We’ve talked before about things that were happening in Africa during the First World
War, about South America, events in North America, Australia, and the Middle East, and
today I’m going to look further east - to China.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War special episode about what was happening in
China during World War One.
The 20 years before the war saw some big changes in China.
Humiliating defeats against the Japanese in 1895 and the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and the
failure of the Self-Strengthening Movement showed that the Qing dynasty, after over two
centuries of rule, was near to collapse. That collapse came with the Hsin-Hai (Xinhai) Revolution
in 1911 that ended millennia of imperial rule and established the Republic of China.
However, the 6-year old emperor retained his title and was treated like a foreign monarch
and many, even most government officials and military leaders remained in office under
the new Republic, and there was still strong imperial sentiment among the elite. Power
soon centralized around Yuan Shikai and his gang of military commanders and politicians,
who would become known as the “Beiyang Warlords.” He was the only strongman left on the imperial
side after the revolution, and knowing that he couldn’t suppress revolutionary sentiment
he negotiated with the revolutionaries and eventually Sun Yat-Sen, the revolutionary
leader and first Provisional President, abdicated in favor of Yuan, who was sworn in as Second
Provisional President March 10, 1912. Provisional President Yuan, however, did not share democratic
ideals and his presidency soon became an autocracy. After the 1913 Assembly elections the leader
of Yuan’s opposition was assassinated, Yuan dropped the “provisional” from his title,
The National Assembly was forcibly dissolved, and in 1914 Yuan replaced the new constitution
with a compact that basically gave him unlimited executive power. He was still unsatisfied,
though, and made plans to become a new Emperor of China.
And at this time in Europe, the war broke out.
Now, China declared neutrality on August 6, 1914, but there were many Chinese politicians
who believed that by participating in the war they could boost Chinese prestige in the
global community, but they had other stuff to deal with right away. Japan took advantage
of the Western Powers being distracted by the war to expand its influence in China,
and after the Battle of Tsing-Tao, which happened shortly after the war began, when China demanded
that the Allies remove all troops from Chinese soil, Japan refused.
In January 1915, Japan sent 21 demands to Yuan that would extend Japanese control over
China, and in exchange for submission Japan would support Yuan’s plans for becoming
Emperor. They negotiated throughout the spring and by May Yuan had accepted most of the demands.
When this went public, though, it was met with anti-Yuan and anti-Japanese protests
and a boycott of Japanese goods. Under British and American pressure, Japan dropped its harshest
demands. In November 1915 Britain, Russia, and France urged China to join them in the
war, but Yuan declined, though for months he had been negotiating in secret to send
a Chinese labor force to Europe. In December, a special National Representative Assembly
met and unanimously voted to restore the Imperial throne with Yuan on it and the new Chinese
Empire would come into being January 1, 1916.
Despite Yuan’s best efforts to manipulate public opinion, the nation was against imperial
restoration, the Beiyang warlords dissolved, and Japan began to favor the Republicans after
seeing popular opinion so strongly against Yuan. On December 25th, 1915 Yunnan Province
even declared its independence, which launched the National Protection War, and Yuan would
abdicate the throne March 22nd. His reign as emperor lasted 83 days. He would die just
months later in June.
The end of the restoration farce led to more chaos in China and Yuan’s death created
a big power vacuum.
The former Beiyang Warlords broke up into several cliques; in central China it was two
main factions, the Anhui and the Zhili, in the northeast and Manchuria they combined
with local warlords to form the Fengtian Clique, and most of the non-Beiyang military leaders
formed their own cliques across the country and the Warlord Era began.
The President was the weak and armyless Li Yuan-Hung, but the leaders of the Anhui and
Zhili cliques were Vice President and Head of the State Council, so a power struggle
broke out and the war, which had been largely ignored in general, became a hot issue.
China had pretty much been pro-Allies even while neutral, since they had more imperial
interest and influence than the Central Powers and now Liyang Shiyi, former minister of railways
during imperial times, was successful in selling Chinese workers to France and Britain, both
of whom experienced manpower shortages by this stage of the war, and the first contingent
of what would become known as the Chinese Labor Corps set sail for Europe in July 1916
under the pretext of being a non-government funded commercial enterprise. In all, around
140,000 Chinese worked for the French and British by the end of the war. These men were
tasked with work supporting front-line troops; unloading ships, repairing roads, building
dugouts, even digging trenches and working in armament factories. In many cases, because
of the prejudice of the day, they were treated very poorly and many became ill from the strange
climate and unusual diet. They did not take part in combat and between ten and twenty
thousand of them died during the course of the war, from shelling, landmines, illness,
but mostly from the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918.
Now, the US broke off diplomatic relations with Germany February 3, 1917 and called for
other neutral nations, like China, to do so as well.
This China did on March 14th, but would China actively join the war? The Anhui pushed for
war, the Zhili urged restraint, and Japanese involvement and the February Russian revolution
further complicated the situation. Tensions rose everywhere, there were mobs in the street
and by May the prospect of another revolution loomed large. At this time, President Li made
the unfortunate decision to call Zhang Xun to Beijing as a mediator. Zhang, a warlord,
was the leader of the 5,000 strong Pigtail Army and was a secret Qing loyalist, so he
marched in with his army and put the child emperor back on the throne... for 12 days
until he was defeated by the Anhui Republican army and its leader Duan Qirui.
Zhang had dissolved the Congress, Li refused to return to his post as President, so Duan
had temporary control of the central government, and so, on August 14th 1917, China declared
war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. The situation got more complicated soon after because of
the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The new Soviet Union alienated its allies by pursuing
a separate peace with the Central Powers and leaving the war, and Japan offered a military
alliance with China to prevent any possible Soviet threats. On May 16, 1918 The Sino-Japanese
Army Agreement of Joint Defense Against Enemy was signed. After that, Japan began supporting
Duan, now head of the War Participation office, with equipment and funds to create a new elite
army and the Chinese government allowed Japan to expand its military presence in China,
especially in Manchuria. Duan did set up that army and they were loyal to him and the Anhui-
he was a warlord- but that didn’t happen until 1919, after the Great War was over.
If you’re wondering, that army was eventually destroyed in the Anhui-Zhili War of 1920.
Are you thoroughly confused by now? Well, you should be because it was an amazingly
complicated situation that I’ve only scratched the surface of, but here’s something for
you to take away with you: the biggest effect of World War One on China was perhaps not
political or military, but social. The May 4th Movement, comprising mainly young students
began in May 1919 as a popular protest against the treatment of China under the Treaty of
Versailles. This Movement is often regarded as a significant intellectual turning point
for the nation and is credited with having a very strong effect on the birth of the Chinese
Communist party. And let’s not forget to 140.000 Chinese were pretty much directly
involved with the war as the Chinese Labour Corps on the Western Front.
If you want to find out more about a fascinating story that took place in the Asian theatre
of WW1, click here for our special episode about the SMS Emden and her incredible Voyage.
Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next week.