Wu Peifu

Wu Peifu (Chinese: 吳佩孚; pinyin. Wú Pèifú ) (1874 - 1939), was one of the main characters among the lords of the war which dominated the République of China of 1916 to 1927.

Born, in the province of the Shandong in China of the east, Wu received a traditional Chinese education. It was allowed later with the military academy of Baoding (保定軍校) with Beijing and became military career. Its talents of officer were quickly recognized by his superiors and it went up in rank quickly.

Wu joined the " news armée" (新軍) (fame the Armed with Beiyang in 1902) created by the general Yuan Shikai, modernisator of the Dynasty Qing. After the fall of Qing in 1911, after Yuan became president of the République of China, and after its disastrous test car-to proclaim emperor, the political power in China was found quickly in the hands of various military authorities, inaugurating a new era of lords of the war.

After the death of Yuan in 1916, its army of Beiyang separated in several click hostile which was battled for supremacy during several years. The principal factions included/understood clicks it of Anhui of Duan Qirui (皖系 Wanxi), clicks it Fengtian of Zhang Zuolin (奉天系; in what now is called the province of the Liaoning), and clicks it of Zhili of Feng Guozhang (直系 Zhixi). Clicks of Zhili was taken in 1919 by CAD Kun, Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang. In 1920 clicks it of Anhui, which was shown to collaborate with Japan was overcome by CAD Kun. The two other groups of Zhili and Fengtian, ran up in 1922 and 1924. After the first clash, Zhang Zuolin declared its independence, followed by many military governors who controlled independently of Beijing now dominated by clicks of CAD Kun.

After CAD Kun had forced the Parliament to appoint it president in 1923, the governor of the Zhejiang, Lu Yongxiang (盧永祥), formed an alliance with Zhang Zuolin and Sun Yat-SEN and threatened to take the control of the town of Shanghai. Wu Peifu sent Sun Chuanfang, governor of the Jiangsu, to persuade Lu Yongxiang, but at the same time Zhang Zuolin attacked armed it with Zhili de Wu in north.

Wu Peifu, named the " Marshal of Jade" (玉帥) and generally recognized like the strategist most capable of his time, was to gain and by doing this put a term at the nearly independent regional authorities. Hundred thousand men fought in this battle between the army of Fengtian de Zhang and the forces of Zhili de Wu. At one key time, one of the principal allies of Wu, Feng Yuxiang, deserted the face and went on Beijing, reversing the government and proclaiming a new slightly progressive government. The military strategy of Wu Peifu was shaken and it was overcome by the armies of Zhang close to Tianjin. After the victory of clicks of Fengtian, Duan Qirui was elected Head of State and proclaimed a provisional government. Wu maintained a base in the provinces of the Hubei and the Henan in central China until its confrontation with the army of the Guomindang during the Expédition of North in 1927. With the armies of combined of Guomindang which controlled western north, Wu was obliged to withdraw itself with Zhengzhou in the province of the Henan.

In 1923, Wu broke a strike of the railroad of Hankou with Beijing in a pitiless way by sending troops to eliminate the strikers and their chiefs. The soldiers killed thirty five workmen and wounded some much more. The reputation of Wu suffered from it within the Chinese people, although it gagnit the favors of the British and American who had commercial interests in China.

After the bursting of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), Wu refused to collaborate with Japanese. In 1939, when Japanese invited it to be the chief of a shadow government in China of north, Wu agreed to be again the chief of China of north if all the Japanese soldiers on the Chinese ground withdrew themselves and returned to Japan. It withdrew public life and died under conditions that some believe suspect.

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