王揖唐是近代史上曾任要职、阅历复杂的负面政治人物。一方面，他呈现给世人的是一个热衷名位、卖国求荣的汉奸政客形象；另一方面，则被人评价为为人“朴实”，却在政治舞台上无甚建树的平庸之辈。为求对该人物有一全面的了解，则应对其早期政治活动加以探讨。王揖唐生于安徽合肥的一个没落的旧式知识分子家庭，是中国“最后的进士”群体中的一员，又曾受公派赴日本学习军事，因此得到了“通文知兵”的评价。他借此在仕途上逐渐起步，并在从政初期与段祺瑞、袁世凯、徐世昌等民初政坛风云人物结识，为日后在政界的崛起奠定了基础。进入民国后，王揖唐担任袁世凯的幕僚，备受重用，不久便外放封疆，内调总长，崭露头角。袁世凯死后，王揖唐借由与徐树铮的政治合作，逐渐加入皖系段祺瑞阵营，并受命组织安福俱乐部，包办安福国会选举，成为皖系的重要统治支柱。其间，王揖唐曾被任命为南北和会北方总代表，受到直系与南方政府的强烈反对。直皖战后，王揖唐作为安福系“祸首”遭北京政府通缉，流亡日本，从政治生涯的高峰跌入谷底。第二次直奉战争后，随着段祺瑞被各方“拥戴”出任临时执政，王揖唐曾短暂复出，出任安徽省长兼督办军务善后事宜。由于裁兵与财政问题，无法满足皖省实力军人的政治诉求，并进一步激化矛盾，最终黯然辞职，再度淡出了政治舞台。王揖唐在民初政坛虽时常占据高位，却几乎总是以被动形象出现。他在政坛的崛起，得益于自清末以来形成的人际关系网络，但他缺乏必要的政治能力，在政坛上始终难有所作为。同时，王揖唐自民初便与日本各层次在华势力颇有交往，又曾久居日本，与日本军政界人员建立了密切联系，这也为他在抗日战争期间投敌事伪埋下了伏笔。王氏一贯“冷热咸宜”的政治品格，则成为其沦为汉奸的决定性因素。

Wang I-t’ang was a controversial political figure in the Republic of China. On the one hand, he presents to the world the image of a traitor politician who is keen on fame and honor. On the other hand, he is praised as a "simple man" and has little success in the political arena. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of this figure, we must discuss his early political activities. Born in a declining family of old-fashioned intellectuals in Hefei, Anhui Province, Wang I-t’ang was a member of the "last Jinshi" group in China. He was also sent to Japan to study military affairs, so he was evaluated by "Understanding both politics and military affairs". He took this opportunity to start his official career gradually, and made acquaintances with Tuan Chi-jui, Yuan Shih-k’ai and Hsu Shih-chang in the early days of the Republic, which laid the foundation for his rise of the political circles in the future. After entering the ROC period, Wang I-t’ang served as Yuan Shih-k’ai 's important aide. He soon released the frontier to the outside world and made a preliminary appearance. After Yuan Shih-k’ai 's death, Wang I-t’ang threw himself into Tuan Chi-jui camp. He organized the Anfu Club and was appointed to organize Anfu Congress elections with Hsu Shu-cheng. The congress became an important pillar of Tuan Chi-jui’s rule. During this period, Wang I-t’ang was appointed as the leader of Northern representatives to the North-South Peace Negotiations. He was strongly opposed by the southern government. After the War between the Chili and the Anhui warlords, Wang I-t’ang was wanted by the Peking government as the "chief culprit" of the Anfu group, exiled in Japan, and fell from the peak of his political career to the bottom of the valley. After the Second War between the Chili and the Mukden warlords, with Tuan Chi-jui being "embraced" by all parties to assume temporary power, Wang I-t’ang briefly returned as governor and supervisor of Anhui Province for military affairs for months. However, due to the military reductions and financial problems, he was unable to meet the political demands of the powerful soldiers in Anhui Province, so he eventually resigned, and then faded out of the political arena again. In the early years of the Republic of China, although Wang I-t’ang often occupied a high political position, he almost always appeared in a passive image. His rise in the political arena benefited from the interpersonal network formed since the end of the Qing Dynasty, but he lacked the necessary political ability, and it was always difficult for him to do anything in the political arena. At the same time, since the beginning of the ROC, Wang I-t’ang has had a lot of contacts with Japanese forces at all levels in China, he has also lived in Japan for a long time and established close contacts with Japanese military and political personnel, which also laid a foreshadowing for him to throw in the enemy's puppet during the War of Resistance Against Japan.