July 15 Incident
The July 15 Incident (), known by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the July 15 counter-revolutionary coup (), and as the Wuhan–Communist split () by the Kuomintang (KMT), occurred on 15 July 1927. Following growing strains in the coalition between the KMT government in Wuhan and the CCP, and under pressure from the rival nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing, Wuhan leader Wang Jingwei ordered a purge of communists from his government in July 1927. Background During the Northern Expedition (1926–1928) to reunify a fragmented China, Kuomintang policy was one of "allying with Russia and tolerating the communists" () under the First United Front between the KMT and CCP. However, after the anti-communist faction of the KMT led by Chiang Kai-shek organized a massacre of communists and leftists in April 1927, the nationalist government in Wuhan, led by Wang Jingwei, denounced Chiang, who established his own government in Nanjing, marking the start of the Nanjing–Wuhan split. The Wuhan government initially maintained the alliance with the CCP but later, tension escalated between them. Warlords such as Feng Yuxiang, who commanded large military forces, also called for severing of ties with the Communist Party. KMT leftist–CCP relations remained close