The Boxer Rebellion ( ), Boxer Uprising or ( ????? ) is a anti-foreign, anti-colonial and anti-Christian uprising that takes place in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty.
It was initiated by United Militia in Truth ( Yihetuan ), known in English as "Boxers", as many of its members are practitioners of Chinese martial arts, also referred to in the west as "Chinese Boxing". They are motivated by proto-nationalist sentiments and by opposition to Western colonialism and Christian missionary activity associated with it.
The rebellion takes place against a background that includes severe drought and disruptions caused by the growing environment of foreign influences. After several months of escalating violence, in Shandong and the North China plains, against foreign and Christian presence in June 1900, Boxer boxers, convinced they were immune to foreign weapons, gathered in Beijing under the slogan "Supporting the Qing government and annihilating foreigners." and Chinese Christians seek refuge at the Legation Crossroads.
Responding to reports of an armed invasion to lift the siege, the Empress Dowager originally hesitated Cixi supported the Boxers and in June split the Empire's Decree which declared war on foreign powers. Diplomats, foreign civilians and Chinese soldiers and Christians at Legation Square were detained for 55 days by the Chinese Imperial Army and Boxers.
Chinese officials are divided between those who support Boxers and those who love conciliation, led by Prince Qing. The supreme commander of the Chinese army, Manchu General Ronglu (Junglu), later claimed he acted to protect the besieged foreigners. Many officials rejected imperial orders to fight strangers in their Shelter Protection in Southeast China, as Qing had lost the First Sino-Japanese War five years earlier.
The Eight Nations Alliance, having initially turned around, carried 20,000 armed troops to China, defeated the Imperial Army, and arrived in Peking in August 14, freeing the siege from the Embassy. Uncontrolled plundering of the surrounding town and countryside, along with the summary execution of suspected Boxers.
The Boxer Protocol of 7 September 1901 was provided for the execution of government officials who had supported the Boxers, provisions for foreign troops to be deployed in Beijing, and 450 million tael silver - about $ 10 billion in 2018 silver prices and more than the government's annual tax revenue - which must be paid in return for the next thirty-nine years for the eight countries involved. The Emperor's widow then sponsored a series of institutional and fiscal changes in a failed attempt to save the dynasty.
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Origins of the Boxers
True and Harmonic Boxing (Yihequan) appears in the inland northern coastal province of Shandong, long known for social unrest, religious sect, and martial community. American Christian missionaries may be the first to refer to athletic youths trained as "Boxers," because of the training of martial arts and the weapons they train. Their main practice is the kind of spiritual possession that involves sword rotation, hard sujud, and the chanting of mantras for gods.
Opportunities to counter Western encroachment and colonization are particularly attractive to unemployed village men, many of whom are teenagers. The tradition of ownership and immunity has returned several hundred years but has special significance to the powerful new weapons of the West. The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural immunity against the blows of cannons, guns, and knives. Furthermore, the popular Boxer group claims that millions of Heaven's soldiers will descend to assist them in purifying China from foreign persecution. This belief is a feature of the millenarian movement of the nativist opposition, especially the distinctive magical beliefs possessed by the North American Ghost Dancers and the African Cartelite Kores, that believers can be immune to bullets.
In 1895, despite the ambivalence to their heterodox practice, Yuxian, a Manchu who later became prefect of Caozhou and later became provincial governor, used the Big Swords Society in the fight against bandits. The Big Swords, backed by this official backing, also attacked their local rival Catholic village, who turned to the Church for protection. The Big Swords responded by attacking the Catholic churches and burning them. "The line between Christians and bandits", says a new historian, "becomes increasingly unclear." As a result of diplomatic pressure in the capital, Yuxian executes some of the Great Sword leaders, but does not punish others. The secret society of martial arts began to emerge after this.
In the early years saw various village activities, not broad movements with the same purpose. Religious martial people such as Baguadao (Eight Trigrams) prepare the way for Boxers. Like Red Boxing schools or Plum Flower Boxers, Boxers of Shandong are more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as devotion, than with foreign influences. One of the leaders, Zhu Hongdeng (Red Lantern Zhu), began as a wandering healer, specializing in skin ulcers, and gained wide respect by refusing payment for his treatment. Zhu claimed the descendants of the Ming dynasty emperor, because his surname was the surname of the Ming empire. He announced that his goal was to "Revive the Qing and destroy the strangers" ("???? fu Qing noodles ").
Causes of conflict and unrest
The combination of extreme weather conditions, Western attempts to colonize China and rising anti-imperialist sentiment sparked the movement. First, the drought that followed the floods in Shandong Province in 1897-1898 forced the peasants to flee to the city and search for food. As one observer observed, "I am sure that heavy rain for several days to end a long continuing drought... will be more beneficial to restore calm than any action that can be taken by the Chinese government or foreign governments."
The main cause of dissatisfaction in northern China is missionary activity. The Tientsin (or Tianjin) Agreement and the Peking Convention, signed in 1860 after the Second Opium War, have given foreign missionaries the freedom to preach anywhere in China and buy land to build the church. On November 1, 1897, a group of armed men who were probably members of the Big Swords Society stormed the residence of a German missionary from the Society of the Divine Word and killed two priests. This attack is known as the Juye Incident.
When Kaiser Wilhelm II received news of this murder, he sent the German East Asia Squadron to occupy Jiaozhou Bay on the southern shore of the Shandong peninsula. Germany's actions sparked a "battle for concessions" in which Britain, France, Russia and Japan also secured their own sphere of influence in China.
In October 1898, a group of Boxers attacked the Christian community in the village of Liyuantun where a temple to the Jade Emperor had been converted into a Catholic church. The dispute has surrounded the church since 1869, when the temple was given to the village Christians. This incident marks the first time Boxers has used the slogan "Support Qing, crush the strangers" ("???? fu Qing noodles ") which will become their hallmark. "Boxers" called themselves "United Militia in Justice" for the first time a year later, at the Battle of Senluo Temple (October 1899), clashes between Boxers and Qing government forces. By using the word "militia" rather than "boxers," they distance themselves from the forbidden martial arts sects, and try to give their movement the legitimacy of groups defending orthodoxy.
