The Northeastern Army, also known as the Fengtian Army (see terminology), was a Chinese army that existed from 1911 to 1937. It was created by General Zhang Zuolin and his "Fengtian Clique", who controlled Northeast China (aka Manchuria) during China's Warlord Era. The Northeastern Army participated in many of the Warlord Era's conflicts and by the mid-1920s had become the dominant force in north China. However, the Kuomintang defeated the Northeastern Army and Zhang's allies during the Northern Expedition. In 1928, Zhang Zuolin was assassinated and succeeded by his son Zhang Xueliang. Xueliang pledged loyalty to the Kuomintang, bringing almost all of China under the same national government for the first time since 1917.
After Chinese reunification, the Northeastern Army became part of the National Revolutionary Army and was officially rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force". Nonetheless, its real loyalty was still to Zhang Xueliang and not the central government. Zhang used his command of the army to exercise considerable political influence during the tumultuous early years of the Nanjing Decade. However, the army was forced to abandon its home base in 1931 when the Japanese launched a full-scale invasion of Manchuria. Defeated and politically discredited, Zhang was (briefly) removed from command after the army was unable to prevent further Japanese annexations of Chinese territory. In 1935, the army was reassigned to the Gansu-Ningxia border in an attempt to encircle the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s base there. Both Zhang and his soldiers resented fighting fellow Chinese while Manchuria was under occupation. They negotiated a covert ceasefire with the CCP and hoped to convince Chiang Kai-shek to endorse a united front against Japan. After Chiang refused, the Northeastern Army kidnapped him and forced him to negotiate with the Communists. Although Chiang eventually agreed to end the civil war and work with the Communists against Japan, Zhang was placed under house arrest and the Northeastern Army was divided and reassigned to other commands.
Terminology
Because of the semi-official nature of armies during the Warlord Era, the Northeastern Army was known by a variety of names at different points its history. Zhang Zuolin's first significant military unit, the 27th Division, was based in Fengtian Province and therefore called the "Fengtian Army" (). As he gained command of more divisions based in other Northeastern provinces, "Fengtian Army" continued to be used to refer just to those forces stationed in Fengtian, but also became a synecdoche for all of Zhang's troops. Even observers at the time noticed that this was imprecise:
As General He Zhuguo pointed out, the “Fengtian Army” (Fengjun) should be named the “Northeast Army” (dongbeijun) because it was centrally controlled by Zhang Zuolin and his staff; it was called the Fengtian Army only because the people were accustomed to call it the Fengtian Army.
Nonetheless, many modern scholars use "Fengtian Army" and "Northeast/Northeastern Army" interchangeably for the period before 1928. After 1928, the army was incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army and rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force" (; see Early Nanjing Decade). From that point on, English sources almost exclusively use some variant of "Northeastern Army".
History
Background
The Northeastern Army had its roots in bandit forces organized by Zhang Zuolin in Manchuria around the turn of the twentieth century. At that time, the poverty of Manchuria encouraged many young men (known as Honghuzi or red-beards) to resort to banditry in order to feed themselves and their families. The declining Qing Dynasty lacked the resources to keep the peace and its sovereignty was challenged by Russian and Japanese imperialism. Qing soldiers had a reputation for petty tyranny and were often no more popular than bandits. Local authorities would even attempt to co-opt successful bandits: in 1903, Zhang and his few hundred followers were made the official garrison of Xinmin. Nonetheless, they remained more loyal to their commander than to the state, and when the Russo-Japanese War temporarily destroyed any semblance of local Qing authority, they fought as mercenaries for both sides.