National Revolutionary Army
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The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) (Chinese: 國民革命軍; pinyin: guo2 min2 ge2 ming4 jun1) was the national army of the Republic of China. It was largely controlled by the Kuomintang (KMT), with the boundaries between the Kuomintang and the National Revolutionary Army sometimes becoming quite blurred.
The National Revolutionary Army was closely linked to the Whampoa Military Academy, which had also been established by the Kuomintang. A large number of the Army's officers passed through Whampoa, and the first commandant, Chiang Kai-Shek, became commander-in-chief of the Army in 1925 before lauching the successful Northern Expedition. Aside from Chiang Kai-Shek himself, other prominent commanders in the National Revolutionary Army included Du Yuming and Chen Cheng.
For a time, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Communist forces fought as a nominal part of the National Revolutionary Army, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units, but this co-operation later fell apart. Throughout the Chinese Civil War, the National Revolutionary Army experienced problems with desertion, with many troops switching sides to fight for the Communists.