Aggression against missionaries and Christians invited the outrage of foreign governments (especially Europe). In 1899, the French minister in Beijing helped the missionaries to obtain a decree giving official status to every order within the Roman Catholic hierarchy, enabling local priests to support their people in legal or family disputes and bypassing local officials. After the German government took over Shandong, many Chinese worried that foreign missionaries and most likely all Christian activities were imperialist efforts to "carve melons", that is, to divide and colonize piece by piece of China. A Chinese official expressed a strange enmity to strangers, "Get rid of your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcomed."
The early growth of the Boxer movement coincided with the Hundred Days Reform (11 June - 21 September 1898). Progressive Chinese officials, with the support of Protestant missionaries, persuaded the Guangxu Emperor to institutionalize reforms that alienate many conservative officials by their sweeping nature. Such opposition from conservative officials caused Cixi's Consort Empress to intervene and reverse the reforms. The failure of the reform movement disappointed many well-educated Chinese and thereby further weakened the Qing government. After the reform ended, the Cixi Conservative Rejuvenation Widow seized power and placed the reformist Emperor Guangxu under house arrest.
The national crisis is widely seen as being caused by foreign aggression. Foreign powers have defeated China in several wars, imposed the right to promote Christianity and imposed unequal treaties in which foreigners and foreign companies in China were granted privileges, extraterritorial rights and immunity from Chinese law, causing hatred among the Chinese. France, Japan, Russia and Germany carved out the sphere of influence, so that in 1900 it seemed that China would be divided, with foreign powers, each of which controlled part of the country. Thus, in 1900, the Qing dynasty, which had ruled China for over two centuries, collapsed and Chinese culture was attacked by strong and unknown religions and secular culture.
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Boxer War
Intensify crisis
In January 1900, with the conservative majority in the imperial court, Empress Emperor Cixi changed its position in the Boxers, and issued a fatwa in their defense, causing protests from foreign powers. In the spring of 1900, the Boxer movement spread rapidly northward from Shandong to the countryside near Beijing. Boxers burned Christian churches, killed Chinese Christians and intimidated Chinese officials who were blocking them. US Secretary Edwin H. Conger sent cable to Washington, "the whole country is filled with hungry, dissatisfied, and desperate visitors." On May 30 diplomats, led by British Minister Claude Maxwell MacDonald, called for foreign troops to come to Beijing to defend the embassy. The Chinese government reluctantly agreed, and the next day a multinational force of 435 naval forces from eight countries descended from a warship and traveled by train from Dagu (Taku) to Beijing. They set up a perimeter of defense around their respective missions.
On June 5, 1900, the railway to Tianjin was cut by Boxers in rural and isolated Beijing. On June 11, at the Yongding gate, Japanese embassy secretary Sugiyama Akira was attacked and killed by General Dong Fuxiang's army, guarding the southern portion of the Beijing wall city. Armed with a Mauser rifle but wearing a traditional uniform, Dong's forces had threatened the Embassy in autumn 1898 shortly after arriving in Beijing, so troops from the United States Marine Corps had been summoned to Beijing to guard the embassy. German Kaiser Wilhelm II was so worried by the Chinese Muslim forces that he asked Khalifah Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire to find a way to stop the Muslim forces from fighting.
The Caliph approved the request of Kaiser and sent Enver Pasha ( not future Young Turk leader) to China in 1901, but the uprising ended at that time.
Also on June 11, the first Boxer, dressed in his clothes, was spotted at Legation Square. The German minister, Clemens von Ketteler, and the German army captured a Boxer boy and mysteriously executed him. In response, thousands of Boxers stormed into the walled city of Beijing that afternoon and set fire to many Christian churches and cathedrals in the city, burning some of the survivors alive. American and British missionaries have taken refuge in the Methodist Mission and an attack there was repulsed by the American Marines. The soldiers at the British Embassy and the German Embassy shoot and kill some Boxers, alienate the Chinese population in the city and encourage the Qing government to support the Boxers.
The Muslim Gansu and Boxers, along with other Chinese people, attacked and killed Chinese Christians around the embassy in retaliation for foreign attacks against the Chinese.
Seymour Expedition
As the situation became more violent, the second multinational force of 2,000 sailors and marines under the command of Vice Admiral Edward Seymour, the largest contingent from Britain, was sent from Dagu to Beijing on June 10, 1900. The troops were transported by train from Dagu to Tianjin with the Chinese government agreement, but the railway line between Tianjin and Beijing has been cut off. Seymour decides to move forward and repair the train, or continue on foot if necessary, given that the distance between Tianjin and Beijing is only 120 km. When Seymour left Tianjin and started heading for Beijing, it upset the imperial palace.
As a result, the pro-Boxer Manchu Prince Duan became the leader of Zongli Yamen (foreign office), replacing Prince Qing. Prince Duan is a member of the imperial clan Aisin Gioro (the stranger calls it "Royal Blood"), and Empress Cixi has named her son the next queue for the imperial throne. He became an effective leader of the Boxers, and was very anti-foreign. He immediately ordered the Qing imperial army to attack foreign troops. Confused by conflicting orders from Beijing, General Nie Shicheng let Seymour's army pass by on their train.
After leaving Tianjin, the convoy quickly reached Langfang, but found the train there to be destroyed. Seymour engineers tried to fix the line, but the allied forces found themselves surrounded, because the railroads behind and before them had been destroyed. They were attacked from all sections by the Chinese army and Chinese government forces. Five thousand "Gansu Braves" belonging to Dong Fuxiang and an unknown number of "Boxers" won a big but costly victory over Seymour's forces at the Battle of Langfang on 18 June. When allied European armies withdrew from Langfang, they were constantly fired upon by cavalry, and artillery bombarded their positions. It is reported that Chinese artillery is superior to European artillery, as Europeans do not bother to bring much for the campaign, thinking they can easily sweep up the Chinese resistance.
The Europeans could not find any Chinese artillery, which was showering bullets in their positions. Mining, engineering, flooding, and simultaneous attacks are used by Chinese troops. China also uses snapping movements, snatching and sniper tactics with some success against strangers.
