Beiyang government

The Beiyang government (北洋政府, pinyin beiyang zhengfu) or warlord government collectively refers to several military regimes that ruled from Beijing from 1912 to 1928. It was internationally recognized as the legitimate government of the Republic of China. The name comes from the Beiyang Army which dominated its politics with the rise of Yuan Shikai. Though Yuan's death fractured the army into competing factions, the government was always under the control of Beiyang generals. Overall, it was extremely corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical. Most of the revenue was spent on the military forces of the faction in power. The brightest spot was its foreign ministry which had a reknowned diplomatic corps with figures such as Wellington Koo. Because the generals required their skills, the foreign ministry was given substantial independence.

Domestically, its legitimacy was challenged by Sun Yat-sen's Guangzhou based government beginning in 1917. Sun's successor, Chiang Kai-shek, moved the capital to Nanjing in 1927. After destroying the Beiyang government in 1928, international recognition was given to the Nanjing based regime.