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Boxers
Rebellion (02) :
...Also, due to the fact
that Christian missionaries were exempt from many Chinese laws,
Christian enclaves attracted many Chinese fleeing the law, claiming to
be Christian and hiding behind foreign powers. This further demonized
the image of Christians in China.
 The
early months of the movement's growth coincided with the Hundred Days'
Reform (June 11-September 21, 1898), during which the Guangxu Emperor
of China sought to improve the central administration, before the
process was reversed at the behest of his powerful aunt, the Empress
Dowager Cixi. After a mauling at the hands of loyal Imperial troops in
October 1898, the Boxers dropped their anti-government slogans,
turning their attention to foreign missionaries (such as Hudson
Taylor) and their converts, whom they saw as agents of foreign
imperialist influence. The Empress Dowager Cixi, who credited the
Boxers' claim of magical imperviousness to both blade and bullet,
decided to use the Boxers to remove the foreign powers from China. The
Imperial Court, now under Cixi's firm control, issued edicts in
defence of the Boxers, drawing heated complaints from foreign
diplomats in January, 1900.
The conflict came to a head in
June 1900, when the Boxers, now joined by elements of the Imperial
army, attacked foreign compounds within the cities of Tianjin and
Peking. The legations of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, the United States, Russia and Japan were all located on
the Legation Quarter close to the Forbidden City, built there so that
Chinese officials could keep an eye on the ministers - the legations
themselves were strong structures surrounded by walls. The legations
were hurriedly linked into a fortified compound and became a refuge
for foreign citizens in Peking. However the Spanish, Belgian, and
German legations were not in the same compound. Although the Spanish
and Belgian legations were only a few streets away and their staff
were able to arrive safely at the compound, the German legation was on
the other side of the city and was stormed before the staff could
escape. When the Envoy for the German Empire, Klemens Freiherr von
Ketteler, was murdered on June 20 by Enhai, a Manchu bannerman, the
foreign powers declared open war against China. The Chinese Court, in
turn, proclaimed hostilities against those nations, who began to
prepare military forces to relieve the besieged embassies. In Peking,
the fortified legation compound remained under siege from Boxer forces
from June 20 to August 14. Under the command of the British minister
to China, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, the legation staff and security
personnel defended the compound with one old muzzle-loaded cannon (it
was nicknamed the "International Gun" because the barrel was
British, the carriage was Italian, the shells were Russian, and the
crew was American) and small arms.
Stories appeared in the foreign
media describing the fighting going on in Peking as well as alleged
torture and murder of captured foreigners. Chinese Christians suffered
even more greatly, as there were more of them and most were not able
to seek refuge in the legations, having to seek shelter elsewhere.
Those that were caught were raped as well as tortured and murdered. As
a result of these reports, a great deal of anti-Chinese sentiment was
generated in Europe, America, and Japan.
 Despite
their efforts, the Boxer rebels were unable to break into the
compound, which was relieved by the international army of the
Eight-Nation Alliance in July.
Eight-Nation
Alliance
First
intervention
Foreign navies started to build
up their presence along the northern China coast from the end of April
1900. Upon the request of foreign embassies in Beijing, 750 troops
from five countries were dispatched to the capital on May 31.
As the situation worsened, a
second International force of 2,000 marines under the command of the
British Vice Admiral Edward Seymour, the largest contingent being
British, was dispatched from Tianjin to Beijing on June 10th. They met
however with stiff resistance from Chinese governmental troops. They
were finally rescued by allied troops from Tianjin, where they
retreated back on June 26, with the loss of 350 men.
Second
intervention
With a difficult military
situation in Tianjin, and a total breakdown of communications between
Tianjin and Beijing, the allied nations took steps to reinforce their
military presence dramatically. On June 17th, they took the Taku Forts
commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and from there brought more and
more troops on shore.
The international force, with
British Lt-General Alfred Gaselee acting as the commanding officer,
called the Eight-Nation Alliance, eventually numbered 54,000, with the
main contingent being composed of Japanese soldiers: Japanese
(20,840), Russian (13,150), British (12,020), French (3,520), American
(3,420), German (900), Italian (80), Austro-Hungarian (75), and
anti-Boxer Chinese troops...
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