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The siege of the International Legations occurred in 1900 in
Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, the capital of the Qing Empire, during the Boxer Rebellion. Menaced by the Boxers; an anti-Christian anti-foreign peasant movement, 900 soldiers, sailors, marines, and civilians, largely from Europe, Japan, and the United States, and about 2,800 Chinese Christians took refuge in the Peking Legation Quarter. The Qing government took the side of the Boxers after the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
at the
Battle of the Taku Forts (1900) The Battle of the Taku or Dagu Forts was a short engagement during the Boxer Rebellion between the Chinese Qing dynasty military and forces belonging to Eight Nation Alliance in June 1900. European and Japanese naval forces captured the Taku f ...
, without a formal declaration of war. The foreigners and Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter survived a 55-day siege by the Qing Army and Boxers. The siege was broken by an international military force, which marched from the coast of China, defeated the Qing Army, and occupied Peking (now known as
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
). The siege was called by the ''New York Sun'' "the most exciting episode ever known to civilization."


Legation Quarter

The Legation Quarter was approximately long and wide. It was located in the area of the city designated by the Qing government for foreign legations. In 1900, there were eleven legations located in the quarter as well as a number of foreign businesses and banks. Ethnic Chinese-occupied houses and businesses were also scattered about the quarter. The twelve or so Christian
missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
organizations in Beijing were not located in the Legation Quarter, but rather dispersed around the city. In total, about 500 citizens of Western countries and Japan resided in the city. The northern side of the Legation quarter was near the
Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
where the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
resided. The massive Tartar Wall which ringed the entire city of Beijing bordered the south. The eastern and western sides of the Legation Quarter were major streets.


Rising tensions

By 1900, foreign powers had been chipping away at Chinese sovereignty for over six decades. After Chinese defeats in the
Opium Wars The Opium Wars () were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century. The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and the United Kingdom, and was triggered by the Chinese government's c ...
and Tonquin War, the
Qing government The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
was forced to sign several "
unequal treaties Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...
" with the
Western powers The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
, granting them the right to free trade in the previously
isolationist Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entan ...
nation along with
extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...
for subjects of Western nations. Japan obtained similar privileges after its victory in the
First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...
. Anti-Japanese and anti-Western sentiments helped lead to the formation of the '' Yihetuan'', whose stated goal was to drive foreigners and foreign influence (including
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
) out of China.


Boxer movement

Authorities differ as to the origin of the Boxers, but they became prominent in Shantung ( Shandong) in 1898 and spread northward toward Beijing. They were an indigenous peasant movement, related to the secret societies that had flourished in China for centuries and that had, on occasion, threatened Chinese central governments. The Boxers were named—probably by American missionary Arthur H. Smith—for their acrobatic rituals which included martial arts, twirling swords, prayers and incantations. The Boxers believed that with the proper ritual they would become invulnerable to Western bullets. The religious and magical practices of the Boxers had "as a paramount goal the affording of protection and emotional security in the face of a future... that was fraught with danger and risk." The Boxers had no central organization but appear to have been organized on the village level. They were anti-foreign and anti-missionary. Their slogan was "Support the Qing! Destroy the Foreigner!". Initially feared as a possible threat by the Chinese government, they slowly gained the support of influential politicians in Beijing, who saw the Boxers as a movement that could be used to eliminate foreign influence in China.


