Zhang Zuolin
President of the Republic of China
Died when: 53 years 77 days (638 months)Star Sign: Pisces
Zhang Zuolin (traditional Chinese: 張作霖; simplified Chinese: 张作霖; pinyin: Zhāng Zuòlín;Wade–Giles: Chang Tso-lin;
March 19, 1875 – June 4, 1928), courtesy name Yuting (雨亭), nicknamed Zhang Laogang (張老疙瘩), was an influential Chinese bandit, soldier, and warlord during the Warlord Era in China.
The warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to 1928, and the military dictator of the Republic of China in 1927 and 1928, he rose from banditry to power and influence.
Backed by Japan, Zhang successfully influenced politics in the Republic of China during the early 1920s.In the fall of 1924, during the Second Zhili–Fengtian War, he invaded and gained control of Peking, including the internationally recognized government, in April 1926.
His appointment as grand marshal of the Republic of China in June 1927 represented the height of his success, but was quickly followed by defeat: the economy of Manchuria, the basis of his power, was overtaxed by his adventurism and collapsed in the winter of 1927; and he was defeated by the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in May 1928.
Leaving Beijing in early June to return to Manchuria, he was killed by a bomb planted by infuriated Kwantung Army officers on June 4, 1928; his brief reign presaged the end of Chinese warlordism by December.
His assassination by members of the Japanese Kwantung Army made way for the eventual invasion of Manchuria.
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