Northern Expedition

In China, the Northern Expedition generally refers to moving troops from the south to the north to fight against northern forces. In modern China, revolutionary struggles have often been carried out from the south to the north, as seen in the Taiping Rebellion and the Xinhai Revolution, but the term usually refers to the Northern Expedition during the National Revolution of the 1920s. This Northern Expedition began in July 1926, but the historical reasons for its implementation date back to the political situation following the Xinhai Revolution.

During the Xinhai Revolution, revolutionaries succeeded in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty (establishing the Republic of China) by compromising with the northern powers, but were unable to prevent the dictatorship of the warlords, and even after the Third Revolution prevented Yuan Shikai from establishing the imperial rule, warlords continued to occupy various areas, resulting in repeated civil wars and conflicts. In September 1919, Sun Yat-sen and others formed a military government in Guangzhou and began the struggle to overthrow the warlords, but without military power of their own, they had no choice but to rely on the southern warlords, and were used in the power struggles between the warlords, failing to achieve their goal. Having witnessed the May Fourth Movement and recognized the great power of the awakened people, Sun Yat-sen renamed the Chinese Revolutionary Party to the Kuomintang, and in early 1924, influenced by Comintern, reorganized the Kuomintang into a party based on the people, setting out three major policies: "Alliance with the Soviet Union, Pro-Communism, and Support for the Workers and Peasants." He also sought to create an army befitting a revolutionary party, and in September of that year announced a Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords. However, Sun Yat-sen passed away without achieving his goal, and the task of national revolution was passed on to his successor.

In July 1926, Chiang Kai-shek became commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army and launched the Northern Expedition. Supported by armed workers and peasants, the revolutionary army advanced north, occupying Wuhan and Nanjing, and approaching Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek, who had been in a state of turmoil for some time, finally succumbed to the demands of the great powers and, on April 12, 1927, staged an anti-Communist coup in Shanghai, massacring many workers and peasants. Thus, the National Revolution was thwarted, but Chiang Kai-shek resumed the Northern Expedition in 1928. Together with Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and other warlords who had already joined the Kuomintang, he expelled Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin from Beijing, completing the Northern Expedition in June of the same year. Chiang succeeded in wiping out all opposition except for the Communist Party and bringing the warlords under his control, but the Northern Expedition was carried out through compromise with the warlords, and Chiang himself became a dictatorial new warlord, lacking the support of the people, and was different from the Northern Expedition advocated by Sun Yat-sen.

[Akio Ito]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国では一般的に南方から北方へ軍隊を動かして、北方勢力と戦うことを北伐という。近代中国では、太平天国や辛亥(しんがい)革命にみられるように、革新的な闘争が南から北へ向かって進められることが多かったが、普通にはとくに1920年代の国民革命期の北伐をさす。この北伐は1926年7月に始まるが、それが行われた歴史的要因は、辛亥革命後の政治情勢にさかのぼる。

　辛亥革命で、革命派は北方勢力との妥協によって清(しん)朝打倒（民国樹立）に成功したが、軍閥政権の独裁を阻むことができず、第三革命で袁世凱(えんせいがい)の帝政を阻止したのちも、軍閥が各地に割拠して内戦や抗争を繰り返した。1919年9月、孫文らは広州で軍政府を組織し、軍閥打倒の闘争を開始したが、自ら軍事力をもたないために南方軍閥に依存せざるをえず、軍閥間の勢力争いに利用され、目的を果たせなかった。五・四運動を目撃して、覚醒(かくせい)した民衆の大きな力を認識した孫文は、中華革命党を国民党に改め、さらに1924年初め、コミンテルンの影響を受けながら、国民党を民衆に基盤を置く政党に改組し、「連ソ、容共、労農援助」の三大政策を掲げるとともに、革命党にふさわしい軍隊の創設を図り、この年の9月に軍閥打倒のための北伐を宣言した。しかし、孫文はその志を遂げずに世を去り、国民革命の課題は後継者に受け継がれた。

　1926年7月、蒋介石(しょうかいせき)は国民革命軍総司令となって北伐を開始。革命軍は、武装した労働者、農民に支援されながら北上し、武漢、南京(ナンキン)を占領して上海(シャンハイ)に迫った。以前から動揺していた蒋介石(しょうかいせき)は列強の要求に屈し、27年4月12日、上海で反共クーデターを強行、多数の労働者、農民などを虐殺した。こうして国民革命は挫折(ざせつ)したが、蒋介石は28年北伐を再開、すでに国民党に入党した閻錫山(えんしゃくざん)、馮玉祥(ふうぎょくしょう)ら軍閥とともに、奉天軍閥張作霖(ちょうさくりん)を北京(ペキン)から追放して、同年6月北伐を完了した。蒋は共産党を除く反対勢力を一掃し、いちおう軍閥勢力を支配下に置くことに成功したが、この北伐は軍閥との妥協によって行われ、蒋自身が独裁的な新軍閥と化して民衆の支持を欠き、孫文が提唱した北伐とは異質のものとなった。

［伊東昭雄］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例