News arrives on June 18 on attacks on foreign embassies. Seymour decided to go ahead, this time along the Beihe river, to Tongzhou, 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Beijing. On the 19th, they had to abandon their efforts as the resistance grew rigid and began to retreat south along the river with over 200 injured. Ordered four Chinese junk ships along the river, they filled all their wounded and remaining supplies to them and pulled them along with ropes from the river bank. At this point they are deprived of food, ammunition and medicine. Unexpectedly they later occurred to Great Xigu Arsenal, a cache of hidden Qing ammunition where Allied Powers had no knowledge until then. They immediately arrested and occupied it, finding not only the Krupp field gun, but the rifle with millions of bullets, along with millions of pounds of rice and ample medical supplies.
There they dug and waited for the rescue. A Chinese waiter can infiltrate through the Boxer and Qing lines, informing the Eight Forces of the Seymour forces situation. Surrounded and attacked almost every hour by Qing and Boxers troops, they were almost attacked. On June 25, a regiment of 1,800 people (900 Russian troops from Port Arthur, 500 British sailors, with an ad hoc mixture of other Alliance forces) finally arrived on foot from Tientsin to save Seymour. Hitting the field guns that were installed and burning every ammunition they could not take (approximately £ 3 million), Seymour, his troops, and rescue mission moved back to Tientsin, unopposed, on 26 June. Seymour's victims during the expedition were 62 dead and 228 wounded.
Conflicting stance in Imperial imperial court
Meanwhile, in Beijing, on June 16, Empress Dowager Cixi summoned the imperial palace for a mass audience and discussed the choice between using Boxers to drive out strangers from the city or seek a diplomatic solution. Responding to a high-ranking official who doubted the magic power of Boxers, Cixi replied: Both sides of the debate in the imperial court realized that popular support for Boxers in the countryside was almost universal and the oppression would be difficult and unpopular. , especially when foreign troops are on their way.
Two active factions during this debate. On the one hand there are anti-foreigners who view foreigners as invasive and imperialistic and evoke indigenous populism. They advocated to take advantage of the Boxers to achieve the expulsion of foreign forces and foreign influences. The pro-aliens on the other hand the proximity of advanced ties with foreign governments, see Boxers as superstitious and ignorant.
The events that tilted the Qing empire's government could not be drawn back to support the Boxers and the war with foreign powers was a foreign naval attack on Dagu Forts near Tianjin, on 17 June 1900.
The Beijing embassy siege
On June 15, Qing imperial troops staged an electric mine in the Beihe River (Peiho) to prevent the Eight Nations Alliance from sending ships to attack. With the difficult military situation in Tianjin and the disruption of communication between Tianjin and Beijing, allied countries took steps to strengthen their military presence significantly. On June 17 they took Dagu Forts who led the approach to Tianjin, and from there took many troops on the beach. When Cixi received an ultimatum demanding that China give full control of all its military and financial affairs to a foreigner, he firmly declared before the Supreme Council, "Now they [Power] have started aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent." we just fold our hands and surrender to them, I will not have a face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why do not we fight to the death? "At this point Cixi began to blockade the embassy with the Peking Field Force troop, which started the siege.Cixi stated that" I have always assumed that allied forces have been allowed to escape too easily on in 1860. Only the united effort required to give victory to China. Today, finally, the opportunity for revenge has come ", and says that millions of Chinese will join the cause of foreign fighting since the Manchu gave" big gains "in China.When receiving news about the attack on Dagu Forts on June 19, Dowager Empress Cixi immediately sent an order to the embassy that diplomats and other foreigners left Beijing under Chinese army escort within 24 hours.
The next morning, diplomats from the besieged base met to discuss Empress's offer. The majority quickly agreed that they could not trust the Chinese army. Fearing that they would be killed, they agreed to deny the request of the empress. The German Imperial envoy, Baron Klemens Freiherr von Ketteler, angered by the actions of the Chinese army and determined to bring his complaint to the palace. Against advice from fellow foreigners, the baron left the embassy with a maid and a team of porters to carry his sedan chair. On the way to the palace, von Ketteler was killed on the streets of Beijing by the Manchu captain. His maid managed to escape the attack and bring news of baron's death back to the diplomatic compound. On this news, other diplomats fear they will also be killed if they leave the legion and they choose to continue to oppose Chinese orders to leave Beijing. The embassy was quickly fortified. Most of the foreign civilians, who include a large number of missionaries and businessmen, took shelter at the British embassy, ​​the largest of diplomatic compounds. Chinese Christians were primarily placed in adjacent castles (Fu) of Prince Su who were forced to abandon his property by foreign troops.
On June 21, Empress Dowager Cixi declares war on all foreign powers. The regional governors who ordered modernized modern troops such as Li Hongzhang in Canton, Yuan Shikai in Shandong, Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan and Liu Kunyi in Nanjing, refused to join the imperial imperial declaration of war and hide his knowledge from the public in the South. Yuan Shikai used his own army to suppress the Boxers in Shandong, and Zhang negotiated with foreigners in Shanghai to prevent his troops from getting out of the conflict. The neutrality of the provincial and regional governors left the majority of Chinese people out of the conflict. They are called Mutual Protection from Southeast China.
British, French, German, Italian, Austrian-Hungarian, Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, US, Russian and Japanese are located in Beijing Intersection Area south of the Forbidden City. Chinese troops and Boxer nomads besieged the Legation Quarter from June 20 to August 14, 1900. A total of 473 foreign civilians, 409 soldiers, marines and sailors from eight countries, and about 3,000 Chinese Christians took refuge there. Under the command of the British minister to China, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, embassy and military guard staff defended the compound with small arms, three machine guns, and a mart-engined gun, dubbed the International Rifle because the barrel was British, Italian trains, Russian shells and American crew. Chinese Christians at the embassy led foreigners to the cannon and it proved important in defense. Also under siege in Beijing is the Northern Cathedral ( Beitang ) of the Catholic Church. Beitang is defended by 43 French and Italian soldiers, 33 Catholic priests and nuns, and about 3,200 Chinese Catholics. Defenders suffered heavy casualties mainly because of China's lack of food and mines blown up in tunnels dug beneath the compound. The number of Chinese soldiers and Boxers who surrounded the Legation Quarter and Beitang is unknown.
