Editing Zhou Enlai (section)

===Military activities===
[[File:Chiang Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai with cadets at Whampoa Military Academy.jpg|thumb|[[Chiang Kai-shek]] (center) and Zhou Enlai (left) with cadets at Whampoa Military Academy (1924)]]
Zhou participated in two military operations conducted by the Nationalist regime in 1925, later known as the first and second Eastern Expeditions. The first was in January 1925 when [[Chen Jiongming]], an important Cantonese military leader previously driven out of Guangzhou by Sun Yat-sen, attempted to retake Guangzhou. The Nationalist regime's campaign against Chen consisted of forces from the Guangdong Army under [[Xu Chongzhi]], and two training regiments of the Nationalist Party Army, led by Chiang Kai-shek and staffed by Academy officers and cadets.<ref>Wilbur ''Nationalist'' 20</ref>{{NoteTag|As Wilbur notes, Russian advisors played important roles in these early campaigns.}} The fighting lasted through May 1925, with the defeat, but not destruction, of Chen's forces.<ref>Boorman "Ch'en Chiung-ming" 179</ref> Zhou accompanied the Whampoa cadets on the expedition as a political officer.

When Chen regrouped and attacked Guangzhou again in September 1925, the Nationalists launched a second expedition. Nationalist forces by this time had been reorganized into five corps (or armies) and adopted the commissar system with Political Departments and Nationalist party representatives in most divisions. The First Corps, made up of the Nationalist Party Army, was led by Whampoa graduates and commanded by Chiang Kai-shek, who personally appointed Zhou director of the First Corps Political Department.<ref>Wilbur ''Missionaries'' 203 n92</ref> Soon after, the Nationalist Party's Central Executive Committee appointed Zhou Nationalist Party party representative, making Zhou chief commissar of the First Corps.<ref>Wilbur ''Missionaries'' 175</ref> The first major battle of expedition saw the capture of Chen's base in Huizhou on 15 October. Shantou was taken on 6 November, and by the end of 1925, the Nationalists controlled all of Guangdong province.

Zhou's appointment as chief commissar of the First Corps allowed him to appoint Communists as commissars in four of the Corps' five divisions.<ref>Wilbur ''Missionaries'' 222</ref> Following the conclusion of the Expedition, Zhou was appointed special commissioner for the East River District, which placed him in temporary administrative control of several counties; he apparently used this opportunity to establish a Communist party branch in Shantou and strengthen the CCP's control of local unions.<ref>Weidenbaum 233–235</ref> This marked the high point of Zhou's time at Whampoa.