Chinese warlords with imperial ambitions?

Dorozhand

Banned
In the 1920s, were there any powerful people in China who had or may have had aspirations to make themselves Emperor?
 

Dorozhand

Banned
Many of the warlords were ambitious. Few to none had any ability or the resources to take control over more than their province.

I know that, what I want to find out is if there were any who would have made themselves emperor (as in yellow robes and era names) if given the hypothetical opportunity.
 
I know that, what I want to find out is if there were any who would have made themselves emperor (as in yellow robes and era names) if given the hypothetical opportunity.

A bit late to the thread as my registration had to come through.

There was one, not really a warlord, but a general and politician, Yuan Shikai who had the ambitions to create a new imperial house. He did so under the disguise of safeguarding the republic and easing the transition from the Qing rule in 1915. He was however violently opposed and many of the provinces raised up against him in the National Protection War. Shikai died however of kidney failure in 1916 giving us a definite end to his imperial ambitions. However, as his support was minuscule and shattered it is very unlikely that he would have succeeded.

The warlords often strived to control over Beijing, either through puppet presidents or directly. If one is able to consolidate enough power in the Beijing area (the imperial capital still held a high symbolic value) one could possibly maybe pose a threat to the rest of China. Zhang Zoulin of the Fengtien Clique, who was later assassinated by Japan, could possibly consolidate enough power if he succeeded in the Fengtien-Zhili war. In that war he briefly controlled Bejing put was pushed back. Zhang had the ambition to reinstate the Qing dynasty but remained neutral in a pro Qing uprising in 1917 has he though it wouldn't succeed.

A most interesting possible emperor would be the Ma Clique. This warlord Clique of Chinese msulims controlled Gansu and Qinghai and was quite powerful, however, they were extremely loyal to the government. During the revolution they supported Qing but when the emperor abdicated they swiftly changed allegiance. The whole clique was closely aligned to Kuomintang but if Kuomintang didn't get as much support as OTL the Ma Clique would be an important force in the war of cliques.

Other possibilities is the Old Guangxi clique which was instrumental in the war against Shikai but violently opposed to the KMT and their leader Sun. They were however somewhat crushed in the Guangdong–Guangxi War.

Short version, the warlord, often described as local commanders, sometimes wielded a lot of power and tried to exercise said power outside of their spheres. In the many wars of the warlord era one General might succeed in ousting the other securing control over large swathes of territory. However, the control would be weak and the situation chaotic. There were also not that many Warlord with a real imperial ambition as they, rightly, saw that goal as close to impossible to succeed in.

With the revolution China also became more and more political. It was political parties that consolidated China in the end. First KMT with many parts of the country still under warlord control but with enough power to offer fierce resistance against Japan. Later, as we know, the communist would finally secure all of China. If one warlord would to be Emperor the consolidation of power by KMT and the Communist would need to be hindered. Either the change come early, for example with Shikai (who ultimately failed) or later during the Northern Expedition or the Central Plains war, both Warlord vs. KMT wars.
 
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