Show Notes
Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) wanted to shrink the Chinese armies following the Northern Expedition. However, the warlords wouldn't agree without a fight. The result was the War of the Central Plains when Chiang defeated the warlords who had helped him win the Northern Expedition. One by one and then as a group they resisted his efforts to assert Nanjing's control over the provincial and regional armies.
Thanks to the classic Chinese Empty Fortress Strategy, the Nationalists were able to deter Li Zongren from taking the underdefended Wuhan. They then got between his columns and interrupted his supply lines. This allowed the KMT to win the southern campaign and to move troops north to then push Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang back.
Over 1 million soldiers fought in the war and the casualties were about 300,000 dead, injured or captured. Chiang Kai-shek was able to overcome a three front war and emerge dominant, better able to turn his attention from Warlords to the Communists and to Japan.
Image: "File:Central Plains War.png" by SY is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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