On June 22 and 23, Chinese soldiers and Boxers set fire to areas north and west of the British Embassy, ​​using it as a "frightening tactic" to attack human rights defenders. The nearby Hanlin Academy, the courtyard and building complex that became "the essence of Chinese scholarship... the oldest and richest library in the world", burned. Each side blames the other for the destruction of the priceless books it contains.
After the failure to burn foreigners, the Chinese army adopted a strategy such as anaconda. The Chinese barricades built around the Royal Crossroads and forward, brick by brick, on foreign lanes, forcing the foreign embassy guards to retreat a few feet at a time. This tactic is mainly used in Fu, which is defended by seafarers and Japanese and Italian soldiers, and is inhabited by most Chinese Christians. Fusillade of bullets, artillery and firecrackers directed against the Embassy almost every night - but only slightly damaging. Sniper fire takes its toll among foreign defenders. Regardless of their numerical superiority, China did not attempt a direct attack on the Legation Crossroads though in the words of one who was besieged, "it would be easy because of the strong movement, fast on the side of many Chinese troops that have been destroyed, the whole body of a foreigner... in an hour. "American missionary Frank Gamewell and his crew," combat fighters "fortified the Legation Quotas, but impressed the Chinese Christians to do most of the physical work of building up defenses.
Germany and America occupy perhaps the most important of all defense positions: the Tartar Wall. Holding the top of 45e, ft (14m) high and 404m wide walls, ft (12m) is vital. The German barricade faces east over the wall and 400 m (370 m) west is the western-facing position of America. The Chinese advanced to both positions by building barricades closer. "Everyone feels that they are in a trap," said the American commander, Captain John T. Myers, "and just wait for the hour of the execution." On June 30, China forced Germany out of the Wall, leaving the Marines alone in its defense. At the same time, the Chinese barricades advanced several meters from the American position and it became clear that America must leave the wall or force China to retreat. At 2 am on July 3, 56 marines and British, Russian and American sailors, under Myers' command, launched an attack on the Chinese barricade on the wall. The attack seized the Chinese sleeping, killing about 20 people, and driving others away from the barricade. The Chinese are not trying to advance their position on the Tartar Wall for the rest of the siege.
Sir Claude MacDonald said July 13 was "the most exhausting day" of the siege. The Japanese and Italians at Fu are pushed back to their last line of defense. The Chinese blow up a mine under the French Embassy encouraging French and Austrians out of most French Embassies. On July 16, the most capable British officer was killed and journalist George Ernest Morrison was wounded. But US Secretary Edwin Hurd Conger was in a relationship with the Chinese government and on July 17, a ceasefire was declared by China. More than 40% of legation bodyguards were killed or wounded. The Chinese motivation may be the realization that the allied forces of 20,000 people have landed in China and retaliation because the siege is imminent.
Officials and commanders on cross purposes
General Manchu Ronglu concluded that it was futile to fight all forces simultaneously, and refused to suppress the siege. Manchu Zaiyi (Prince Duan), anti-foreign friend Dong Fuxiang, wants artillery for Dong's army to destroy the embassy. Ronglu blocked artillery transfers to Zaiyi and Dong, preventing them from attacking. Ronglu forced Dong Fuxiang and his troops to withdraw from completing the siege and destroy the embassy, ​​thereby saving foreigners and making diplomatic concessions. Ronglu and Prince Qing send food to the embassy, ​​and use their Manchu Bannermen to attack the Muslim Gansu Braves ("Kansu Braves" in spelling of time) Dong Fuxiang and Boxers who surround foreigners. They issued orders ordering foreigners to be protected, but the Gansu soldiers ignored him, and fought against Bannermen who tried to force them away from the embassy. The Boxers also received orders from Dong Fuxiang. Ronglu also deliberately hid the Imperial Decree from General Nie Shicheng. The decree ordered him to stop fighting the Boxers because of foreign invasions, and also because his inhabitants suffered. Due to Ronglu's actions, General Nie continues to fight Boxers and kill many of them even when foreign troops enter China. Ronglu also ordered Nie to protect strangers and rescue trains from Boxers. Since parts of the Railway are kept under the orders of Ronglu, foreign invading forces can transport themselves to China quickly. General Nie did thousands of troops against the Boxers instead of against strangers. Nie is already outnumbered by the Allies by 4,000 people. General Nie was blamed for attacking the Boxers, because Ronglu let Nie blame. At the Battle of Tianjin (Tientsin), General Nie decided to sacrifice his life by walking into the range of Allied weapons.
Xu Jingcheng, who has served as the Qing Emissary to many of the same countries under the siege at the Legation Square, argues that "the avoidance of extraterritorial rights and the killing of foreign diplomats has never been unprecedented in China and abroad." Xu and five other officials urged Empress Dowager Cixi to order Boxers repression, execution of their leaders, and diplomatic settlement with foreign troops. The Empress Dowager, angry, punished Xu and five others for "deliberately and unreasonably petitioned the Imperial Court" and "building subversive thoughts." They were executed on July 28, 1900 and their disconnected heads were placed on display at the Caishikou Execution Square in Beijing.
Reflecting this indecision, some Chinese soldiers simply boldly opened fire on strangers who were surrounded early on. Cixi did not personally command the imperial forces to carry out a siege, and instead had ordered them to protect strangers at the embassy. Prince Duan led the Boxers to plunder his enemies within the imperial court and foreigners, though the imperial authorities drove the Boxers after they were allowed into the city and rampaged by attacking foreign and Qing forces. The Old Boxer was sent out of Beijing to stop the approaching foreign troops, while the younger man was absorbed into the Muslim army of Gansu.
