With the sound of a gunshot from the Wuchang Revolution, the tide of the Xinhai Revolution quickly swept across the country, and the demise of the Qing Dynasty also entered the countdown. On New Year's Day 1912, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen as the provisional president, was established. It was also from this time that China entered the Republic of China period.
Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing
However, at this time, there was still a powerful Beiyang warlord in northern China, and in order to win over the Beiyang forces headed by Yuan Shikai, the Nanjing Provisional National Government exchanged Yuan Shikai's position as a presidential position in exchange for Yuan Shikai's defection, and eventually forced the Qing court to abdicate. On February 25, 1912, Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang warlords, was officially inaugurated as the provisional president of the Republic of China, and a year and a half later, on October 6, 1913, Yuan Shikai became the president and the Beiyang government was formally formed.
From 1912 to Zhang Zuolin's withdrawal from Beijing in 1928, the Beiyang government experienced a total of 16 years. In just 16 years, the Beiyang government has experienced four periods: the Yuan Shikai period, the Anhui warlord period, the direct warlord period and the Fengzhi warlord period. During these four periods, the actual leaders of the Beiyang government were Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui, Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin.
Beiyang warlords
These people are also the Beiyang warlords we are most familiar with. But in fact, due to the warlord melee, in just 16 years, the head of state of the Beiyang government was not only a few. In the chaotic world, the city head changed the banner of the great king, and the chaotic Beiyang government also experienced up to 14 heads of state, namely: Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong, Feng Guozhang, Xu Shichang, Zhou Ziqi, Gao Lingxia, Cao Kun, Huang Qi, Duan Qirui, Yan Huiqing, Gao Linghao, Du Zhaogui, Gu Weijun, and Zhang Zuolin.
Among them, most people actually have no real power, nor do they have much power and strength themselves, but because of political struggles or coincidences, they have become heads of state. Zhou Ziqi, for example, only served as president for 10 days in June 1922, and only served as prime minister.
Huang Gao's situation was completely consistent with Zhou Ziqi's situation, and he was only in temporary government for 20 days. The same situation was also true of Yan Huiqing, Du Zhaogui, Gao Lingxia, Gao Lingxia, and Gu Weijun, all of whom served as presidents in other positions. Moreover, they have neither military power nor forces to rely on and trust, and in the Republic of China, where guns are the king of grass, their presidential position is no different from that of puppets, and the warlords who really hold military power will not listen at all.
Gu Weijun
The situation was slightly better for Li Yuanhong, Feng Guozhang and Xu Shichang. We all know that Li Yuanhong was not from the Beiyang warlord background, and he had nothing to do with the Beiyang Army at first. Li Yuanhong was the first person to win the Battle of china, he was first forced to become the leader of the Wuchang Uprising, then half-pushed and half-elected, became the governor of the Hubei military government, and after the establishment of the Republic of China, he successively served as the provisional national government of Nanjing, vice president, and vice president and president of the Beiyang government. Of course, due to the lack of roots within the Beiyang warlords, although Li Yuanhong served as vice president and president twice, he had no real power.
Although Feng Guozhang was the leader of the warlords directly under his line, when he entered Beijing to become the acting president, he was not able to grasp the actual power of the Beiyang government, and the real real power was in the hands of Prime Minister Duan Qirui, and a fierce struggle broke out between the two people. However, the struggle between the two people also ended in Feng Guozhang's defeat.
Duan Qirui
Xu Shichang was president for the longest time, but because of his civilian background, although he had a high status among the Beiyang warlords, he did not have an armed force loyal to him. Therefore, during the five-year-long presidential term, Xu Shichang had very little real power.
The beiyang government really had real power in these people: Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui, Cao Kun, and Zhang Zuolin. Naturally, Yuan Shikai needless to say, as a Beiyang warlord and the founder of the Beiyang government, Yuan Shikai also became the most powerful of the successive presidents of the Beiyang government. Unfortunately, due to the misjudgment of the situation and the excessive ambition, Yuan Shikai died tragically after the failure of the claim to be emperor.
Cao Kun was the leader of the warlords directly under the three major warlords of Beiyang, and although Cao Kun himself did not have much military talent, he was good at using people and discovered Wu Peifu. As a result, Cao Kun became the head of the Beiyang government, which was not very powerful. Of course, Cao Kun, who has no lower limit on how to do things, ended up in disrepute because of bribery.
Yuan Shikai
Duan Qirui was the most influential person in the early stage of the Beiyang government and the person who had mastered the Beiyang government for the longest time. Although he has never held the presidency, Duan Qirui, who has been the prime minister for more than 4 years, has actually held the power of the Beiyang government. Including China's participation in World War 1, it was led and implemented by Duan Qirui.
Not to mention the famous northeastern king Zhang Zuolin, when Zhang Zuolin defeated the warlords of the direct lineage headed by Wu Peifu in the Second Zhifeng War, the Fengzhi army drank the Yangtze River and became the ruler of most of China. Naturally, the Beiyang government was therefore under the rule of Zhang Zuolin.
In 1927, Zhang Zuolin became the Grand Marshal of the Navy and Army of the Beiyang Government, becoming the last ruler of the Beiyang Government. However, Zhang Zuolin did not take long, and only a year later, due to the second Northern Expedition of the four new Warlords of the Kuomintang, Zhang Zuolin was defeated and killed by the Japanese on the way to Guanwai. The Beiyang government also came to an end.