Boxers attack Christians

In early 1900 the Boxer movement spread rapidly north from Shandong into the countryside near Beijing. Boxers burned Christian churches, murdered Chinese Christians and intimidated Chinese officials who stood in their way. Two missionaries, Protestant
William Scott Ament William Scott Ament (Chinese Names: 梅子明 and 梅威良 Mei Wei Liang) (14 September 1851 – 6 January 1909 in San Francisco) was a missionary to China for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from 1877, and wa ...
and Catholic Bishop Favier, reported to the diplomatic ministers (Ambassadors) about the growing threat. American Minister Edwin H. Conger cabled Washington, "The whole country is swarming with hungry, discontented, hopeless idlers." Requesting a warship to be stationed offshore of Tianjin, the nearest port to Beijing, he reported, "Situation becoming serious." On May 30, the diplomats, led by British Minister
Claude Maxwell MacDonald Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, (12 June 1852 – 10 September 1915) was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. Early life MacDonald was born the son of Mary Ellen MacDonald (''nee'' Dougan) and Ma ...
, requested that foreign soldiers come to Beijing to defend the legations and the citizens of their countries. The Chinese government reluctantly acquiesced, and the next day more than 400 soldiers from eight countries disembarked from warships and traveled by train to Beijing from Tianjin. They set up defensive perimeters around their respective missions. On June5 the Boxers cut the railroad line to Tianjin and Beijing became isolated from other foreign settlements. On June11 a Japanese diplomat, Sugiyama Akira, was murdered by soldiers of Gen.
Dong Fuxiang Dong Fuxiang (1839–1908), courtesy name Xingwu (), was a Chinese general who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the Western Chinese province of Gansu. He commanded an army of Hui soldiers, which included the later Ma clique gene ...
and the next day the first Boxer, dressed in his finery, was seen in the Legation Quarter. The German Minister,
Clemens von Ketteler Clemens August Freiherr von Ketteler (22 November 1853 – 20 June 1900) was a German career diplomat. He was killed during the Boxer Rebellion. Early life and career Ketteler was born at Münster in western Germany on 22 November 1853 into ...
, and German soldiers captured another Boxer. In response, that afternoon thousands of Boxers burst into the walled city of Beijing and burned most of the Christian churches and cathedrals in the city, murdering many Chinese Christians and several Catholic priests. The Boxers accused Chinese Christians of collaborating with the foreigners. American and British missionaries and their converts took refuge in the Methodist Mission and American marines repulsed an attack there by the Boxers. Soldiers at the British embassy and German legations shot and killed several Boxers.


Dilemma of the Chinese government

In mid-June the Chinese government was still indecisive about the Boxers. Some officials—
Ronglu Ronglu (6 April 1836 – 11 April 1903), courtesy name Zhonghua, was a Manchu political and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the Guwalgiya clan, which was under the Plain White Banner of the Manchu Eight Banners. ...
, for example—counseled the Empress Dowager that the Boxers were "rabble" who would be easily defeated by foreign soldiers. On the other side of the question were anti-foreign officials who advised cooperation with the Boxers. "The Court appears to be in a dilemma," said
Sir Robert Hart Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, (20 February 1835 – 20 September 1911) was a British diplomat and official in the Qing Chinese government, serving as the second Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service (IMCS) from 1863 to ...
. "If the Boxers are not suppressed, the Legations threaten to take action—if the attempt to suppress them is made, this intensely patriotic organization will be converted into an anti-dynastic movement." The event that irrevocably pushed the Chinese government to the side of the Boxers was the attack by foreign warships on the
Taku Forts The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts, also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, in northeastern China. They are located southeast of the Tianjin urban center. History The ...
on June 17. The attack was made to try to maintain communications with Tianjin and aid an army under the command of Adm. Edward Seymour in its attempt to march to Beijing during the
Seymour Expedition The Seymour Expedition was an attempt by a multi-national military force to march to Beijing and relieve the Siege of the Legations and foreign nationals from attacks by government troops and Boxers in 1900. The Chinese army and Boxer fighter ...
and reinforce the Legations. On June 19 the Empress Dowager sent a diplomatic note to each of the legations in Beijing informing them of the attack on Dagu and ordering all foreigners to depart Beijing for Tianjin within 24 hours. Otherwise, said the note, "China will find it a difficult matter to give complete protection." Upon receipt of the note, the diplomats convened and agreed it would be suicidal to leave the Legation Quarter and travel to the coast in an unfriendly countryside. The next morning, June 20,
Baron von Ketteler Baron Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler (25 December 181113 July 1877) was a German theologian and politician who served as Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz, Bishop of Mainz. His social teachings became influential during the papacy of Leo XIII and h ...
, the German Minister, proposed to take up the matter with the
Zongli Yamen The ''Zongli Yamen'' (), short for Office for the General Management of Affairs Concerning the Various Countries (), also known as Prime Minister's Office, Office of General Management, was the government body in charge of foreign policy in imp ...
, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, but he was murdered by a Manchu officer, Capt. En Hai of the
Hushenying The Hushenying () were a unit of 10,000 Manchu Bannermen under the command of Zaiyi during the Boxer Rebellion. Zaiyi himself created the unit in 1899, but it was decimated at the Battle of Peking in 1900 when the Eight-Nation Alliance captured ...
, while en route to the meeting. With this, the Ministers informed all their citizens in Beijing to take refuge in the Legation Quarter. Thus began the 55-day siege.


