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'''Chiang Kai-shek''' (or '''Jiang Jieshi''' in the pinyin version)<ref> His last name is Chiang, his first name is Kai-Shek.  When the Communists came to power they changed the system of translation and made his name Jiang Jieshi in English. Most English language books call him Chiang Kai-shek</ref>  ([[Traditional Chinese]]: 蔣介石; [[Simplified Chinese]]: 蒋介石; [[Hanyu Pinyin]]: Jiǎng Jièshí; [[Jyutping]]: Zoeng² Gaai³ Sek⁶) was the leader of the [[Kuomintang]] from 1925 following the death of [[Sun Yat-sen]], and from 1928 until his death in 1975 was the paramount leader and (with brief interruptions) President of the [[Republic of China]]. Chiang converted to Christianity when he married [[Soong Meiling]], a methodist; he became an ardent opponent of Communism.  

'''Chiang Kai-shek''' (or '''Jiang Jieshi''' in the pinyin version)<ref> His last name is Chiang, his first name is Kai-Shek.  When the Communists came to power they changed the system of translation and made his name Jiang Jieshi in English. Most English language books call him Chiang Kai-shek</ref>  ([[Traditional Chinese]]: 蔣介石; [[Simplified Chinese]]: 蒋介石; [[Hanyu Pinyin]]: Jiǎng Jièshí; [[Jyutping]]: Zoeng² Gaai³ Sek⁶) was the leader of the [[Kuomintang]] from 1925 following the death of [[Sun Yat-sen]], and from 1928 until his death in 1975 was the paramount leader and (with brief interruptions) President of the [[Republic of China]]. Chiang converted to Christianity when he married [[Song Meiling]], a [[Methodist]]; he became an ardent opponent of Communism.  

=== Early life ===

=== Early life ===

Chiang was born in the port city of Ningpo in  1887, and like many educated and patriotically-minded youths in the dying days of the [[Qing]] dynasty chose to follow a military career. He studied at a military academy in Japan between 1908 and 1910, where Chiang joined the Tongmenghui (United League) - which was shortly to merge with other revolutionary groups to become the Kuomintang, usually called the KMT or Nationalist Party. At the time of the 1911 revolution Chiang was based in [[Shanghai]] and at that time became involved with the local secret societies and gangs who were to aid him later in his career. During the 'Second Revolution' of 1913 (against the reactionary rule of [[Yuan Shikai]]) Chiang led an attack on an arsenal in Shanghai but the bungled operation was a disastrous failure and Chiang was forced to flee. He attached himself to the entourage of the KMT leader [[Sun Yat-sen]] and to the ramshackle KMT government which Sun set up in the southern metropolis of Canton. When Sun concluded an alliance with the [[Comintern]] in 1923, brokered by the Soviet agent Adolph Joffe (the 'Sun-Joffe Agreement'), Chiang was appointed commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy at Canton, established with Soviet aid and with Soviet and other foreign communist advisers. The purpose of the Academy was to train a Nationalist army capable of uniting China under KMT rule.

Chiang was born in the port city of Ningbo in  1887, and like many educated and patriotically-minded youths in the dying days of the [[Qing]] dynasty chose to follow a military career. He studied at a military academy in Japan between 1908 and 1910, where Chiang joined the Tongmenghui (United League) - which was shortly to merge with other revolutionary groups to become the Kuomintang, usually called the KMT or Nationalist Party. At the time of the 1911 revolution Chiang was based in [[Shanghai]] and at that time became involved with the local secret societies and gangs who were to aid him later in his career. During the 'Second Revolution' of 1913 (against the reactionary rule of [[Yuan Shikai]]) Chiang led an attack on an arsenal in Shanghai but the bungled operation was a disastrous failure and Chiang was forced to flee. He attached himself to the entourage of the KMT leader [[Sun Yat-sen]] and to the ramshackle KMT government which Sun set up in the southern metropolis of Canton. When Sun concluded an alliance with the [[Comintern]] in 1923, brokered by the Soviet agent Adolph Joffe (the 'Sun-Joffe Agreement'), Chiang was appointed commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy at Canton, established with Soviet aid and with Soviet and other foreign communist advisers. The purpose of the Academy was to train a Nationalist army capable of uniting China under KMT rule.

=== Northern Expedition ===

=== Northern Expedition ===