Page 55 - History of War - Issue 10-14

THE BOXER REBELLION

disabling the railroad through the countryside to
isolate Beijing.
There were other problems in Beijing,
however. Chinese Muslim soldiers, acting
independently to the Boxers, had taken to
guarding the southern part of Beijing’s walled
city and on 11 June, 1900, they murdered a
Japanese diplomat. On the same day, came
the incident that would set the rebellion in
motion – after the fi rst Boxer was seen in
Beijing’s Legation Quarter, sparking panic
amongst the foreign missionaries and
diplomats, the German Minister Clemens
von Ketteler and his soldiers captured and
executed a Boxer boy. After six decades of
foreign powers overpowering and governing
them, this was a relatively small incident, but
one that was ultimately met with an inevitable
and violent uprising.
To avenge the boy, thousands of Boxers
charged the city, burning churches with
Christians still inside. A further 2,000 European
troops, under command of British Vice-Admiral
Edward Seymour, were sent to Tianjin to quell the
Marines fi ght rebellious
rebellion. At fi rst the Chinese government agreed
Boxers outside the
to this, but became angered by Seymour’s Peking Legation
movements towards Beijing. Consequently,
Manchu Prince Duan became head of the foreign
offi ce and order the Boxers and Imperial army to
attack foreigners. On 18 June, Empress Dowager
Cixi ordered all foreigners to be killed. Two days
later, the German envoy Clemens Freiherr von
Ketteler was murdered on the streets of Beijing,
forcing all other foreigners to quickly fortify the
legations. This saw the true beginning of the
Boxers’ siege of Beijing.
The brutal siege lasted almost two months,
until a multinational force – comprising of
Western and Japanese soldiers – stormed
Beijing on 14 August, destroying the rebellion.
However, by this time, hundreds of foreigners
and thousands of Chinese Christians had
already been killed. Those who survived lived in
appalling conditions as they attempted to hold
back the Boxers. With the announcement of
the Boxer Protocol on September 1901, those
responsible were punished and China was forced
to pay other nations over $330 million. The Qing
was weakened to the point of its collapse.
One of the great myths of the Boxer Rebellion
is that is was a regional uprising, one led by
renegades acting outside the parameters
Japanese troops during the Boxer Rebellion of offi cial policy. On the contrary, the most
powerful fi gures in offi ce supported the
“AT FIRST, THE OUTBREAK OF VIOLENCE WAS DRIVEN BY uprising, much as the Boxers had called to
“Support the Qing, exterminate the foreigners”
UNREST OVER WESTERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES” – the consequence of decades of national
degradation at the hands of foreign powers.

1860 1897-98 1898 1900 1900

THE SUMMER PALACES BURN SHANDONG DROUGHT & FLOODS BOXER ATTACKS BEGIN EMPRESS DOWAGER LENDS THE REBELLION BEGINS
Motivated by the brutal With foreign powers and Christian Violence is directed mainly SUPPORT In June, a Boxer boy is
torture of numerous British missionaries taking an economic at Christians and places In January, Cixi changes her policy executed, leading to the
envoys, diplomat Lord Elgin stronghold in the province, where traditional Chinese to show support for the Boxer outbreak of violence in
orders the destruction of the locals are further devastated by culture is being eradicated movement, giving legitimacy Beijing. Within days, the
Summer Palaces. It’s seen crippling natural disasters. Young by foreign infl uence. Boxers to their cause. Foreign powers walled city is besieged,
as a decisive act in ending men begin turning to the secret also clash with Qing troops oppose the movement as resulting in the deaths
the war. Boxer movement. before changing allegiance. tensions rise between nations. of thousands.

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