Anhui clique

During the National Protection War (1915–1916) Duan Qirui gave his support to the Kuomintang revolutionaries against Yuan Shikai. In 1916, after the death of Yuan Shikai and the end of the Constitutional Protection War, Premier Duan Qirui would become Premier of the Republic, with Li Yuanhong serving as the President of the Republic, Li Yuanhong acted as a puppet of Duan Qirui due to him being easily manipulated essentially giving the Anhui Clique almost complete control over the Beiyang Government. With Japanese support and the suppression of the Manchu Restoration in 1917, the Anhui clique became the most powerful faction in China from 1916 to 1920. The Anhui clique advocated for a hardline approach during the Constitutional Protection War, giving the revolutionaries his political support as Duan Qirui sought to become the President of the Republic. After the death of Yuan Shikai and his abdication of the Hongxiang Emperor the Beiyang government was restored to which Duan Qirui served as premier under the presidency of Li Yuanhong; Effectively giving Duan Qirui the leadership of China by controlling the weak President, the Clique would only rise in terms of power until 1920. In 1919 the May Fourth Movement weakened their influence and eventually led to the Zhili–Anhui War in 1920 which saw the surprise defeat of the Anhui clique. In 1920 Duan Qirui resigned and the clique lacked national leadership for the next four years when all their provinces were eventually annexed by the Zhili clique by the summer of 1924. (Shandong was an anomaly, the Zhili clique appointed an Anhui general in 1923 there provided he remain neutral, see Shandong Problem. Zheng Shiqi ruled until 1925 when he transferred it to Fengtian's Zhang Zongchang per agreement with Duan.) After the Beijing Coup, Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin picked Duan to lead a provisional government. Lacking any significant military power, he and his few remaining supporters played Feng and Zhang against each other. They eventually removed him from power and his last followers joined the Fengtian clique. ==Political wing==

The Anhui clique also had a political wing known as the Anfu Club (literally, Peace and Happiness Club, after a Beijing lane where they met; folk etymology claims it was a pun on Anhui and Fujian) which consisted of politicians that threw their fortune in with Duan. Formed on 7 March 1918 by Xu Shuzheng and Wang Yitang, it ran for elections for the northern National Assembly and won three-fourths of the seats primarily because Anhui warlords bought the votes. The Anfu Club was a highly disciplined party created to push Duan Qirui's agenda through legal means such as electing fellow party member Xu Shichang as President of the ROC. Before the Zhili–Anhui War, it was also supported by the Fengtian clique, Xinjiang clique, and Shanxi clique. The Anfu Club was later destroyed after the Zhili-Anhui War when the Assembly was disbanded. ==Financial wing==

Their financial wing was the New Communications Clique (1916–1919) led by Cao Rulin, it was the rival to Liang Shiyi's Old Communications Clique. Cao's conduct during the Paris Peace Conference led to the May Fourth Movement and his dismissal. == Military ==

The Anhui Clique, as opposed to their civilian partners in the Anfu Club, was primarily an association of generals and military governors. Duan Qirui commanded an army independent from the Ministry of War, originally named the War Participation Army, which was funded and trained by the Japanese and consisted of around 50,000 troops. Qu Tongfeng commanded the 1st Division, Ma Liang commanded the 2nd Division, and Chen Wenyuan commanded the 3rd Division. There were also five additional mixed brigades, stationed in Luoyang, Zhangjiakou and the suburbs of Beijing. Within the Central Army, the official national army of the Beijing Government, several generals and their divisions were loyal to the Anhui Clique. The 9th and 13th Division stationed near Beijing were led by Anhui Clique generals, Wei Zonghan and Li Jincai respectively, and the 15th Division led by Liu Xun would defect to the Anhui Clique following the death of Zhili Clique leader Feng Guozhang. Additionally, in 1919, the 4th, 5th, 8th and 10th Divisions were led by Anhui Clique officers and were stationed in provinces loyal to the Anhui Clique along with several other mixed brigades. Lu Yongxiang, the Anhui clique general in Shanghai, allowed the defeated Anhui clique generals and their troops to enter Shanghai. The Zhili clique governor of Jiangsu, General Qi Xieyuan, deemed this to be a violation of the agreement that Shanghai would remain neutral. On 3 September, his forces attacked the Anhui forces in Zhejiang and Shanghai, beginning the Jiangsu–Zhejiang War. The war ended on 12 October 1924 with an Anhui defeat and the Zhili clique gained control of Zhejiang and Shanghai. ==Known Members==