Origins
The Qing Dynasty did not have a national army but utilized regional armies and militias which lacked standardization or consistency. The most powerful army was the northern-based Beiyang Army under Yuan Shikai which received the best in training and modern weaponry. Officers were loyal to their superiors and formed cliques based upon geography and shared academy experiences. Units were composed of men from the same province. This policy was meant to reduce dialectal miscommunication but encouraged regionalist tendencies.
The Xinhai Revolution in 1911 brought widespread mutiny across southern China. Soldiers once loyal to the Qing government began to defect to revolutionary forces. Rebel troops established a provisional government in Nanjing the following year under Sun Yatsen. The revolutionaries were not strong enough to defeat the Beiyang army and continued fighting would almost certainly lead to defeat. Instead, Sun negotiated with the Beiyang commander, Yuan Shikai, to bring an end to the Qing and reunify China. In return, Yuan would become president. Yuan refused to move to Nanjing and set the capital in Beijing where his power base was secure.
Reacting to Yuan's growing authoritarianism, the southern provinces rebelled in 1913 but were effectively crushed by Beiyang forces. Civil governors were replaced by military ones. In December 1915, Yuan made clear his intentions to become emperor of China. The southern provinces rebelled again in the National Protection War only this time it was more serious because most Beiyang commanders abandoned Yuan. He renounced monarchy to woo back his lieutenants but by the time he died in June 1916, China was fractured politically. The North-South split would remain during the course of the Warlord Era.
Read more about this topic: Warlord Era
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