alternatehistory.com

Apologies for the lack of updates - I went on Holiday to Hamilton last weekend. Thanks to everyone for their kind comments and feedback.

I'd have to agree with PaulQ here - any help that China gets goes a long way. Even if the Germans successfully manage to set up one aircraft plant - that is still one more than OTL (where none was set up) Plus the POD is quite far back - allowing more leeway for Axis China to industrialize and rearm.

I wouldn't be so optimistic ( or is it pessimistic) to say that an Axis China timeline ends with China being invaded!

Here it is

1920: Frustrations and Tensions

January:

Chiang is ambushed as he rides during a military exercise with his troops. Although he manages to escape this initial attempt on his life, Chen Jiongming's troops fire on him as he attempts to make his way back. He flees towards the North - a wanted man in the South.

The attacks on Chiang are attributed as "bandit-attacks" and he is presumed dead. Under severe pressure - Sun Yat-Sen agrees to make Chen Jiongming 'Extraordinary General of the Kuomintang' but refuses to name him commander of the National Revolutionary Army - assuming command of Chiang's 10,000 strong army.

February - April:

Chiang makes decides to pay a visit to his family before taking refuge in Shanghai. He travels anonymously - discarding anything which might distinguish him from the many other soldiers wandering around.

Sun continues to train the NRA and purchase arms.

May:

Chiang arrives in Shanghai after spending a few weeks in his home village. He arrives in time to see May Fourth Protests by students and labour unions which are violently suppressed by Beiyang Government troops who do not wish to see a repeat of last year's incidents.

In Guangzhou - a general strike called by the KMT Left shouts slogans such as " We Know The Truth" " Down with Warlordism" and " Free Chiang" this is brutally repressed and one of the ringleaders - Wang Jingwei flees to Shanghai.

June - December:

Chiang and Wang plot revenge in Shanghai while Sun and Chen continue their power struggles in Guangzhou. Their powers are at a balance - Chen commands the support of much of the provinces' warlords who fear an erosion of their power and industrialists who fear the KMT for their 'revolutionism' and 'leftist tendencies.'

While in Shanghai - Chiang begins to court Soong May-ling the daughter of Charlie Soong. Although May-ling is several years the junior of Chiang, May-ling falls in love with Chiang and the two begin an illicit love affair.

1921 - The Return of the General and the Unionist

January - April:

Chiang and Wang continue to plot and prepare. Contact is established with Sun who is made aware that Chiang is still alive. Plans are hatched for May 4 - A general strike will paralyze Chen Jiongming's command while NRA troops arrest and detain the major warlords. Chen Jiongming is to be executed after his surrender is recorded.

However - premature Skirmishes begin to break out between NRA troops and Warlords troops around Guangdong. Tension builds up as there is the air is thick with expectation.

May:

Guangdon explodes - many provincial centres are up in arms. The National Revolutionary Army easily brushes aside much of the 'warlord rabble.' Chiang and Wang ride back triumphantly into Guangzhou greeted by cheering trade unionists carrying red banners and NRA troops who welcome back their General.

Demonstrations break out all across China - they are savagely repressed, in some cases with the help of Japanese and other foreign troops. Noteworthy incidents such as the "Tsingdao Massacre" where Japanese marines fire onto a crowd of striking unionists. Reports of casualties vary wildly with some as low as 30 and some as high as 3000 civilian casualties. Nontheless events like these continue to discredit the Beiyang government - which is increasingly becoming seen as the tool of foreigners.

June:

The Nationalists fully assert their control over Guangdong province with the remaining pockets of resistance crushed. Warlords are given 2 choices - die or unconditionally surrender. Most decide to surrender rather than fight a hopeless resistance. Warlords are treated according to how well they behaved - if a warlord was known to be corrupt or a close associate of the Chen Jiongming regime they would be executed immediately. If a warlord was known to hold progressive views or were enemies of Chen they would be coopted. However, Chen Jiongming manages to escape to the neighbouring Guangxi province

The Warlord troops however are folded into the National Revolutionary Army which swells from a puny 10,000 to nearly over 200,000 troops. Many of these troops have no rifles, uniforms or any organization. Sun and Chiang realize that the task of Army reorganization is bigger than both can handle and make preparations to start a military academy. Both men also draw up plans for army reorganization and modernization such as the construction of a centralized arsenal in Guangzhou to facilitate the standardization of equipment. Even more ambitious are the plans to create a National Revolutionary Air Force and a National Revolutionary Navy.

July - December:

The dreaming and planning of Chiang and Sun are bought to an abrupt end by reports that Chen Jiongming, along with the Guanxi province warlords were preparing a military expedition to Guangdong. Chiang decides to prioritize training and equipment for the National Revolutionary Navy for the short-term with the original National Revolutionary Army core of 10,000 serving as a 'model' for the rest of the expanded army. In practice the original National Revolutionary Army is taken apart and broken into brigades which is attached to the new divisions.

While this does ensure that every division is at least marginally effective - it effectively dilutes a once "elite" force. A 'western expedition' is planned for January to test out the new National Revolutionary Army

Next Update: 1922 - The Western Expedition

Feedback and comments welcome as always (in fact solicited even!)