The Republic of China Military Academy, also known as the Chinese Military Academy (CMA), is the service academy for the army. It was founded by the Republic of China as the Whampoa Military Academy at Huangpu (Whampoa), Guangzhou in 1924. At the end of the Chinese Civil War the academy evacuated to the island of Taiwan and took its current name. Its graduates participated in the Northern Expedition, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.

Establishment

By 1924, the Kuomintang (KMT) wanted to build a modern, and politically-reliable armed force. The KMT received money, materiel, and advisors from the Soviet Union; military advisors provided training and began reorganizing the KMT's forces along Soviet lines. As part of the reforms, political commissars were introduced for political and technical training and, in 1924, the KMT's 1st National Congress approved the creation of the Whampoa Military Academy to train junior officers for the what would become the National Revolutionary Army (NRA). The academy was established in May 1924 on Changzhou Island in Huangpu, Guangzhou with Chiang Kai-shek as superintendent. Liao Zhongkai, the KMT treasury secretary, was the party's representative to the academy. Sun Yat-sen took the ceremonial position of the academy's premier.

Early years

The Chinese faculty included graduates from the Baoding Military Academy, the Yunnan Military Academy, and the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. There were also a small number of Soviet instructors trained at the Frunze Military Academy; they were the academy's primary instructors. Members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were admitted as faculty and students as part of the First United Front. The political instructors were mostly Communists, as was the their director, Zhou Enlai. The later People's Liberation Army also recruited Whampoa graduates. The academy's provided a 6-12 month military-political program incorporating Western pedagogical methods and practical exercises. Military training was primarily infantry-focused, but also included classes for artillery, engineers, logistics, and heavy weapons. Political training was based on Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, KMT history, and Western politics and economics. The program was inferior to those provided by contemporary professional armies, but it gave the NRA an advantage over the less professional Chinese armies of the Warlord Era. The first class of 490 graduated in November. The academy formed the first "model" regiment in October 1924, which suppressed a insurrection of angry merchants and their private militia forces late that month. The Whampoa force operated successfully during the Guangdong–Guangxi War and the Yunnan–Guangxi War before becoming the foundation of the NRA. By the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 the majority of Chinese divisions were commanded by Whampoa graduates.

Relocations

The original academy operated until 1926. In 1928, following the Northern Expedition, it was relocated to Nanjing, the new capital, and renamed as the Central Military Academy. The CMA evacuated to Chengdu in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. At the end of the Chinese Civil War, the CMA evacuated to Kaohsiung on Taiwan and was renamed to the Republic of China Military Academy. The site of the Whampoa Military Academy is now a museum.

In Taiwan

In June 2024, President Lai Ching-te visited the ROC Military Academy on the occasion of its 100th anniversary celebration.

List of superintendents

Faculties

Notable alumni

Transportation

The academy is within walking distance south of Dadong Station of the Kaohsiung MRT.

Citations

Sources