During the Beiyang warlord period, China's civil war was continuous, military disasters were rampant, and the people were displaced. In the early stage, there was the Second Revolution, the War of Defending the Country, and the War of Defending France; in the later period, there was the Zhiwan War and the Zhifeng War. According to incomplete statistics, from 1912 to 1922, there were as many as 179 relatively large civil wars. At the height of the war, the military expenditure of the warlord government in Beijing once accounted for more than 70% of its financial expenditure. The external debt expenditure of the warlord government is even more endless. From 1912 to 1926, the foreign debt borrowed by the Beiyang warlords reached 991.1 million yuan.
Warlord scuffles gave the foreign powers the opportunity to intervene. At that time, Britain, the United States, and Japan all set China as a destination for their interest expansion and supported "agents" among warlords. At the same time, warlords focus on fighting for territory and often neglect the people's livelihood work. The social situation with continuous war has also brought great disasters to ordinary people. For example, the drought in 1920-1921 directly affected 20 million people and killed 500,000 people. Overall, China's international status at that time can be said to be quite low.
However, while the Beiyang warlords were fighting each other, some of the Chinese made a name for themselves overseas, indirectly helping China to enhance its international influence. This group of Chinese was the "Chinese Legion" during the Russian Civil War. After the outbreak of World War I, Duan Qirui's government sent hundreds of thousands of "Chinese workers" to Europe. After the October Revolution, a civil war broke out in Russia, the internal order collapsed, and the Chinese troops and laborers in Russia could not return to China, so they joined the Soviet Red Army under the call of the Soviet regime. Their outstanding military achievements won the appreciation of many Soviet elders, including Lenin.
First, he was inspired to join the Russian Red Army
After the October Revolution, after repeated representations by the Beiyang government, the Soviet regime agreed to the Chinese stranded in various parts of Russia to return home in batches. However, due to the alternating influence of the European environment and the russian domestic environment, the shadow of war has always hung over the Russian land. In March 1918, British troops landed in Murmansk. From April to August, the Japanese and American troops invaded Vladivostok. At the same time, the White Guards forces opposed to Soviet power throughout Russia were established under the armed forces of the Allied powers. Russia is on the verge of a years-long civil war.
After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, most of the russian Chinese were blocked on their way back. Both the Red Army and the White Army wanted to use Chinese to fight for themselves. The commanders of the White Army were accustomed to violent coercion, while the commanders of the Red Army were good at propaganda and preaching. In mid-1918, the Commander of the Red Army, Blyukher, personally went to the Chinese labor camps to persuade these Chinese to join the Soviet side. After weighing the pros and cons, Chinese laborers from the toiling masses joined the Soviet Red Army under the leadership of Zhang Furong and others.
Second, the "Chinese Legion" threatens the Urals
During the great march from August 5 to September 12, 1918, the Chinese troops led by Zhang Furong marched 1,500 versts a month and successfully transferred from Western Siberia to the Ural-Volga region. During this period, the tenacious will and brave fighting style of the Chinese soldiers impressed Blücher. In his report to Lenin, Bryuchel particularly praised the bravery of the Chinese soldiers. On September 30, 1918, Lenin and Sverdlov personally signed an order to form the "Chinese Legion", commanded by Bryuchel and Zhang Furong. On 12 October, General Trotsky awarded the banner to Zhang Furong.
From 1918 to 1919, the Kolchak White Guards continued to attack westward. In order to prevent the Westward invasion of the White Guards, the Chinese Legion was ordered to deploy in the Ural-Volga region. After the battle began, the Chinese soldiers heroically blocked the attack of the White Guards with inferior troops and weapons. Blücher's superb command level made the Chinese legion "like a tiger". From October to November 1919, the Chinese Legion and other friendly and neighboring forces counterattacked to West Siberia and liberated the cities of Tobolsk and Omsk. The Chinese Legion was thus greatly discredited.
Third, the "Chinese Red Guard Division" is famous in the Caucasus
When Zhang Furong was racing through the Ural region, another group of Chinese this was a meritorious achievement in the Caucasus. In July 1918, Bao Qingshan established a Chinese detachment in the Vladikavkaz To defend the Soviet power in the North Caucasus. In the face of a powerful enemy army composed of White Cossacks, Foreign Intervention Army, and Kalmyk bandits, the Chinese battalion led by Bao Qingshan repeatedly thwarted the White Army's attacks with inferior troops. Because of its bravery, the unit was also praised by locals as "Lenin's Chinese Red Guard Division sent from Moscow."
For several months, the White Guards launched several onslaughts into the North Caucasus, but all of them collapsed under the stubborn resistance of the Red Army. Among them, the record of the Chinese detachment is quite remarkable. At the beginning of 1919, due to the disparity in strength, the Red Army, including the Chinese detachment, was forced to move to the Volga River Valley. Bao Qingshan is gone, but his heroic deeds are still widely circulated. Today, in the territory of the Russian Republic of North Ossetia-Alan, there is still a monument to Chinese internationalist fighters. In honor of more than 450 Chinese soldiers who died in the Vladikavkaz.
The Chinese troops are named Crimea
After the crushing of Kolchak, most of the Chinese troops were incorporated into the 51st Division under the command of Bryuchel. After 1919, the White Guards on the "Eastern Front" of Soviet Russia tended to weaken, but the White Guards and intervention forces on the "Western Front" were still strong. In late 1920, in order to cooperate with the actions of the Polish Intervention Army, Wrangel and Denikin White Guards set out from the Crimean Peninsula to attack the southern Russian steppe. The 51st Division of the Red Army was ordered to advance to the front. The soldiers of the Chinese Legion, in the case of inferior weapons and equipment, insisted on the landing field, and finally repelled the superior White Guards.
In November 1920, the White Guard offensive was weakening. Late on the night of 7 November, under the command of Blücher, the Chinese legions skillfully interspersed into the rear of the enemy line and formed a pinch attack on the enemy. At this time, the Morale of the White Guards was already low, and seeing the Chinese Legion 'divine soldiers descending from heaven's land,' it was even more unmerciful to fight. In the days that followed, the Chinese Legion and other Soviet and Russian Red Armies together crushed the White Guards, several times larger than themselves, and liberated the Crimean Peninsula. When the Red Army entered Sevastopol, although the Chinese soldiers were at the end of the line, the local people still brought out bread and flowers and warmly welcomed them.
Generally speaking, during the Soviet-Russian Civil War, the officers and men of the Chinese Legion in Russia played a mighty role in a foreign land. According to Soviet scholars, during the civil war, the troops formed by the Chinese were no less than 3 regiments, 5 battalions and 7 independent companies, with more than 60,000 people. The establishment of the Soviet Union, they also have credit.