Besieged

The British, American, French, German, Japanese, and Russian military guards each took responsibility for the defense of their respective legations. The Austrians and Italians abandoned their isolated legations. The Austrians joined the French and the Italians collaborated with the Japanese. The Japanese and Italian force established defense lines in the Fu – a large mansion and park where most of the estimated 2,812 Chinese Christians taking refuge were housed. The American and German Marines held positions on the Tartar Wall behind their legations. The 409 foreign soldiers had the job of defending a line that snaked through of urban terrain. The great majority of foreign civilians took refuge in the British Embassy, the largest and most defensible of the International Legations despite the burning of Peking University in an effort to damage the British Legation, which was only a few feet away. A census of civilians counted 473 foreign civilians in the Legation Quarter: 245 men, 149 women, and 79 children. About 150 of the men volunteered to participate, to a greater or lesser extent, in the defense. The civilians included at least 19 nationalities of which British and Americans were the most numerous. Large numbers of Chinese Christians were conscripted for labor, especially for building barricades. The British Minister Claude MacDonald was selected as the commander of the defense and
Herbert G. Squiers Herbert Goldsmith Squiers (April 20, 1859 – October 19, 1911) was an American diplomat and soldier, who served as the U.S. minister to Cuba (1902–1905), and Panama (1906–1909) and a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. Ear ...
, an American diplomat, became his chief of staff. The guards of the different countries, however, operated semi-independently and MacDonald could only suggest, not order, coordinated action. The guards were not well armed. Only the American Marines had sufficient ammunition. The defenders had three machine guns. The Italians had a small cannon. An old cannon barrel was found in the Legation Quarter and from it a serviceable artillery piece was constructed that the Americans called "Betsy" and others called "the International". The foreigners ransacked the Legation Quarter for food and other supplies. Food and water were adequate, although the foreigners without private food stocks subsisted on a steady diet of horsemeat and musty rice. However, the Chinese Christians, especially the Catholics, had a much harder time of it and by the end of the siege were starving. The Protestant missionaries took care of their converts, but the Chinese Catholics were mostly neglected. Medical supplies were scarce but a sizeable number of doctors and nurses, mostly missionaries, were present. American missionaries took over management of most necessities for life in the Legation Quarter, including food, water, sanitation, and health. MacDonald appointed Methodist Missionary Frank Gamewell as chief of the Fortifications Committee. Gamewell and his crew of "fighting parsons" were acclaimed for their defensive works surrounding the British Legation. About three miles distant from the Legation Quarter a similar siege took place at the Beitang or North Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church. 33 priests and nuns, 43 French and Italian soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Eugène Darcy, and more than 3,000 Chinese Christians held off the Chinese army and Boxers. There was no communication during the siege between the Beitang and the Legation Quarter. In addition to Boxers, the cathedral was also attacked by Metropolitan Banner
Manchus The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
. Manchu Prince
Zaiyi Zaiyi (; Manchu: ; ''dzai-i''; 26 August 1856 – 10 January 1923),Edward J.M. Rhoads, ''Manchus & Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928'', University of Washington Press, 2001 better ...
's Manchu
bannermen Bannerman is a name of Scottish origin (see Clan Bannerman) and may refer to Places ;Canada * Bannerman, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Canada ;United States * Bannerman, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Bannerman's Castle, an a ...
in the Tiger and Divine Corps led attacks against the Catholic cathedral church. Manchu official Qixiu 啟秀 also led attacks against the cathedral.


