<P> The following year , Chiang Kai - shek became the de facto leader of the Kuomintang ( KMT ) . Chiang led the Northern Expedition through China with the intention of defeating the warlords and unifying the country . Chiang received the help of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party ; however , he soon dismissed his Soviet advisors . He was convinced , not without reason , that they wanted to get rid of the KMT ( also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party ) and take over . Chiang decided to strike first and purged the Communists , killing thousands of them . At the same time , other violent conflicts took place in the south of China where the Communist Party fielded superior numbers and were massacring Nationalist supporters . These events eventually led to the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party . Chiang Kai - shek pushed the Communist Party into the interior as he sought to destroy them , and moved the Nationalist Government to Nanjing in 1927 . Leftists within the KMT still allied to the communists , lead by Wang Jingwei , had established a rival Nationalist Government in Wuhan two months earlier , but soon joined Chiang in Nanjing in August 1927 . By the following year , Chiang 's army had captured Beijing after overthrowing the Beiyang government and unified the entire nation , at least nominally , marking the beginning the Nanjing Decade . </P>
<P> The following year , Chiang Kai - shek became the de facto leader of the Kuomintang ( KMT ) . Chiang led the Northern Expedition through China with the intention of defeating the warlords and unifying the country . Chiang received the help of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party ; however , he soon dismissed his Soviet advisors . He was convinced , not without reason , that they wanted to get rid of the KMT ( also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party ) and take over . Chiang decided to strike first and purged the Communists , killing thousands of them . At the same time , other violent conflicts took place in the south of China where the Communist Party fielded superior numbers and were massacring Nationalist supporters . These events eventually led to the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party . Chiang Kai - shek pushed the Communist Party into the interior as he sought to destroy them , and moved the Nationalist Government to Nanjing in 1927 . Leftists within the KMT still allied to the communists , lead by Wang Jingwei , had established a rival Nationalist Government in Wuhan two months earlier , but soon joined Chiang in Nanjing in August 1927 . By the following year , Chiang 's army had captured Beijing after overthrowing the Beiyang government and unified the entire nation , at least nominally , marking the beginning the Nanjing Decade . </P>
who led the nationalists in the chinese civil war
who led the nationalists in the chinese civil war
Chiang Kai - shek
Chiang Kai - shek