The “Warlord Officers”: Anguojun Officers during the Northern Expedition and beyond, 1890-1949

This paper tries to offer new insights into the officers of the Chinese warlord armies during the early Republican Period. Specifically, it looks at the mid-ranking officers (regimental to corps level, as well as staff officers) from the Anguojun (National Pacification Army) that had resisted the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition (1925-1928) and their careers until 1949. These officers were seen by the contemporary and subsequent observers from China and aboard as nothing more than mercenary soldiers who were motivated mainly by self-interest, ambition, and personal connections. The topic of Chinese "warlords" has been explored by scholars such as Diana Lary, Ch'i Hsi-sheng and Arthur Waldron, who focused on issues such as the warlord politics, power structure of the warlord cliques, weapons and organizations of the warlord armies, as well as the ideologies (or the lack of) of the warlords. While there were numerous studies on the major warlords such as Zhang Zuolin, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, Wu Peifu and the Guangxi Clique, little attention has been paid to the mid-ranking officers of the warlord armies, who were responsible for the running and maintenance of those armies. Using biographical and statistical as well as archival sources about the officers who served in the Anguojun (1925-1928), this paper looks at this often-overlooked group and challenges the stereotype of the warlord officer by discussing their origin and education, experience during the Northern Expedition, and subsequent career until 1949.