Zhili–Anhui War

Zhili-Anhui War
Part of The Warlord era of Republican China
Date July 14, 1920 – July 23, 1920 Location Hebei, China Result Zhili clique victory
Belligerents
Zhili clique Fengtian clique	Anhui clique
Commanders and leaders
Wu Peifu Cao Kun Zhang Zuolin	Duan Qirui Qu Tongfeng Xu Shuzheng
Strength
50,000+	42,000
Casualties and losses
Several thousand	35,500 killed or deserted 6,500 surrendered

Zhili–Anhui War
Traditional Chinese	直皖戰爭
Simplified Chinese	直皖战争
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhíwǎn Zhànzhēng

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhíwǎn Zhànzhēng

The Zhili–Anhui War was a 1920 conflict in the Republic of China's Warlord Era between the Zhili and Anhui cliques for control of the Beiyang government.

Tensions between the two factions developed during the Constitutional Protection War of 1917. Duan Qirui, leader of the Anhui clique, favored aggressive action against the South, and after becoming premier of the state department (Guwuyuan Zongli, 国务总理) advocated a military solution. His plan was to rid southern China of rival warlords, as well as to unify the country. The Zhili clique favored compromise and negotiations, hoping to sway rival warlords to their side with financial and political support. Duan refused to acknowledge the Zhili's efforts and favored his own officers and politicians over others. After building a de facto private army using the Nishihara Loans, he used it to occupy Outer Mongolia. Feeling threatened, Manchuria's Fengtian clique allied with the Zhili clique and began courting those warlords in southwestern China who had previously been threatened by Duan's Anhui armies. Obtaining British and American backing, the Zhili and Fengtian cliques had President Xu Shichang dismiss Gen. Xu Shuzheng, the leader of the Mongolia expedition. Having publicly lost face and been undermined by a less powerful but still dangerous pair of ex-allies and hangers-on, Gen. Xu and Duan denounced the actions and prepared for war.

In November 1919 Zhili clique leader Gen. Wu Peifu met with representatives of Tang Jiyao and Lu Rongting at Hengyang, where they signed a treaty entitled "Rough Draft of the National Salvation Allied Army" (救国同盟军草约). This formed the basis of a true anti-Anhui clique alliance. In April 1920, while visiting a memorial service at Baoding for soldiers who died in Hunan, one-time presidential-candidate Cao Kun added more warlords to the anti-Anhui clique alliance, including the rulers of Hubei, Henan, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Zhili. The conflict became public as both sides began deploying for the coming war.

...
Wikipedia