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'The Constitutional Protection Movement' was a series of movements led by Sun Yat-sen to resist the Beiyang Government between 1917 to 1922, in which Sun re-established another government in Guangzhou as a result. It was known as the 'Third Revolution' in Kuomintang textbook. The constitution that it intended to protect refers to the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China.

Contents

Origin

The First Constitutional Protection Movement

Constitutional Protection War

Reorganization of the Military Government

Reference

See also

Origin

After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the newly established Republic of China followed to their Provisional Constitution and held the first parliamentary election in February 1913, then convened the congress for the first time in April 8. The Kuomintang won majority of the seats, and Song Jiaoren was designated to form the cabinet. He was assassinated by Yuan Shikai shortly after however, and the Kuomintang called for the Second Revolution as a result. Yuan Shikai repressed the resistance with force in the end, forcing Sun Yat-sen and other leaders of Kuomintang to flee abroad to Japan.
Yuan Shikai dissolved the parliament as well as abolishing the Provisional Constitution. On December 1915, Cai E and others launched the National Protection War against Yuan Shikai and achieved success. Yuan Shikai was forced to abdicate and died on June 6, 1916.
After the death of Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong succeeded him as the president. Duan Qirui was appointed as the new prime minister, and the old parliament was restored. However, Li and Duan had an major disagreement shortly after on whether or not to declare war on Germany. Duan insisted on joining the war while Li and the parliament were conservative on the matter. Li Yuanhong removed Duan from the office after and called for national military support. Manchu general Zhang Xun took the opportunity and entered Peking with force. He then dissolved the parliament and attempted to restore Puyi and the Qing Dynasty on July 1, which is known as the Manchu Restoration. The restoration was repressed by Duan Qirui five days later, and Li resigned from presidency and was succeeded by Feng Guozhang. Duan re-established the new government and organized the new senate along with Liang Qichao.

The First Constitutional Protection Movement

On July 1917, Sun Yat-sen arrived in Guangzhou from Shanghai, and telegramed the original members of parliament in Peking to come to Guangzhou and re-established a new government. The Naval Minister Cheng Biguang conducted nine ships to support Sun Yat-sen and arrived Guangzhou on July 22.
On August 25, around 100 original members of parliament convened a conference in Guangzhou and passed the resolution on establishing a military government in Guangzhou to protect the Provisional Constitution. The military government will consist a generalissimo and three marshal to exercise the administrative rights of the Republic of China.
On September 1, 91 members in the Guangzhou parliament voted, and 84 of them voted Sun Yat-sen as the generalissimo; Then they selected Tang Jiyao, Lu Rongting as marshal, Wu Tingfang as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tang Shaoyi as the Minister of Finance (did not come in), Cheng Biguang as the Naval Minister and Hu Hanmin as the Minister of Communications. Sun Yat-sen incepted on September 10, and appointed Li Liejun as the Chief of Staffs, Li Fulin as the Commander of the Guards, Xu Chongzhi as staff officer and Chen Jiongming as the Commander of the First Army.

Constitutional Protection War

After the establishment of the Guangzhou Military Government, the north and the south of China were in confrontation. Among the supporters of Guangzhou Government, the militants in Guangxi and Yunnan were superior in strength. Hunan's Tan Yanxi, Zhao Tihuan and Cheng Chieng also supported the Constitutional Protection Movement. With the support of Lu Rongting and the Guangxi Army, the Constitutional Protection Army defeated Duan Qirui's assault in November. Duan resigned as the prime minister as a result, leaving the post to Feng Guozhang. The north and the south
were in temporal armistice.
Pressed by the Zhili and the Anhui clique, Feng Guozhang ordered Cao Kun to make war again on Hunan province in January and defeated the Constitutional Protection Army in April. However, after capturing Hunan, the Zhili commander Wu Peifu halted the attack on Guangdong and Guangxi province and had an peaceful settlement with the south in July. Xu Shichang also advocated peace negotiation when he incepted as the president in October, which led to the end of the war.

Reorganization of the Military Government

Besides the Navy, Generalissimo Guards and twenty battalions of Guangdong Army, Sun Yat-sen lacked strong support of military strength in the Guangzhou Military Government, and sometimes his order was only effective in the Generalissmo Government. Sun had thoughts of mutiny at once, hoping to overthrow the Guangxi influence, and had personally ordered the Navy to fire at the Guangxi headquarter at one time. Near the end of 1917, Lu Rongting, Tang Jiyao, Mo Rongxin and others along with Tang Shaoyi convenned a conference, and they advocated to recognize Feng Guozhang's presidency and form a united government.
During 1918, Cheng Biguang turned his position toward Guangxi clique, and he was assassinated later. The Special Parliament was controlled by the Guangxi clique, and was restructured on May 1918 in which the generalissimo was replaced by the Seven Executives. Sun Yat-sen himself resigned as the generalissimo, and left Guangzhou to Shanghai. The Guangzhou Military Government is now headed by the Cen Chunxuan, the chief executive. The first constitutional protection was now over.

Reference

★ Degang, Tang. The final 70 years of Latter Qing Dynasty: Yuan Shikai, Sun Yat-sen and the Xinhai Revolution. ISBN 957-32-3515-3

See also

★ Warlord era

★ History of the Republic of China

★ Military of the Republic of China