What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing Dynasty collapsed, and the Beiyang warlords also became the only legitimate government in China at that time, they inherited the Legacy of the Qing Dynasty, the 16 years of the Beiyang warlords ruled, China at that time can be said to be a mess, in addition to the central government, there were a series of separatist regimes, but it is strange that China at that time has always remained unified, and the great powers have not attacked China again, why is this? I think that the main reasons for this are internal and external, but external factors are the main ones.
Intrinsic factors are sufficient, but not necessary
From 1900 to 1911, although the authority of the Qing government was basically gone at that time, it did not mean that the power at that time had been dispersed, in fact, these 10 years were the 10 years of the Qing government's re-establishment of authority, when the local governor's control over the march had been stripped away and became the unified management of the War Department, and the local financial power was also the unified management of the household department. Although the Qing government collapsed in 1911, the order of the Qing government did not disappear until after the Second Zhifeng War in 1926.
Why do we say so, after the Xinhai Revolution, the relationship between the successive leaders of the Beiyang government and the army can be seen, Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui and others have never regarded themselves as soldiers, and later Cao Kun and Wu Peifu were also able to ensure the separation of military and government, and their hearts have always believed that the great president is greater than the grand marshal, but after Zhang Zuolin established the An guo military government, all this has changed, Zhang Zuolin believes that the most important thing is the grand marshal and not the great president, and at this time people feel that China has been in chaos.
The reason why the Beiyang government can still ensure formal unity in the chaotic era is that the most important thing is that the old order of the Qing Dynasty was slowly dissipated, rather than collapsing immediately, although it collapsed later, but the new order established by the Kuomintang government was quickly made up, so the real sense of The chaos in China at that time was only from the end of the Second Zhifeng War to the end of the Northern Expedition. At that time, the local warlords were nominally obedient to the central government.
Although the central government at that time could not be unified by force, but also did not allow independence, after The death of Yuan Shikai, the Beiyang warlords were divided into direct, Feng and Anhui, and they fought against each other for another 4 years, until the Zhiwan War. When the Zhifeng War broke out, the struggle between them was nothing more than to gain the rule of the central government, not for independence, maybe they wanted independence, but it was not imaginary, external conditions did not allow it, and internal reasons were not possible.
A warlord wants independence, then the army. The economy and territory are indispensable, at that time China already had the bud of capitalism, and the capitalist economy needed to expand production by machines, resources needed to be allocated throughout the country, once you were independent, then you could not get resources, Zhang Zuolin completely occupied the geographical location, you could be independent outside the Guanxi, but once you were independent, then you had no internal resources, not that Zhang Zuolin was patriotic, did not want to be independent, wanted to be independent, these things need to be considered.
Moreover, at that time, the direct, Feng, and Anhui clans were basically on an equal footing, and whoever became independent first would perish first, and at that time, the customs tariffs were also in the hands of foreigners, and there was no economy to talk about independence. At that time, the New Culture Movement. The May Fourth Movement and so on have all erupted, and Chinese national consciousness has begun to awaken, and at this time it is even more impossible to be independent, because the people under you may not listen to you. So internal factors are important.
External factors are crucial
In 1911, the Qing government was actually ok, but suddenly it collapsed, much faster than other dynasties in history, why it collapsed at that time, that is, the situation in Europe was already tense, they were not willing to support a weak country in the Far East, which was the reason why the Xinhai Revolution could succeed. In fact, it was very simple for the great powers to support the Qing government, but they did not do it.
As long as they gave the Qing government more than 11 million pounds that they negotiated in 1910, then the Qing government had the money to let the Beiyang New Army fight, but the result was known to everyone. So external reasons are crucial, the First World War also came very quickly, after the war, Britain and France and other countries still have a period of recovery, and by the time they slow down, Japan has slowly risen.
Why don't the great powers dare to openly extend their hands?
In 1921, a conference was held in Washington, and the "Nine-Power Pact" at that time clearly pointed out that the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of the Republic of China government would be guaranteed when the interests of the great powers in China were guaranteed, so even Japan did not dare to blatantly invade the Republic of China at that time, which was the reason why the Republic of China could maintain unity in name.