the First United Front. In an effort to mend this schism, Chiang Kai-shek stepped down as the commander of the NRA in August 1927, and went into exile in Japan.

The second phase of the Expedition began in January 1928, when Chiang resumed command. By April 1928, the nationalist forces had advanced to the Yellow River. With the assistance of allied warlords, including Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, nationalist forces lost a series of battles against the Japanese and Russian-supported Beiyang Army. As they approached Beijing, Zhang Zuolin, leader of the Manchuria-based Fengtian clique, was forced to flee, and was assassinated shortly thereafter by the Japanese. His son, Zhang Xueliang, took over as the leader of the Fengtian clique.

The failure of the military expedition led to a "two governments" in China, a monarchist one in Beijing, and a republicanist one in Nanjing. The failure of the expedition also heralded the last vestiges of communism.

The various northern warlords in China formed the North Chinese Confederation thereafterwards, which would later coalesce to form the Empire of China. The North Chinese Confederation would side with the Empire of Japan during the Second World War and in the post-war negotiations, signed a series of deals with the Allies, in which they would not be prone to the post-war reparations if they switched their allegiance.