Born in Zhejiang, Chiang received a military education in China and Japan and joined Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui revolutionary organization in 1908. After the 1911 Revolution, he was a founding member of the KMT, becoming one of Sun's closest lieutenants and head of the Whampoa Military Academy. After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang became commander-in-chief of the NRA, and led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, which nominally reunified China under a Nationalist government in Nanjing. During the campaign, the KMT–CCP alliance broke down in 1927 and Chiang massacred the communists in Shanghai, triggering the Chinese Civil War.
Born in Zhejiang, Chiang received a military education in China and Japan and joined Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui revolutionary organization in 1908 After the 1911 Revolution, he was a founding member of the KMT, becoming one of Sun's closest lieutenants and head of the Whampoa Military Academy. After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang became commander-in-chief of the NRA, and led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928 which nominally reunified China under a Nationalist government in Nanjing. During the campaign, the KMT–CCP alliance broke down in 1927 and Chiang massacred the communists in Shanghai triggering the Chinese Civil War.