With conflicting loyalties and priorities motivating various forces in Beijing, the situation in the city is becoming increasingly confusing. The foreign embassy continues to be surrounded by imperial Qing and Gansu forces. While Gansu Dong Fuxiang's troops, now being bent by the addition of Boxers, want to suppress the siege, Ronglu's imperial army seems to have largely sought to follow Cixi Empress's decision and protect the embassy. However, to satisfy the conservatives in the imperial court, the Ronglu also fired at the embassy and released firecrackers to give the impression that they also attacked foreigners. Inside the embassy and outside communication with the outside world, strangers just shoot at any emerging targets, including envoys from the emperor's palace, civilians, and the siege of all persuasion. Dong Fuxiang was denied artillery held by Ronglu who stopped him from flattening the embassy, ​​and when he complained to the Empress Dowager Cixi on June 23, he flatly said that "Your exorm, it becomes too heavy to be hoisted." The Alliance found a large number of unused Krupp Chinese artillery and shells after the siege was lifted.
The truce, though occasionally broken, lasted until August 13 when, with allied forces led by Alfred Gaselee of England approaching Beijing to free the siege, China launched its heaviest attack on the Legal Crossroads. As foreign troops approached, Chinese troops melted.
Gaselee Expedition
The foreign navy began to establish their presence along the northern coast of China from late April 1900. Several international troops were sent to the capital, with varying success, and the Chinese army was eventually defeated by the Eight-Country Alliance of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Independent of the alliance, the Netherlands sent three cruisers in July to protect its citizens in Shanghai.
British Lieutenant General Alfred Gaselee acted as commander of the Eight Nation Alliance, which eventually totaled 55,000. The main contingent consists of Japan (20,840), Russia (13,150), English (12,020), French (3,520), US (3,420), German (900), Italian (80), Austro-Hungarian (75) and anti- Boxer. The "First Regiment of China" (Weihaiwei Regiment) praised for its performance, comprised of Chinese collaborators who served in the British military. International forces finally arrested Tianjin on July 14 under the command of Japanese Colonel Kuriya, after a day of battle.
Important events include the seizure of Dagu Forts who ordered an approach to Tianjin and ascended and captured four Chinese destroyers by British Commander Roger Keyes. Among the besieged foreigners in Tianjin is a young American mining engineer named Herbert Hoover, who will continue to be the 31st President of the United States.
The march from Tianjin to Beijing is about 120 km including about 20,000 allied troops. On August 4th, there were about 70,000 Qing imperial troops and anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 Boxers along the way. The Allies face only minor resistance, fighting in Beicang and Yangcun. In Yangcun, the 14th Infantry Regiment of US and British forces led the attack. Weather is a major obstacle. Very humid conditions with temperatures sometimes reaching 42Ã, Â ° C (108Ã, Â ° F). High temperatures and these insects attack the Allies. The army is dehydrated and the horses are dead. Chinese villagers kill Allied forces looking for a well.
Hot heat kills Allied soldiers, who are foaming in the mouth. The tactics along the way were horrible on both sides. Allied troops beheaded dead Chinese corpses, rocked or beheaded Chinese living civilians, and raped Chinese girls and women. Cossacks are reported to have killed Chinese civilians almost automatically and Japan kicked a Chinese soldier to death. The Chinese respond to the atrocities of the Alliance with similar acts of violence and cruelty, especially against captured Russians. Lieutenant Smedley Butler noticed the remains of two Japanese soldiers nailed to the wall, whose tongues were cut and their eyes pricked. Lieutenant Butler was injured during an expedition in the legs and chest, then received the Brevet Medal in recognition of his actions.
International forces reached Beijing on 14 August. After the defeat of the Beiyang army in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese government has invested heavily in modernizing the imperial army, equipped with modern Mauser repeater rifles and Krupp artillery. Three modern divisions consisting of Manchu Bannermen protect the Metropolitan Beijing area. Two of them were under the anti-Boxer's command of Prince Qing and Ronglu, while the anti-foreign Prince Duan ordered Hushenying ten thousand troops, or "Division of the Tiger Spirit", who had joined Gansu Braves and Boxers in attacking foreigners. It was Hushenying's captain who had killed German diplomat Ketteler. The Tenacious Army under Nie Shicheng received western style training under German and Russian officers in addition to their modernized weapons and uniforms. They effectively rejected the Alliance at the Battle of Tientsin before retreating and shocking the Alliance forces with their artillery accuracy during the siege of the Tianjin concession (artillery shells failed to explode in the event of an impact due to corrupt manufacturing). Braves Gansu under Dong Fuxiang, who by some sources described as "undisciplined", armed with modern weapons but not trained according to western practice and wearing traditional Chinese uniforms. They led the Alliance's defeat at Langfang in the Seymour Expedition and were the most violent in besieging the Embassy in Beijing. Some of the Banner troops were given modernized weapons and western training, becoming the Banner Metropolitan troop, which was destroyed in battle. Among the Manchu who died was the father of the writer Lao She.
Britain won the race among the international troops to become the first to reach the beleaguered Legal Territory. The US can play a role because of the presence of ships and US forces stationed in Manila since the US conquest of the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine Uprising. In the US military, the action in the Boxer Rebellion was known as the China Relief Expedition. The United States Marines climbing the Beijing wall are iconic images of the Boxer Rebellion.
The British Army reached the legend quarter on the afternoon of August 14 and paid off the Legal Crossroads. Beitang was relieved on August 16, first by the Japanese army and then, officially, by the French.
Evacuate the imperial Imperial Palace from Beijing to Xi'an
In the early hours of August 15, just as the Foreign Embassy was relieved, the Empress Dowager Cixi, wearing blue cotton from a peasant woman, Emperor Guangxu, and a small companion climbed into three wooden cow wagons and escaped from the city covered with a rough blanket. Legend has it that the Empress Dowager then ordered that the favored Emperor Guangxu's consort, Empress Zhen, was thrown into a well in the Forbidden City or tricked her into drowning herself. The journey became increasingly difficult due to lack of preparation, but the Princess Dowager insisted that this was not a retreat, but an "inspection tour". After weeks of traveling, the group arrived in Xi'an in Shaanxi province, outside passing a protective mountain where foreigners could not reach, deep in Chinese Muslim territory and protected by Braves Gansu. The foreigners had no orders to chase the Empress Dowager, so they decided to stay.
