Central Plains War

The Central Plains War (traditional Chinese: 中原大戰; simplified Chinese: 中原大战; pinyin: Zhōngyúan Dàzhàn) was a series of military campaigns in 1929 and 1930 that constituted a Chinese civil war between the Nationalist Kuomintang government in Nanjing led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and several regional military commanders and warlords who were former allies of Chiang.

Central Plains War
Part of the Warlord Era

Map showing the province of Henan and two definitions of the Central Plain (中原) or Zhōngyuán
DateMarch 1929 – November 1930
  • 1st main phase: March – November 1929
  • Autumn War: September 1929 – summer 1930
  • 2nd main phase: May – November 1930
Location
Central, Eastern, and Southern China
Result

Nationalist government victory

  • Resignation of Yan and Feng
  • Resumption, then end, of the Warlord Era
Belligerents
Nationalist government of China
Material support:
 Germany
 Czechoslovakia
 Japan		 Warlord coalitions of Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren
Minor factions:
Zhang Fakui's army
Tang Shengzhi's army
Commanders and leaders
Chiang Kai-shek
Han Fuqu
Liu Zhi
Hu Zongnan
Chen Cheng
Tang Enbo
Ma Hongkui
Ma Bufang
Max Bauer
Zhang Xueliang (from September 1930)		 Yan Xishan
Feng Yuxiang
Li Zongren
Bai Chongxi
Fu Zuoyi
Zhang Fakui
Tang Shengzhi
Units involved

National Revolutionary Army

  • Chiang loyalist armies
    • "Basic Army"
  • Allied warlord armies

Warlord coalitions

  • Guominjun
  • New Guangxi clique
    • "Protect the Party, Save the Country Army"
  • Shanxi Army
  • "Ironsides"
Strength
Chiang:
240,000+ (1929)
295,000 (1930)
Allied warlords:
Hundreds of thousands
Northeastern Army:
409,000 (1930)		 c. 650,000 (1929)
c. 700,000 (1930)
Casualties and losses
30,000 killed, 60,000 wounded (Nationalist gov. claim)
150,000 (modern estimate)		 150,000 (Nationalist claim)
High civilian casualties

After the Northern Expedition ended in 1928, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Zhang Fakui broke off relations with Chiang shortly after a demilitarization conference in 1929, and together they formed an anti-Chiang coalition to openly challenge the legitimacy of the Nanjing government. The war was the largest conflict in the Warlord Era, fought across Henan, Shandong, Anhui and other areas of the Central Plains in China, involving 300,000 soldiers from Nanjing and 700,000 soldiers from the coalition.

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