When Yuan died in 1916, the country fragmented between local commanders of the Beiyang Army, beginning the Warlord Era defined by decentralized conflicts between rival cliques.

CCP members joined the KMT and the two parties cooperated to build a revolutionary base in Guangzhou, from which Sun planned to launch a campaign to reunify China.

Civil war then resumed, and the CCP's People's Liberation Army began to gain upper hand in 1948 over a larger and better-armed Republic of China Armed Forces due to better tactics and corruption within the ROC leadership.

The Republic of China's first president, Sun Yat-sen, chose Zhōnghuá Mínguó (中華民國; 'Chinese People's State') as the country's official Chinese name.

"[c][4] On 15 July 1916, in his welcoming speech to the Cantonese delegates in Shanghai, Sun explained why the term mínguó (民國; 'people's country') was chosen over the Japanese-derived gònghéguó (共和國).

[16] A republic was formally established on 1 January 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution, which itself began with the Wuchang uprising on 10 October 1911, successfully overthrowing the Qing dynasty and ending over two thousand years of imperial rule in China.

The communist takeover of mainland China in 1949, after the Chinese Civil War, left the ruling Kuomintang with control over only Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands.

[41] Sun Yat-sen envisioned three phases for the KMT rebuilding of China – military rule and violent reunification; political tutelage [zh]; and finally a constitutional democracy.

Hungry for raw materials and pressed by a growing population, Japan initiated the seizure of Manchuria in September 1931, and established the former emperor Puyi as head of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932.

Chinese fury against Japan was predictable, but anger was also directed against Chiang and the Nanjing government, which at the time was more preoccupied with anti-Communist extermination campaigns than with resisting the Japanese invaders.

In 1940, the Japanese set up the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime, with its capital in Nanjing, which proclaimed itself the legitimate "Republic of China" in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek's government, although its claims were significantly hampered due to its being a puppet state controlling limited amounts of territory.

The economy deteriorated, sapped by the military demands of foreign war and internal strife, by spiraling inflation, and by Nationalist profiteering, speculation, and hoarding.

[59] After the end of the war, United States Marines were used to hold Beijing and Tianjin against a possible Soviet incursion, and logistic support was given to Kuomintang forces in north and northeast China.

Although the Kuomintang had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries, and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the long war with Japan and in-fighting among various generals.

Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law in May 1949, whilst a few hundred thousand Nationalist troops and two million refugees, predominantly from the government and business community, fled from mainland China to Taiwan.

[citation needed] In February 1928, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 2nd Kuomintang National Congress, held in Nanjing, passed the Reorganization of the Nationalist Government Act.

Under the Nationalist Government were seven ministries—Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Justice, Agriculture and Mines, and Commerce, in addition to institutions such as the Supreme Court, Control Yuan, and the General Academy.

[citation needed] Before the Nationalist government was ousted from the mainland, the Republic of China had diplomatic relations with 59 countries[citation needed], including Australia, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Panama, Siam, the Soviet Union, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Holy See.

[68] It was hoped by the government that participating in the Olympic Games this could give more legitimacy to the country in the eyes of the international community and "sports could also cultivate modern citizens and a strong nation".

All males between 18 and 45 were required to register for as citizen-soldiers where they would learn how to use weapons, build fortifications, execute basic orders, conduct reconnaissance and do liaison work.

One could also get a deferment if they were civil servants, "could not recover from any disease within months", teachers, "those who were not clear of suspicion for criminal offenses" or where half the sons in a given family were active duty soldiers.

[78] The Republic of China's military initially consisted of the decentralized forces of the former Qing dynasty, with the most modern and organized being the Beiyang Army, before it split into factions that attacked each other.

[79][80] During the Second Revolution in 1913, as the president of the republic, Yuan Shikai used the Beiyang Army to defeat provincial forces opposed to him and to extend his control over north China and other provinces as far south as the Yangtze River.

Yuan was unable to completely reorganize the fragmented command structure of China's military to be more of a bureaucratic institution under the direct control of the central government.

[96] It was not until early 1944 when Chiang agreed to launch a major offensive against Japanese forces in Burma to reopen the overland supply line to China, though it was unsuccessful.

The Japanese advanced rapidly in central and southeast China, as the Chinese Army still suffered from a lack of supplies, and by the start of 1945 they captured several U.S. air bases and created a direct connection to French Indochina.

[101] When Sun Yat-sen established his constitutional protection government in Guangzhou in 1917, some of his early support came from the Chinese navy, represented by admirals Cheng Biguang and Lin Baoyi.

[113] The Nationalist Air Force had a role in the Central Plains War of 1930 by bombing cities, directing artillery, and observing warlord army defensive positions, and is credited with helping bring about a faster victory for Chiang Kai-shek's government.

[114] In September 1932, the Central Aviation School was founded with the help of an American mission led by John Jouett, and its graduates included the majority of Chinese pilot officers by 1937.

The Beiyang government in Beijing experienced constant changes in leadership, and this political instability led to stagnation in economic development until Chinese reunification in 1928 under the Kuomintang.