3.98 Fall and Rise of China: Invasion of Outer Mongolia & First Anhui/Zhili War

05/06/24 • 33 min

Age of Conquest: A Kings and Generals Podcast

Last time we spoke about Manchu Restoration of Zhang Xun. After the death of Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui maneuvered to maintain control amidst the political chaos. After being outed from Premiership for trying to drag China into WW1, General Zhang Xun suddenly marched upon Beijing seizing the capital. Zhang Xun then proclaimed the Qing Dynasty restored with Emperor Puyi back on the throne, shocking the entire nation. Li Yuanhong freaked out, ran for his life and begged Duan Qirui to come back and save the republic. Ironically Duan was already in the process of marching upon the capital, so with a smile he went along with everything making it look like he was a hero. After taking back power, Duan resumed his premiership, but made sure to get rid of any threat to his authority. However, Duan's authoritarian rule and neglect of certain officers led to opposition from figures like Feng Guozhang, who formed the Zhili Clique.

#98 The Invasion of Outer Mongolia & First Anhui/Zhili War

Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.

During the Xinhai Revolution many provinces and regions declared independence, one of them was Outer Mongolia. In 1910, the Qing Dynasty had appointed the Mongol, Sando to be viceroy over Mongolia, with his base being in the capital city of Urga. Just a month after his arrival conflicts emerged, prompting Sando to ask Jebstundamba Khutuktu, the spiritual leader of the Mongolians to help out but he refused and this led to a campaign to have Sando removed. More conflicts followed and by spring of 1911, prominent Mongolian nobles, such as Prince Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren persuaded Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to form a meeting of the nobility to discuss declaring independence. The meeting resulted in a deadlock. 18 nobles wishing to declare independence took matters into their own hands pressuring Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to send a secret delegation to Russia for help. Of course at this time Russia sought Outer Mongolia as a buffer state. The Mongols knew this and offered economic concessions if the Russians helped arm them and brought troops over. Russia did not want to add Outer Mongolia to the empire however, so she offered diplomatic support rather than military support. The Russian minister to Beijing informed the Qing the Mongols had sent a delegation and this prompted the Qing to order Sando to investigate. Yet while all of this was going on, the Wuchang Uprising had sprung up and soon rebellion would hit the entire nation.

When the Mongols received news of what was happening to China, they simply joined in and declared independence. By December 1st a provisional government of Khalkha was set up under the theocratic rule of Jebtsundamba Khutuktu who became the Bodg Khaan over the new Bogd Khanate. Fast forward to 1915, the new Republic of China and the Bogd Khanate reached an agreement that Outer Mongolia could be autonomous under Chinese suzerainty, a protectorate basically. Then came the Russian Revolution and with it, the Russian Civil War. This resulted in a rather bizarre movement springing up along the Siberian/Mongolian border. Grigory Semyonov a White movement member in Transbaikal with Japanese backing, took quite an interest in Mongolia. Semyonov spoke Mongolian and Buryat fluently, he was also a soldier who fought in WW1 and then during the civil war. He led an anti-soviet rebellion, but lost after a few months and was forced to flee to Harbin. He moved to Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and from there setup a base to launch raids into siberia to help the white movement. By the summer of 1918 he managed to captured Chita, setting it up as his own capital as he declared a Great Mongol State. Semyonov fancied unifying the Oirat Mongol lands, parts of Xinjiang, Transbaikal, Inner and Outer Mongolia, Tannu Uriankai, Kobdo Hulunbe’er and even Tibet to form a new Mongolian state.

The situation caused a divide amongst the leadership in Outer Mongolia. Some favored their current protectorate relationship with China and wanted to end the Semyonov threat. Others were dissatisfied with the status quo and saw it as a great opportunity. The Chinese high commissioner in Mongolia, Chen Yi was soon delivered word from some of the Mongolian n...

#98 The Invasion of Outer Mongolia & First Anhui/Zhili War

Previous Episode

3.97 Fall and Rise of China: Manchu Restoration of the Pigtail General

Last time we spoke about the Southern Warlords. Yuan Shikai's abuse of power prompted declarations of independence from several southern regions, leading to the Second Revolution of 1913. Despite initial successes, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army ultimately crushed the uprisings. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, after various setbacks and political maneuvers, founded the Chinese Revolutionary Party and later resurrected the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-Shek emerged as a significant figure within the KMT, navigating through alliances and conflicts. Meanwhile the formation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) paralleled these events, driven by figures like Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, and later, Mao Zedong. Concurrently, various regional warlord cliques, including the Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Hunan cliques, vied for power, often aligning with or against larger political entities like the KMT or the CCP. We have met the warlords now its time to tell their story.

