Northern Expedition

Northern Expedition, military campaign launched by Chiang Kai-shek in 1926 against the warlords in northern China, with the aim of unifying the country under the Kuomintang. The campaign began in July, when the National Revolutionary Army, under Chiang's command, began its march into central China. Supplied with Soviet matériel and immeasurably aided by Communist cadres, who mobilized peasants and workers, Chiang succeeded in gaining control of most of central China by March 1927. At that time, however, fearing they were becoming too powerful, Chiang split with the Communists and ordered their elimination. Thus delayed while he consolidated his position, the Northern Expedition was completed with the capture of Beijing in 1928. The Communists, scattered by Chiang's forces, later regrouped in Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Province, from where they started their Long March in 1934.