Beiyang government

The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name.

Beiyang general Yuan Shikai gave Sun Yat-sen the military support he needed to overthrow the Qing dynasty and establish the Republic of China in 1912, following the 1911 Revolution. Through his control of the army, Yuan was quickly able to dominate the new Republic. Although the government and the state were nominally under civilian control through the Republic's constitution, Yuan and his generals were effectively in charge of it. After Yuan's death in 1916, the army split into various warlord factions competing for power, leading to a period of civil war called the Warlord Era. Nevertheless, the government maintained its legitimacy among the great powers, receiving diplomatic recognition, foreign loans, and access to tax and customs revenue.

Its legitimacy was seriously challenged in 1917, by Sun Yat-sen's Guangzhou-based Kuomintang (KMT) government movement. His successor Chiang Kai-shek defeated the Beiyang warlords during the Northern Expedition between 1926 and 1928, and overthrew the factions and the government, effectively unifying the country in 1928. The Kuomintang proceeded to install its nationalist government in Nanjing; China's political order became a one-party state, and the Kuomintang government subsequently received international recognition as the legitimate government of China.