So aside from the obvious two, were there any factions that could have united China from the Warlord Era and onwards?
What is 'Guominjun'? Aha! its roots are the same as KMT/GMD except for the last syllable.Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun is the closest a warlord came to setting up an ideological basis for his power, and it was a fairly cobbled-together thing, little more than a knock-off of the KMT. Maybe with a more cohesive ideology and a more systematic platform of social reform, plus backing from the USSR, it could have superseded the KMT altogether--having Sun die earlier and preempting the Northern Expedition might do the trick, but it's a long shot.
"Army". (filler)What is 'Guominjun'? Aha! its roots are the same as KMT/GMD except for the last syllable.
If 'dang' is 'party'? what is 'jun'?
Except, I think Yuan's dream to become emperor kind of ruined it for him (and of course his sudden death).- Yuan Shikais goverment could have survived (lives longer? more foreign support?), he had the capital, was and was formaly President giving him some legitimacy.
If you're thinking about the Osprey books, there's one that gives a general overview of the 1911-1949 period but is light on details, and focuses mostly on technical stuff like weapons and uniforms. Another book on the topic has recently been published but I haven't read it yet.As a sidenote: as impressively comprehensive Wikipedia's articles on the Warlord era and various warlord factions and personalities are, are there any good books in English that do a survey of them and cover them? I'm thinking maybe one of those specialist military hobbyist texts might do so, but perhaps I'm being too optimistic about Western understanding of the subject.