List of warlords and military cliques in the Warlord Era



The Warlord Era is the common term that refers to the time period of China beginning from 1916 to the mid-1930s, when the country was divided by various military cliques. Followed by the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916, and nominally ended in 1928 at the conclusion of the Northern Expedition with the Northeast Flag Replacement, beginning the "Nanjing decade". However, the division continued to exist into the 1930s, and remained until the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

The warlords and military cliques of the Warlord Era are generally divided into the Northern Faction and the Southern Faction. The following is a list of cliques within each faction, and the dominant warlords within that clique.

Northern Faction
The cliques in the Northern Faction are evolved from the Beiyang system. Most of them were generals under Yuan Shikai. After the death of Yuan, they separated and formed cliques in their own sphere of influence.

Anhui clique

 * Anhui is the name of a province in southern China.
 * The Anhui Clique was so named because many of its most influential members were from Anhui, including founder Duan Qirui.
 * It could be considered a legacy of Anhui native Li Hongzhang's influence on the Beiyang army.
 * The clique was removed from power after the Zhili-Anhui War and slowly faded from prominence

Zhili clique

 * Zhili was the province surrounding Beijing, most of its territory is now in the province of Hebei.
 * The Zhili clique was formed by officers disgruntled with the Anhui clique, they rallied around Feng Guozhang.
 * The clique took power after the Zhili-Anhui War but lost it after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War.
 * It was largely wiped out during the Northern Expedition.

Fengtian clique

 * Fengtian is the former name of Liaoning province, and was the political center of Manchuria.
 * The Fengtian clique controlled most of Manchuria up to Shanhaiguan and had an uneasy relationship with Japan.
 * It took power in Beijing after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War but could not stop the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition
 * Was driven from Manchuria after the Mukden Incident and merged with the Kuomintang.

Shanxi clique

 * Formed in the aftermath of the Xinhai Revolution, the Shanxi clique was limited to Shanxi province only
 * Although affiliated with the Anhui clique, Yan Xishan remained neutral until the Northern Expedition
 * Most territory was lost to Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War

Ma clique
All Ma Clique Generals were Kuomintang members

Southern Faction
The military cliques in the Southern Faction are generally regional revolutionary leaders that took over after the fall of Qing Dynasty in Xinhai Revolution.

Yunnan clique
The Yunnan Military Government was established on October 30, 1911, with Cai E elected as the military governor. This marked the beginning of the "Yunnan clique".

Old Guangxi clique
Guangxi province announced its independence on November 6, 1911. Originally, the revolutionaries supported the Qing Governor to remain in position. However, he later left the province, and Lu Rongting succeeded his position.

New Guangxi clique
By 1924, the Old Guangxi clique was no longer effective, and was replaced by the New Guangxi clique.

Guangdong
Guangdong was independent on November 8. The Guangdong Army was in the early 1920s mostly dominated by Chen Jiongming. In the 1930s, Chen Jitang was chairman of the government.

Sichuan clique
During the period from 1927–1938, Sichuan was in the hands of five warlords. No warlord had enough power to take on all the others at once, so many small battles occurred, pitting one warlord against another.