Chinese attacks and resolve

For several days after June 20—the official beginning of the siege—neither the foreigners inside the Legation Quarter nor the Chinese soldiers outside it had any coherent plan for defense or attack. The number of Chinese soldiers ringing the legations is uncertain, but numbered in the thousands. On the west were the Gansu Muslim soldiers of Dong Fuxiang and on the east were units of the Peking Field Army. The overall commander of the Chinese forces was Ronglu—who was anti-Boxer and disapproved of the siege. Chinese policy equivocated between belligerence and conciliation during the 55-day siege. Several attempts by Ronglu to effect a cease-fire failed because of suspicions and misunderstandings on both sides.Fleming, pp. 228–9 The Chinese first attempted to massacre the foreigners in the Legation Quarter by using fire. For several days at the beginning of the siege they set fires in the buildings around the British Legation. On June 23, most of the buildings of the Hanlin Academy, the national library of China, and its books, many irreplaceable, burned. Both sides blamed the other for its destruction. The Chinese Army then turned its attention to the Fu, the refuge for most of the Chinese Christians, and the domain of Lt. Col. Gorō Shiba, the most admired military officer in the siege. Shiba, with his small group of Japanese soldiers, mounted a skillful defense against the Chinese who advanced behind walls built ever-closer to the Japanese, threatening to surround them in a vise-like grip. British soldiers were often detailed to reinforce the Japanese during attacks and all admired Shiba's work. The most desperate fighting took place near the French Legation, where 78 French and Austrians and 17 volunteers were under assault in convoluted urban terrain, in which the front lines were only from each other. The French also feared that Chinese
sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing ...
s were digging tunnels for mines beneath their positions. The Germans and the Americans occupied perhaps the most crucial of all defensive positions: the Tartar Wall. Holding the top of the tall and wide Wall was vital. If it fell to the Chinese, they would have an unobstructed field of fire into the Legation Quarter. The German barricades faced east on top of the wall and west were the west-facing American positions. The Chinese advanced toward both positions by building barricades ever-closer. It was a claustrophobic existence for the soldiers on the wall. "The men all feel they are in a trap," said the American commander, Capt. John T. Myers, "and simply await the hour of execution." Added to the daily advances of the Chinese were the nightly serenades of rifle and artillery fire and firecrackers designed to keep the foreigners awake and alert. "From June 20 to July 17 we had nightly attacks," said a missionary woman. American Minister Conger said "that some of them, for furious firing, exceeded anything he experienced in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
." The hard-pressed Legation guards saw their numbers diminish daily with casualties. The Chinese were divided on the prosecution of the siege. The anti-Boxer faction, headed by Ronglu, and the anti-foreign faction, headed by Prince Duan, squabbled at the Chinese court. Cixi, the Dowager Empress, vacillated between the two. She declared a truce for negotiations on June 25, but it endured only a few hours. She declared a cease-fire on July 17 which lasted for most of the remainder of the siege. As a sign of good will, she sent food and supplies to the foreigners. The disagreements among the Chinese occasionally resulted in altercations and violence between Boxers and soldiers and between different units of the Imperial army.


Fight on the Wall

The most critical threat to the survival of the foreigners came in early July. On June 30 the Chinese forced the Germans off the Tartar Wall, leaving the American Marines alone in its defense. At the same time a Chinese barricade advanced to within a few feet of the American positions and it became clear that the Americans had to abandon the wall or force the Chinese to retreat. At 2:00 am on July 3 the foreigners launched an assault against the Chinese barricade on the wall with 26 British, 15 Russian and 15 Americans under the command of American Capt. John T. Myers. As hoped, the attack caught the Chinese sleeping; about 20 of them were killed and the survivors expelled from the barricades. Two American Marines were killed and Capt. Myers was wounded and spent the rest of the siege in the hospital. The capture of Chinese positions on the Wall was hailed as the "pivot of our destiny" by one of the besieged. The Chinese did not attempt to regain or advance their positions on the Tartar Wall for the remainder of the siege.


