Whampoa Military Academy
The army officer academy of the Chinese Nationalist Party ( Chinese 中國國民黨陸軍軍官學校 / 中国国民党陆军军官学校 , Pinyin Zhōngguó Guómíndǎng lujun Junguan Xuexiao ), commonly known as Whampoa Military Academy ( 黃埔軍校 / 黄埔军校 , Huangpu Junxiao ) was a military academy in the Republic China that produced leading commanders, many of whom participated in the wars in 20th century China , including the Northern Expedition , the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War .
The military academy was officially opened by the Kuomintang (KMT) on June 16, 1924 . The first lesson took place on May 1st, 1924. The opening ceremony was held on the island of Chengzhou, which lies off the coast of the canton district of Huangpu (old: Whampoa). The first President of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen , gave a speech on the occasion. a. Introduced the text of the new national anthem of the Republic of China .
Chiang Kai-shek was appointed to its head , and, in 1926, Zhou Enlai as chairman of the political committee. In 1927, after the break between the KMT and the CCP ( Shanghai massacre ), the two faced each other in prominent places in the warring camps.
founding
After the death of Yuan Shikai, China split into several states ruled by local warlords. In 1917 and 1920, Sun Yat-sen tried to create a base for a northern expedition in his native Guangdong in order to unite China according to the three principles of the people . However, the government structures he set up were unable to build a sufficient military counterweight against the local warlords. Sun's calls to the Western powers to support him with money and arms went unheard.
It was obvious to enter into an alliance with the likewise young Soviet Union , which was still weak and internationally isolated after the First World War and the Russian Civil War . In 1921, in Guangxi , Sun met with Henk Sneevliet (pseudonym Maring), a representative of the Comintern , who suggested an alliance. He proposed the creation of a military academy and the training of the National Revolutionary Armed Forces , which Sun's ideas met and was wholeheartedly endorsed by him.
Li Dazhao and Lin Boqu, on behalf of the CCP, discussed with Sun and his party, the KMT, the next steps to create this academy. The first national congress of the Kuomintang in 1924 confirmed the alliance with the Soviet Union and the CCP as pointing the way for the KMT. This ultimately led to the decision to establish the planned military academy. A preparatory committee has been convened for this. The money necessary for construction and maintenance in 1924 and 1925 was provided by the Soviet side.
Organization, training, students
Initially, the academy only had one department that gave the cadets basic training. The main objective of the academy was the preparation of infantry units, but special classes for artillery, engineering (pioneer), communication, logistics and machine gun units were also offered. A department for political commissars was added later.
The academy gathered the revolutionary military talents of the time. Sun assumed the post of honorary chairman of the academy. Sun's promising protégé Chiang Kai-shek was named the academy's first director. Liao Zhongkai , a famous KMT leftist and Sun's finance minister, was sent to the academy to represent his party. Zhou Enlai , Hu Hanmin, and Wang Jingwei were among the political department instructors. He Yingqin and Ye Jianying had already worked as military instructors .
The Chinese side was only able to run a modern military academy through foreign aid. The Chinese government signed a treaty with the Soviet Union for this purpose . In 1925 around 1,000 Soviet citizens worked as instructors at the academy and determined the academy's curriculum. Among them was the future Marshal of the Soviet Union, Vasily Blücher , who fought in the Soviet-Chinese border war in 1929 against the National Revolutionary Army he had trained .
Around 10,000 cadets had completed their training at the academy by 1927. Former officers of the White Army who switched to the side of the Red Army after 1917 also conveyed the experience they had gained during the Russian Revolution in various subjects . Among them z. BI Vasilevich (Janovsky), N. Korneev, M. Nefedov, F. Kotov (Katyushin), P. Lunev, V. Akimov.
The first two groups of students instructed by the Academy formed the core of the first two regiments of the National Revolutionary Army. They received support from the Soviet military advisor V. A. Stepanov. These two groups comprised 500 officers, the third group 800, and the fourth group already 2000 officers. Graduates included well-known commanders such as Lin Biao , Xu Xiangqian , Zuo Quan and Chen Geng on the communist side, and Chen Cheng , Du Yuming , Hu Zongnan and Xue Yue on the Kuomintang side. For them, the war against the renegade local warlord Chen Jiongming became their first baptism of fire. They later demonstrated their courage and skills at the Guangdong Province Association. They also made a significant contribution to the northern expedition.