Russian Russian invasion of Manchuria
The Russian Empire and the Qing Empire had maintained a long peace, beginning with the Nerchinsk Treaty in 1689, but the Tsarist troops took advantage of China's defeat to impose the Aigun Treaty of 1858 and the Peking Treaty of 1860 which surrendered previous territories of China in Manchuria to Russia, many held by Russia to this day (Primorye). The Russians aim to control the Amur River for navigation, and the ports of Dairen and Port Arthur on the Liaodong peninsula in all weather. The emergence of Japan as an Asian power provoked Russian anxiety, especially given the growing influence of Japan in Korea. After Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, the Three Russian, German and French Interventions forced the Japanese to restore the territory won in Liaodong, leading to a de facto Sino-Russian fellowship.
The local Chinese in Manchuria are very angry at this Russian advance and are beginning to harass Russian and Russian institutions, such as the Chinese East Railway. In June 1900, the Chinese bombarded the town of Blagoveshchensk on the Russian side of Amur. The Tsar government used the Boxer ploy to move around 200,000 troops into the area to destroy the Boxers. The Chinese used arson to destroy the bridge carrying trains and barracks on 27 July. Boxers destroyed the railroad tracks and cut the lines for the telegraph and burned Yantai's mines.
On September 21, Russian troops took Jilin and Liaodong, and by the end of the month actually occupied Manchuria, where their presence was a major factor leading to the Russian-Japanese War.
The Chinese Manchurian Honghuzi bandits, who fought alongside Boxers in war, did not stop when the Boxer uprising ended, and continued guerrilla war against Russian occupation until the Russian-Japanese war when Russia was defeated by Japan.
Massacre of Chinese missionaries and Christians
Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic missionaries and their Chinese parishioners were massacred throughout northern China, partly by Boxers and others by government forces and authorities. After the declaration of war against Western powers in June 1900, the Yuxian, who had been elected governor of Shanxi in March of that year, adopted a brutal anti-foreign and anti-Christian policy. On July 9, reports circulated that he had executed forty-four foreigners (including women and children) from a missionary family he invited to the provincial capital of Taiyuan under a pledge to protect them. Although an acclaimed eyewitness account recently was questioned as unlikely, this event became a symbol of China's famous outrage, known as the Taiyuan Massacre. At the end of the summer, more foreigners and as many as 2,000 Chinese Christians have been executed in the province. Journalist and history writer Nat Brandt called the slaughter of Christians in Shanxi as "the single greatest tragedy in the history of Christian evangelicalism."
During the Boxer Revolt as a whole, a total of 136 Protestant missionaries and 53 children were killed, and 47 Catholic priests and nuns. 30,000 Chinese Catholics, 2,000 Chinese Protestants, and 200 to 400 of 700 Orthodox Christian Christians in Beijing are estimated to have died. Collectively, the dead Protestants were called the Chinese Martyrs in 1900. 222 of the Chinese Christian Martyrs of China including St Metropana were locally canonized as the New Martyr on April 22, 1902, after the Innocent archimandrite (Fugurovsky), the head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China, asking the Most Holy Synod to perpetuate their memories. This is the first local canonization for more than two centuries. The Boxers went on to kill Christians in 26 prefectures.
Aftermath
Jobs, looting, and cruelty
Beijing, Tianjin and other cities in northern China were occupied for over a year by international expedition forces under the command of German General Alfred Graf von Waldersee. Cruelty by foreign troops is common. French troops ravaged the countryside around Beijing on behalf of Chinese Catholics. America and Britain paid General Yuan Shikai and his troops (Right Division) to help the Eight Nations Alliance suppress the Boxers. Yuan Shikai forces killed tens of thousands of people in their anti-Boxer campaign in Zhili and Shandong provinces after the Alliance arrested Beijing. Yuan operated outside Baoding during the campaign, which ended in 1902. Li Hongzhang ordered the Chinese army to kill the "Boxers" to help foreign invaders.
From a Chinese point of view, as well as reports from contemporary Western observers, German, Russian and Japanese troops received the greatest criticism of their cruelty and willingness to dishonestly execute Chinese people of all ages and backgrounds, sometimes burning and killing entire villagers. German troops arrived late to take part in the battle, but carried out punitive expeditions to the countryside. Kaiser Wilhelm II on 27 July during the departure ceremonies for German aid forces including impromptu references, but not limited to the invaders of the European continent Hun which would later be raised by British propaganda to deride Germany during the First World War and the Second World War:
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- If you face an enemy, he will be defeated! A quarter will not be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Anyone who falls into your hands will be forfeited. Just as a thousand years ago, Hun under King Attila they made a name for themselves, which even today makes them seem powerful in history and legend, may the German name affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese would be Once again dare look cross-eyed in Germany.
One newspaper mentioned the aftermath of the siege as a "raiding carnival", and the other called it a "gambling party" by soldiers, civilians, and missionaries. This characterization reminds us of the sacking of the Summer Palace in 1860. Each country accused the others of being the worst raiders. An American diplomat, Herbert G. Squiers, fills several railroad cars with booty. The British Embassy held a loot auction every afternoon and proclaimed, "looting on the part of British troops is done in the most organized manner." However, a British officer noted, "This is one of the unwritten laws of war that a city does not surrender in the end and is taken by storms looted." For the remainder of 1900-1901, the British held a daily robbery auction except Sunday in front of the main gateway to the British Embassy. Many foreigners, including Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald and Lady Ethel MacDonald and George Ernest Morrison of The Times, are active bidders among the crowd. Many of these looted goods end up in Europe. Beitang Catholic or North Cathedral is a "sales space for stolen property." US Commander General Adna Chaffee banned looting by American troops, but the ban was ineffective.
Some, but it does not mean that all Western missionaries take an active part in seeking revenge. To provide restitution to Christian missionaries and Christian families whose property has been destroyed, William Ament, a missionary of the US Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, guides American troops through villages to punish suspected people of Boxers and confiscate their property. When Mark Twain read this expedition, he wrote a spicy essay, "To the Dwelling Man" who attacked "Pastor's bandits from the American Board," primarily targeting Ament, one of the most respected missionaries in China. The controversy was front page news during 1901. Partner Ament on the side of the distaffus was the doughty of British missionary Georgina Smith who headed a neighborhood in Beijing as a judge and jury.