Darkest days and a truce

Sir Claude MacDonald said July 13 was the "most harassing day" of the siege. The Japanese and Italians in the Fu were driven back to their last defense line. While the Fu was under heavy attack, the Chinese detonated a mine beneath the French Legation, destroying most of it, killing two soldiers and pushing the French and Austrians out of most of the French Legation. Frank Gamewell began digging bombproof shelters as a last refuge for the besieged. The end seemed near. The next day, a conciliatory message received from the Chinese raised hopes, but those hopes were dashed on July 16 when the most capable British officer was killed and journalist
George Ernest Morrison George Ernest Morrison (4 February 1862 – 30 May 1920) was an Australian journalist, political adviser to and representative of the government of the Republic of China during the First World War and owner of the then largest Asiatic library ...
was wounded. However, American Minister Conger carried on a communication with the Chinese government and on July 17 firing died down on both sides and an armistice began.


Relief of the Legations

On July 28 the foreigners in the Legation Quarter received their first message from the outside world in more than a month. A Chinese boy—a student of the missionary William Scott Ament—sneaked into the Legation Quarter with the news that a rescue army of the Eight-Nation Alliance was in
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
away and would advance shortly to Beijing. The news was hardly reassuring, as the besieged had been expecting an earlier rescue. The Chinese government also passed along inquiries about the welfare of the besieged from their governments. A British soldier suggested that an appropriate reply would be, "Not massacred yet." After many relatively quiet days, the night of August 13, with the rescue army just outside the gates of Beijing, may have been the most difficult of the siege. The Chinese broke the truce with an artillery barrage of the British Legation and heavy fire in the Fu. However, the Chinese confined themselves to firing from a distance rather than mounting an assault until, at 2:00 am on August 14, the defenders heard from the east the sound of a machine gun, a sign that the rescue army was on the way. At 5:00 am came the sound of artillery outside the walls of Beijing. Five national contingents advanced on the walls of Beijing on August 14: British, American, Japanese, Russian and French. Each had a gate in the Wall for its objective. The Japanese and Russians were delayed at their gates by Chinese resistance. The small French contingent got lost. The Americans scaled the walls rather than attempting to force their way through a fortified gate. However, it was the British who won the race to relieve the siege of the legations. They entered the city through an unguarded gate and proceeded with virtually no opposition. At 3:00 pm the British passed through a drainage ditch—the "water gate"—under the Tartar Wall. Sikh and Rajput soldiers from India and their British officers had the honor of being the first to enter the Legation Quarter. The Chinese armies ringing the legation quarter melted away. A short time later the British commander, Gen.
Alfred Gaselee General Sir Alfred Gaselee, , (3 June 1844 – 29 March 1918) was a soldier who served in the Indian Army. Early life Gaselee was born at Little Yeldham, Essex, the eldest son of the Reverend John Gaselee, rector of Little Yeldham, and his w ...
, entered and was greeted by Sir Claude MacDonald dressed in "immaculate tennis flannels" and a crowd of cheering ladies in party dresses. The American troops, under Gen. Adna Chaffee, arrived at 5:00 pm. The commanding Muslim general,
Ma Fulu Ma Fulu ( Chinese: 马福禄, Pinyin: Mǎ Fúlù, Xiao'erjing: ; 1854 – 1900), a Chinese Muslim, was the son of General Ma Qianling and the brother of Ma Fucai, Ma Fushou and Ma Fuxiang. He was a middle born son. In 1880, Ma Fulu went to Be ...
, and four cousins of his were killed in action against the foreign forces. After the battle was over, the Chinese Muslim forces guarded the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
when she fled to
Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...
with the entire Imperial Court; general
Ma Fuxiang Ma Fuxiang (, Xiao'erjing: , French romanization: Ma-Fou-hiang or Ma Fou-siang; 4 February 1876 – 19 August 1932) was a Chinese military and political leader spanning the Qing Dynasty through the early Republic of China and illustrated the po ...
assisted in guarding Cixi.