In 1928 the military academy was relocated to the new capital Nanjing and renamed the Central Military Academy of China . In 1936 around 32% of the active officers in the KMT army were graduates of the academy now located in Nanjing. Before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, there was a significant excess of applicants. In 1935 only 7% of the applicants were accepted into the academy. The formal admission criterion was completion of secondary school . With the beginning of the war and the heavy defeats, the willingness to take up the officer career decreased. As a result, in 1937 applicants with incomplete secondary education were also accepted. In 1940, 87% of all applicants were accepted into the academy.
influence
The Whampoa Military Academy played a prominent role in Chinese history. Even more than other international military academies, it has shaped the history of their country. On the one hand, as a military university, it trained the commanders for the coming armed conflicts in which the young Republic of China had to assert itself; on the other hand, many of its graduates and teachers later held key positions in the newly formed government structures. Whampoa was the place where many future Chinese leaders met, became politically oriented and were able to earn their first laurels in the subsequent campaigns. The Whampoa group was the basis of Chiang Kai-shek's exercise of power in government and party.
Even when the CCP established its first People's Liberation Army after the Nanchang Uprising in 1927 , most of its commanders were from Whampoa. For the next two decades, the CCP trained its army in Whampoa-style training. The Academy's motto 'Comradeship' (literally: 'Fraternity, Dexterity, Sincerity') was proclaimed by Sun Yat-sen during the opening ceremony.
Ironically, during the Chinese Civil War, many of the graduates found themselves commanders in the rival KMT and CCP camps. They fought for different convictions and ideals, although they had studied and lived together at the academy like brothers in arms.
The academy also had a significant impact on the history of other Asian countries. The fourth group of students were not only Chinese but also students from other Asian countries. Including u. a. 30 Koreans, some of whom grew up in China, but some of whom had also actively participated in the national liberation movement in Korea from 1917 to 1926 and who wanted to continue armed struggle after completing their training. Another large group came from Vietnam. It was led by the exiled Ho Chi Minh who would later lead the Communist Party of Vietnam and the liberation struggle in his country.
Location
The original Whampoa Military Academy existed from 1924 to 1926; over 7,000 students enrolled during these six semesters. The academy's buildings were previously part of the Guangdong Navy and Army Academy. After Chiang Kai-shek's break with the CCP during the northern expedition, the academy was relocated to the newly determined capital Nanjing in 1928 after defeating the local warlords . During the Japanese invasion, the academy was relocated again, this time to Chengdu .
The buildings at the first site in Huangpu were destroyed or severely damaged in a Japanese air raid in 1938. After the founding of the PR China, they were rebuilt and have been a listed building since 1988 . There is also a military training camp for young people here.
After the communist victory on the mainland and the establishment of the People's Republic of China , the KMT withdrew to Taiwan , where the Academy reopened in 1950 in Fengshan ( Kaohsiung City ) as the Chinese Military Academy (now the ROC Military Academy ).
literature
- Thomas Weyrauch: China's neglected republic. 100 years in the shadow of world history. Volume 1: 1911-1949 . Longtai, Giessen (ie) Heuchelheim 2009, ISBN 978-3-938946-14-5 .
References
- History of china
- Republic of China (1912–1949)
- This article contains translated text of the English-language Wikipedia article Whampoa Military Academy (as of March 17, 2008), which is subject to the GNU Free Documentation License .
Web links
- The ROC Military Academy Official Website , Taiwan (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Raymond L. Garthoff: Sino-Soviet Military Relations. Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1966, p. 22.
- ↑ Xiaobing Li: Whampoa Military Academy (1924-1928) in Xiaobing Li: China at War - An Encyclopedia , Santa Barbara, 2012, pp. 488-490
- ↑ a b Chang Jui-te: The National Army from Whampoa to 1949 in David A. Graff, Robert Higham (ed.): A Military History of China. Lexington, 2012, pp. 196f
- ↑ Chang Jui-Te: The Nationalist Army on the Eve of the War. in Mark Peattie, Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven (Eds.): The Battle for China - Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 - 1945. Stanford, 2011, p. 101
Coordinates: 23 ° 5 ′ 22.5 ″ N , 113 ° 25 ′ 13 ″ E