Beiyang Army

The Beiyang Army (Chinese: 北洋軍; pinyin: Běiyáng Jūn; lit. 'Northern Ocean Army'), named after Yuan Shikai, who became Beiyang Minister (北洋大臣; Běiyáng Dàchén) in 1901, was a military force established in the late Qing dynasty. Under the command of Yuan, it formed the core of the Qing government's military modernization following the First Sino-Japanese War and became the most powerful component of the New Army. The army played a major role in the 1911 Revolution against both the Qing government and Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary forces. After Yuan's death in 1916, its commanders divided into rival factions known collectively as the Beiyang warlords (北洋軍閥; Běiyáng Jūnfá), whose struggles for power ushered in the Warlord Era. The Beiyang Army originated with the Dingwu Army (定武軍; Dìnɡwǔ Jūn), established in 1894 and organized along modern lines with infantry, cavalry, artillery, and logistical branches. Initially trained at Tianjin by Hu Yufen with the assistance of German officers, it was taken over by Yuan in late 1895 and reorganized as the New Field Army (新建陸軍; Xīnjiàn Lùjūn). Together with Zhang Zhidong's Self-Strengthening Army (自強軍; Zìqiáng Jūn), it formed the basis of the New Army. Yuan's forces expanded over the years, particularly during the Boxer Rebellion and the Russo-Japanese War, and by 1911 had become China's strongest military force, serving as the Qing's central army alongside the provincial New Armies. During the 1911 Revolution, Yuan, on the strength of the Beiyang Army, negotiated the abdication of the Qing emperor and Sun Yat-sen's relinquishment of the presidency of the Republic of China. Yuan subsequently set up the Beiyang government in Beijing. Following Yuan's death, the army fragmented into competing factions, principally the Anhui, Zhili, and Fengtian cliques, which fought a series of wars for control of Northern China. Their power was largely broken by the Kuomintang's Northern...