Casualties

The foreigners were united in declaring the miraculous nature of their survival. "I seek in vain some military reason for the failure of the Chinese to exterminate the foreigners," said an American military officer. Missionary Arthur Smith summed up the Chinese military performance. "Upon unnumbered occasions, had they been ready to make a sacrifice of a few hundred lives, they could have extinguished the defence f the Legation Quarterin an hour." However, the equivocation on the part of the Chinese to use their military assets decisively against the Legation Quarter does not deny the fact that soldiers on both sides fought and died in large numbers. The foreign soldiers defending the Legation Quarter suffered heavy casualties. Of the 409 soldiers, 55 were killed and 135 wounded, a casualty rate of 46.5%. In addition, 13 civilians were killed and 24 wounded, mostly men who participated in the defence. A small Japanese force of one officer and 24 sailors commanded by Col. Shiba distinguished itself defending the Fu and the Chinese Christians there. It suffered greater than 100% casualties. This was possible because many of the Japanese troops were wounded, entered into the casualty lists, then returned to the line of battle only to be wounded once more and again entered in the casualty lists. The French force of 57 men also suffered more than 100% casualties. Chinese military casualties are not known, nor were deaths among the Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter recorded.


Propaganda

During the siege Sheng Xuanhuai and other provincial officials suggested the Qing court give
Li Hongzhang Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...
full diplomatic power to negotiate with foreign powers. Li Hongzhang telegraphed back to Sheng Xuanhuai on June 25, describing the war declaration a "false edict" (luanming). Later, the " Southeast Mutual Protection" was reached by provincial officials as a consensus not to follow Empress Cixi’s declaration of war. Li Hongzhang also totally refused to listen to orders from the government for more troops when they were needed to fight against the foreigners, which he had available, derailing the Chinese war effort. Li Hongzhang used the siege as a political weapon against his rivals in Beijing, since he controlled the Chinese
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
service; he exaggerated and lied, claiming that Chinese forces committed atrocities and murder upon the foreigners and exterminated all of them. This information was sent to the Western world. He aimed to infuriate the Europeans against the Chinese forces in Beijing, and succeeded in spreading massive amounts of false information to the West. This false information spread by Li played a part in the massive atrocities which the foreigners later committed upon the Chinese in Beijing. For refusing to obey the Chinese government's orders and not sending his own troops to help the Chinese army at all during the Boxer Rebellion, Li Hongzhang was praised by the Westerners.


Aftermath

The Empress Dowager and her court fled Beijing on August 15. She remained in exile in Shanxi province until 1902, when she was permitted by the foreign armies occupying Beijing to return to reoccupy the throne. For China, the Boxer Rebellion was a disaster, but China remained together as a single country. Ironically, prior to the Boxer Rebellion it seemed likely China would be divided by the colonial powers. The Chinese government supported the Boxers, who otherwise might have turned anti-Qing and hastened the extinction of the dynasty, but was unsuccessful in killing the foreigners in the Legations. Had the Chinese succeeded, retribution from the Western nations and Japan might have been more severe. Ronglu later took credit for saving the besieged: “I was able to avert the crowning misfortune which would have resulted from the killing of the Foreign Ministers”. Ronglu was being disingenuous, as his forces came very close to breaking the ability of the besieged to resist. The Boxer movement disintegrated during the siege. Some Boxers were incorporated into the army but, probably, most returned to their homes in the countryside where they became targets for punitive expeditions by the foreign military forces occupying Beijing after the siege. The military occupation of Beijing and much of northern China became an orgy of looting and violence in which foreign soldiers, diplomats, missionaries, and journalists participated. Reports of the behaviour of the foreigners in Beijing caused widespread criticism in Western countries, including from Mark Twain. While the rescue of the besieged foreigners in the Legation Quarter was seen as a proof of the superiority of Western civilization, the sordid aftermath of the siege may have contributed to many people in the United States and Europe reevaluating the morality of forcing Western culture and religion on the Chinese.Thompson, 194–204.


