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The 'First United Front' of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Communist Party of China (CPC) was formed in 1924 as an alliance to end warlordism. Together, they formed the National Revolutionary Army and set out in 1926 on the Northern Expedition. The CPc joined the GMD as individuals, making use of GMD's superiority in numbers to help spread communism. The GMD on the other hand, wanted to control the communists from within. Both parties had their own aims and the Front was unsustainable. In 1927, Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek purge the Communists from the front while the Northern Expedition was still half complete. This inaugurated a civil war between the two parties which lasted until the Second United Front was formed in 1936 to prepare for the coming Second Sino-Japanese War.