While one historical record reports that Japanese troops were stunned by other Alliance forces who raped civilians, others noted that Japanese troops' looted and burned mercilessly ', and that' Chinese women and girls by hundreds of people have committed suicide to escape self from bad luck in the rough hands of Russia and Japan. 'Roger Keyes, who leads the British destroyer of Fame and accompanies the Gaselee Expedition, notes that the Japanese have brought their own "regimental wife" (prostitutes) forward to keep their soldiers from raping Chinese civilians. Thousands of Chinese women commit suicide; The Daily Telegraph journalist E. J. Dillon declared it to avoid rape by the Alliance forces, and he witnessed the mutilated Chinese corpses being raped and killed by the Alliance forces. The French commander dismissed the rape, linking them with "the ferocity of the French army." A foreign correspondent, George Lynch, said "there are things I can not write, and that may not be printed in England, which seems to indicate that our Western civilization is merely a veneer of atrocities."
Many Bannermen support Boxers and share their anti-foreign sentiments. German Minister Clemens von Ketteler was murdered by a Manchu. Bannermen was destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and the Banner troops were destroyed in the fight against the invasion. In the words of the historian Pamela Crossley, their living conditions changed "from desperate poverty to true misery." When thousands of Manchus fled south from Aigun during the battle of 1900, their cattle and horses were stolen by Russian Cossacks soldiers who then burned their villages and houses into ashes. The Manchu clan system in Aigun was obliterated by the destruction of the area at the hands of Russian invaders.
Under the leadership of some high ranking officials including Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong, several southeastern provinces formed Mutual Southeastern Protection during this period to avoid further expansion of the chaos or worsen the situation between China and western powers. These provinces are neutral and refuse to fight either the Boxers or the Eight Nations Alliance.
Repair
After the arrest of Peking by foreign troops, some advisers of the Empress Dowager Cixi suggested that war should be done, on the grounds that China can defeat foreigners because it is unfaithful and traitors in China that allow Beijing and Tianjin to be captured by the Allies, and that the inside of China is impenetrable. They also recommended that Dong Fuxiang continue to fight. The Empress Dowager Cixi was practical, however, and decided that her terms were cheap enough for her to accept when she was convinced of her sustained rule after the war and that China would not be forced to surrender any territory.
On September 7, 1901, the Qing imperial palace agreed to sign the "Boxer Protocol" also known as the Peace Agreement between the Eight Nations Alliance and China. The protocol ordered the execution of 10 high-ranking officials linked to outbreaks and other officials found guilty of the massacre of foreigners in China. Alfons Mumm (Freiherr von Schwarzenstein), Ernest Satow and Komura Jutaro signed on behalf of Germany, Britain and Japan respectively.
China was fined war reparations of 450,000,000 tael silver (? 540,000 troy ounces (17,000 t) @ 1.2 ozt/tael) for the losses it incurred. Compensation must be paid within 39 years, and will be 982,238,150 taels with interest (4 percent per annum) included. To help meet the payment, it was agreed to raise the existing tariff from the actual 3.18 percent to 5 percent, and to charge until now duty-free goods. The number of reparations was estimated by the Chinese population (about 450 million in 1900), to make every Chinese pay a tael. China's custom income and salt tax are listed as repair guarantees. China paid 668,661,220 tael of silver from 1901 to 1939, equivalent in 2010 to US $ 61 billion on a parity basis of purchasing power.
Most reparations paid to the United States are diverted to pay for the education of Chinese students at a US university under the Indemnity Boxer Scholarship Program. To prepare students selected for this program, an institute is established to teach English and to serve as a prep school. When the first students of these students returned to China, they undertook the next student's teaching; from this institute was born Tsinghua University. Some reparations because the UK is then allocated to similar programs.
China Inland Mission lost more members than any other missionary institution: 58 adults and 21 children were killed. However, in 1901, when allied states demanded compensation from the Chinese government, Hudson Taylor refused to accept payment for the loss of property or life to show the gentleness and gentleness of Christ to the Chinese.
Belgian Catholic vicar, apostolic Ordos, Mgr. Alfons Bermyn wanted foreign troops stationed in Inner Mongolia, but the Governor refused. Bermyn petitioned Manchu Enming to send troops to Hetao where Mongol Prince Duan and Muslim forces General Dong Fuxiang allegedly threatened the Catholics. It turns out that Bermyn has created the incident as a hoax.
The Qing government did not yield to all the foreign demands. The Manchu governor, Yuxian, was executed, but the imperial palace refused to execute General Han Chinese Dong Fuxiang, although he also encouraged the killing of strangers during the uprising. Empress Dowager Cixi intervened when the Alliance demanded that she be executed and Dong was only the cashier and sent back home. Instead, Dong leads a luxurious life and is in power in "exile" in his native province of Gansu. After Dong's death in 1908, all the honors that had been stripped of him were restored and he was given a full military funeral.
Long-term consequences
The great powers of Europe finally halted their ambition to colonize China after learning of the Boxer rebellion that the best way to deal with China was through the ruling dynasty, not directly with the Chinese people (a sentiment embodied in the saying: "The people are afraid of officials , officials are afraid of foreigners, and foreigners are afraid of people "( ?????, ?????, ??????? ), and even briefly assisting Qing in their war against Japan to prevent Japanese dominance in the region.
At the same time, this period marked the waiver of the great European intervention in Chinese affairs, with Japan replacing Europeans as the dominant force for their oblique involvement in the war against the Boxers as well as their victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. With the overthrow of Qing following him and the rise of the Nationalist Kuomintang, European turmoil inside China was reduced to a symbolic status. After taking Manchuria in 1905, Japan dominated Asian affairs militarily and culturally with many Chinese intellectuals also educated in Japan with the most prominent example being Sun Yat-Sen who later found the Kuomintang Nationalist movement in China.
In October 1900, Russia occupied the province of Manchuria, a move that threatened Anglo-American hopes of defending what remained of China's territorial integrity and the country's openness to trade under the Open Door Policy.