See also

* Qing Dynasty Royal Decree on events leading to the signing of Boxer Protocol


References


Citations


Sources

* Allen, Rev. Roland ''The Siege of the Peking Legations''. London: Smith, Elder, 1901 * ''Annual Reports of the War Department, 1901'' Washington: Government Printing Office, 1901 * Bickers, Robert and Tiedemann, R.G., ''The Boxers, China, and the World''. Lanham, MD; Rowman and Littlefield, 2007 * * * Cohen, Paul A. ''History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth''. New York: Columbia U Press, 1997 * Conger, Sarah Pike, ''Letters from China''. Chicago: A.C McClurg, 1910 * Davids, Jules, ed. ''American Diplomatic and State Papers: The United States and China: Boxer Uprising''. Series 3, Vol. 5, Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1981 * Der Ling, Princess. ''Two Years in the Forbidden City''. New York: Moffat, Yard, 1911 * Fenn, Rev. Courtnay Hughes, "The American Marines in the Siege of Peking". ''The Independent''. Dec 6, 2000 * Fleming, Peter. ''The Siege at Peking''. New York: Harper, 1959 * ''Foreign Relations of the United States'', Washington: Government Printing Office, 1900
Ingram, James H., M.D. "The Defense of the Legations in Peking I". ''The Independent''. Dec 13, 1900, p. 2979-2984.

Ingram, James H., M.D. "The Defense of the Legations in Peking II". ''The Independent''. Dec 20, 1900, p. 2035-40.
* Lynch, George. "Vae Victis! The Allies in Peking after the Siege". ''The Independent''. Nov 8, 1900 * Martin, W.A.P. ''The Siege in Peking''. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1900 * Mateer, Ada Haven. ''Siege Days: Personal Experiences of American Women and Children during the Peking Siege.'' Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1903 * Miner, Luella, "A Prison in Peking: The Diary of an American Woman during the Siege". ''The Outlook'', Nov. 10, 17, 24, 1900 * Morrison, Dr. George E. "The Siege of the Peking Legations" ''The Living Age'', Nov 17, 24 and Dec 1, 8, and 15, 1900* * Myers, Capt. John T. "Military Operations and Defenses of the Siege of Peking". ''Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute'' September, 1902 * O'Connor, Richard. ''The Spirit Soldiers: A Historical Narrative of the Boxer Rebellion''. New York: Putnams, 1973 * Oliphant, Nigel, A Diary of the Siege of the Legations in Peking. London: Longman, Greens, 1901 * Porter, Henry D. ''William Scott Ament: Missionary of the American Board to China''. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1911 * Preston, Diana. ''The Boxer Rebellion''. New York: Berkley Books, 1999 * Ransome, Jessie. ''The Story of the Siege Hospital''. London: SPCK, 1901 * Seagrave, Sterling. ''Dragon Lady: the Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China''. New York: Vantage, 1992 * Smith, Arthur H. ''China in Convulsion''. 2 Vols. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1901 * "The Fortification of Peking during the Siege". ''The Gospel in all Lands''. Feb 1902 * Thompson, Larry Clinton. ''William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris, and the Ideal Missionary''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009. * Thompson, Peter and Macklin, Robert ''The Man who Died Twice: The Life and Adventures of Morrison of Peking''. Crow’s Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2005 * Weale, B. L. (
Bertram Lenox Simpson Bertram Lenox Simpson (1877–1930) was a British author who wrote about China under the pen name "B. L. Putnam Weale" (or sometimes simply "Putnam Weale"). Lenox Simpson was the son of Clare Lenox-Simpson, who had been in the Chinese Maritime C ...
), ''Indiscreet Letters from Peking.'' New York: Dodd, Mead, 1907 {{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Beijing Legation Quarter 20th century in Beijing 1900 in China 1900 in international relations Attacks on diplomatic missions in China International Legations International Legations International Legations Expeditionary warfare Military history of Beijing International Legations International Legations United States Marine Corps in the 20th century