#97 The Manchu Restoration of the Pigtail General

Now where to begin, you sort of have to speak about someone we already have spoken to death about, the father of the warlords, Yuan Shikai. He “helped” with quotation marks usher in the republic of china and had a very heavy hand creating the New Army. He was a man of the 19th century, he had served in the First-Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895, then during the Boxer Rebellion. If you remember, back during the Boxer Rebellion, when Empress Dowager Cixi began frantically calling for an alliance with the Boxers to fight off the foreigners, Yuan Shikai like most governors at the time, put his head down. As the foreigners marched from Tientsin to Beijing, Yuan Shikai spent his time strengthening his position as Viceroy of Shandong. During this time he also received the Viceroy of Zhili and Commissioner for North China Trade. He had very lucrative posts and he used the money to set up military colleges. He hired foreign instructors, procured modern armaments and managed to create a professionally trained military. When the Xinhai revolution broke out, Yuan Shikai was made commander-in-chief and he brought his Beiyang Army to quell the rebels at Wuchang. Yet Yuan Shikai was not a moron and could see where the tides were turning, so he began a plot to take control of the new emerging republic. During his tenure, better said dictatorship, he strengthened his personal rule and suppressed any who could threaten him. Now we have already covered most of his story, during the last year of his life, Yuan Shikai increasingly began relying on the support of his military commanders in the capital and in various provinces. Many of these commanders betrayed him, the first one was General Cai E, the emerging warlord of Yunnan. On January 1st of 1916, Cai E declared independence for Yunnan and indeed Sichuan province thus threatening Yuan Shikai’s rule over central China. After this Guangxi and Guangdong declared independence. As Yuan Shikai’s subordinates began to betray him one by one, the most significant man amongst them would turn out to be Duan Qirui.

Duan Qirui was a very talented young officer in command of the artillery corps of Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang army. He distinguished himself during the Boxer Rebellion, helping suppress the Boxers, then in 1911 he was sent against the Wuhan rebels. In 1912 as peace talks were being held between Nanjing and Beijing, Duan was an envoy for Beijing and here he personally declared he was in favor of Emperor Puyi abdicating. This earned him an appointment as Minister for the Army in the northern republican government headed by Yuan Shikai. He soon earned himself governorship over Hubei province. Yuan Shikai increasingly began to isolate himself while in power and he often turned to Duan to help rally support. In April of 1916 Duan was appointed premier over the Beijing government. This was the first real taste of power for Duan, and although he would be quite authoritarian, he was no lover of public office.

He had buddhist inclinations, and enjoyed the quiet life. Thus he delegated much of his authority to his subordinates and usually stood by their decisions. One of his primary interests was trai...

Next Episode

3.99 Fall and Rise of China: First Guangdong-Guangxi War

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Outer Mongolia and the First Anhui-Zhili War. During the Xinhai Revolution, Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing Dynasty. Conflict arose between Mongolian nobles and Chinese authorities, leading to the formation of a provisional government under Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. Then the Russian civil war led to Russian encroachment of both red and white forces. Russian influence grew, particularly through Grigory Semyonov's attempt to establish a pan-Mongolian state. Duan Qirui seized the opportunity to invade Mongolia under the guise it was to thwart Bolshevism. While he did this to save face, it actually resulted in further conflict, this time with the Fengtian Clique. Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin combined their cliques to face Duan Qirui winning a very unexpected victory over the Anhui Clique. Duan Qirui resigned from all his posts in disgrace and now the Anhui Clique was a shadow of its former self.

#99 The First Guangdong-Guangxi War

We just covered the first major war in the north, the first Anhui-Zhili War. Out of all the books and even the very few youtube videos I have seen trying to cover China’s Warlord Era, typically they do First Anhui-Zhili War, then follow this up with the first Zhili-Fengtian war, second zhili-fengtian war, rarely the anti-fengtian war then suddenly everything jumps south into the Northern Expedition. The reality of China’s Warlord era however, is that there really is not chronological series of events. For those statician’s out there, its more like a horrifying ANOVA study, if you get the reference, we both share a certain pain haha. Multiple military wars and political wars were raging across China and they all affected other peoples and events, causing this nightmare of incoherency. For this series I am going to try my best to do it in a chronological order, and stating that we are jumping south today.

Back to Yuan Shikai, in 1915 when he was planning to proclaim himself Emperor Walrus over a new dynasty, as we saw multiple provinces declared independence, some even actively rebelled. One of these provinces was Guangxi where Viceroy Lu Rongting declared an open rebellion against Yuan Shikai. Lu Rongting had been appointed governor over Guangxi after the second revolution. Yet after Cai E and Tang Jiyao unleashed the National Protection War, Lu immediately bandwagoned. Some historians suggest Lu Rongting did this because he felt Yuan Shikai was overlooking him and actively preventing him from expanding his sphere of influence into Guangdong. After the death of Yuan Shikai, the new president, Li Yuanhong appointed Lu Rongting as the governor of Guangdong, but this certainly did not sit well with Long Jiguang. Long Jiguang was the current governor of Guangdong and a supporter of Duan Qirui and the Anhui Clique. He was secretly working inline with the Anhui Clique, obeying the Beiyang government, undermining the National Protection movement in the south. When his colleagues such as Liang Qichao, Wang Chonghui and Tang Shaoyi found out they were the ones who asked president Li Yuanghong to get rid of him. Long Jiguang stated he was unwilling to resign his post, and this prompted Lu Rongting to dispatch Mo Rongxin, Ma Ji and Tan Haoming to lead a Guangxi based army to invade Guangdong to get rid of its pesky rebellious governor, or I guess better said anti-rebellious governor.

Now rewinding a bit, when Zhang Xun forced Li Yuanhong to dissolve parliament, Guangdong and Guangxi both declared independence, I think for the 4th time? Hard to keep track of how many times southern provinces declare independence to be honest. When Zhang Xun restored the Manchu monarchy, this prompted Dr Sun Yat-Sen to sail south from Shanghai to Guangzhou to start a rebellion movement, because Mr. Sun is gunna do Mr. Sun stuff. Dr Sun Yat-Sen planned to rely on the power of southwestern provinces to rebel against this new tyrannical monarchy. Then in a matter of days, Zhang Xun’s great restoration failed and Duan Qirui became the de facto leader over Beijing with his Anhui Clique dominating the scene in north china. Dr Sun Yat-Sen had planned for a politi...