East Asia · Empire, war and the modern states
Anti-Kuomintang Coalition
drawn on the map 1930–1931
The Central Plains War (May–4 November 1930) was the largest of the warlord conflicts, an alliance of regional militarists against Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government. The coalition comprised Yan Xishan (Shanxi clique), Feng Yuxiang (Guominjun/Northwest Army), Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi (New Guangxi clique), and the political wing of Wang Jingwei's "reorganized" leftist KMT.
- Shown on the map
- 1930–1931
- Peak area
- 558k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Central Plains War (May–4 November 1930) was the largest of the warlord conflicts, an alliance of regional militarists against Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government. The coalition comprised Yan Xishan (Shanxi clique), Feng Yuxiang (Guominjun/Northwest Army), Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi (New Guangxi clique), and the political wing of Wang Jingwei's "reorganized" leftist KMT. They set up a rival KMT National Government in Beiping (Beijing), with Yan Xishan as its head (chairman, 9 September–4 November 1930) and Wang Jingwei as premier. Chiang fielded around 295,000 troops (1930) plus, decisively, Zhang Xueliang's 409,000-strong Northeastern Army, against an allied warlord coalition of roughly 700,000; the sides committed over 1,300,000 troops combined and suffered over 300,000 casualties combined. Chiang launched offensives from Xuzhou along the Longhai and Pinghan railways on 11 May; fierce fighting raged in Henan and Shandong (Jinan changed hands), with the Xuzhou fighting alone causing over 200,000 casualties. The decisive factor was Zhang Xueliang's Manchurian (Northeast) Army, neutral until 18 September 1930, when he declared for Chiang and marched through the Shanhai Pass, seizing Beiping and collapsing coalition morale. Yan and Feng resigned on 4 November 1930. The ruinously expensive victory consolidated Chiang's power but weakened Manchuria's defenses, indirectly facilitating Japan's Mukden Incident (1931).
Common questions
- What was Anti-Kuomintang Coalition?
- The Central Plains War (May–4 November 1930) was the largest of the warlord conflicts, an alliance of regional militarists against Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government. The coalition comprised Yan Xishan (Shanxi clique), Feng Yuxiang (Guominjun/Northwest Army), Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi (New Guangxi clique), and the political wing of Wang Jingwei's "reorganized" leftist KMT.
- When is Anti-Kuomintang Coalition shown on the map?
- The border data draws Anti-Kuomintang Coalition 1930–1931. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
- How large was Anti-Kuomintang Coalition?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Anti-Kuomintang Coalition covered about 558,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Central Plains War en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Plains_War
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See Anti-Kuomintang Coalition in its world
Open the atlas at 1931 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at 1931 →