Japan's clash with Russia over Liaodong and other provinces in eastern Manchuria, due to Russia's refusal to honor Boxer's protocol requirements calling for their withdrawal, led to the Russian-Japanese War when two years of negotiations failed in February 1904. The Russian Lease of the Liaodong (1898) confirmed. Russia was eventually defeated by an increasingly confident Japanese.
In addition to compensation, the Empress Dowager Cixi reluctantly initiated some reforms despite her previous views. Under the reform known as the New Policy began in 1901, the imperial examination system for government services was eliminated and as a result the educational system through the classical Chinese was replaced by a European liberal system leading to a university degree. Along with the formation of new military and police organizations, the reform also simplified the central bureaucracy and embarked on a revamping of the tax policy. After the death of Cixi and Emperor Guangxu in 1908, the prince of Zaifeng (Prince Chun) prince, brother of Guangxu Emperor, launched further reforms.
The effect on China is the weakening of the dynasty and its national defense capabilities. The structure of the interim government was defended by the Europeans. Behind the international conflict, he deepened the internal ideological differences between the northern anti-foreign royalists of northern China and the southern Chinese anti-Qing revolutionaries. This scenario in the later years of the Qing dynasty gradually rose to a tumultuous era of warlords in which the most powerful northern warlord was hostile to the revolutionaries in the south who overthrew the Qing monarchy in 1911. Competition was not fully resolved until the northern warlords were defeated by Kuomintang 1926-28 Northern Expedition. Before the last defeat of the Boxer Rebellion, all anti-Qing movements of the previous century, such as the Taiping Rebellion, had been suppressed by Qing.
Historian Walter LaFeber argues that President William McKinley's decision to send 5,000 American troops to quell the insurgency marks the "origins of modern presidential warfare":
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- McKinley took a historic step in creating the power of the new president, the twentieth century. He sent five thousand troops without consulting with Congress, let alone getting a declaration of war, against the Boxers backed by the Chinese government... The previous president has used that power against non-governmental groups that threaten US interests and citizens. It is now used, however, against a recognized government, and without complying with the provisions of the Constitution on who declares war.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. agreed, wrote that:
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- Intervention in China marks the beginning of an important change in the work of the overseas armed forces presidency. In the 19th century, military power carried out without congressional authorization was usually used against non-governmental organizations. It is now being used against the sovereign states, and, in the case of Theodore Roosevelt, with little consultation from before.
In the Second Japanese-Japanese War, when the Japanese asked Muslim general Ma Hongkui to defect and become head of the puppet state of Muslims, he replied that his relatives had been killed during the Battle of Peking, including his uncle Ma Fulu. Because the Japanese troops consist of the majority of the Alliance forces there will be no cooperation with Japan.
Controversy and change the look of Boxers
From the outset, differing views on whether Boxers is better viewed as anti-imperialist, patriotic, and proto-nationalist or as "uncivilized", irrational, and vain enemies of inevitable change. Historian Joseph Esherick commented that "confusion about the Boxer Rebellion is not just a matter of popular misunderstanding", since "there is no major incident in modern Chinese history where professional interpretations are just as great."
Chinese liberals like Hu Shi often condemn the Boxers for their irrationality and savagery. The Chinese nationalists at first disdained them for their superstitions and xenophobia. Sun Yat-sen, the founding fathers of the Chinese Republic and the Nationalist Party at first believed that the Boxer Movement was moved by the rumors of the Qing government, which "caused confusion among the people", and conveyed the "anti-alienism and obscurantism" "Sun praised Boxers for their" fighting spirit "but called them" bandits. "The students shared an ambivalent attitude with the Boxers, stating that while the uprising comes from" fools and stubborn people from the interior ", their beliefs" brave and true ", and can be" transformed into a force that moves for independence. "After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Chinese nationalists became more sympathetic to Boxers.In 1918 Sun praised their fighting spirit and said the Boxers were courageous and fearless, to die against the forces of the Alliance, especially the Battle of Yangcun.The leader of the New Cultural Movement, Chen Duxiu, forgave "Boxer barbarism... remember the crimes committed by foreigners in China ", and argue that it is a" subordinate stranger "who really" deserves our hatred ".
In other countries, Boxers' views are complex and controversial. Mark Twain says that "Boxer is a patriot, he loves his country better than he does someone else's country, I wish him success." Russian writer Leo Tolstoy also praised the Boxers. He accused Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany who was primarily responsible for looting, rape, murder and "Christian brutality" of Russia and other western forces. The Russian Revolution Vladimir Lenin ridiculed the Russian government's claim that he protected the Christian civilization: "The Poor Empire Government!" So Christian is not selfish, but so unjustly maligned! A few years ago it was selflessly seized Port Arthur, and now he seized the Manchuria unconditionally; have unselfishly flooded the Chinese border provinces with a gang of contractors, engineers, and officers, who, by their behavior, have aroused the anger of even the Chinese, known for their virility. "The Bengali Indian Hindu Rabindranath Tagore attacked European colonialists. A number of Indian soldiers in the British Indian Army agreed that Boxers were correct and the British stole from the Temple of Heaven bells, which were given back to China by the Indian military in 1994.
Even some church people of America speak to support Boxers. Evangelical Rev. Dr. George F. Pentecost says that the Boxer uprising is a "patriotic movement to oust 'foreign demons' - that's it - alien demons". Suppose, he says, that the big powers in Europe will "unite their fleets, come here, take Portland, move to Boston, then New York, then Philadelphia, and so on Atlantic Coast and around Galveston Bay" this port city, ushering our people into the interior, building large warehouses and factories, bringing into the bodies of moral agents, and calmly telling our people that they will regulate the trade of this country? does not have the Boxer movement to expel the Christian Christian Demons from our country?
The Russian newspaper Amurskii Krai criticized the killing of innocent civilians, alleging that "restraint" of "civilization" and "culture" rather than "racial hatred" and "destruction" would be more "civilized" to the Christian Nation " The paper asked, "What should we say to a civilized person? We have to tell them: 'Do not think of us as brothers anymore. We are evil and wicked people; we have killed the people hiding in
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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