The Boxer Rebellion

It’s history time again, folks, and this chapter comes from another of those fine Osprey Men-At-Arms publications (which I got for Christmas), The Boxer Rebellion (by Lynn E. Bodin, and illustrated by Chris Warner).  These books give a very concise description of the events at issue and some nice color illustrations of the parties involved – plus some maps and black & white photos.

Background.  In 1900, China was still run by a monarchy, in particular the “Dowager Empress” Tzu Hsi.   “Foreign devils” still prevailed and pretty much told them what they could and could not do.  This had been going on since the Opium Wars of the 1840s, and even the Japanese got in on the act – they even took Korea away from the Chinese in a brief war in 1894.  

High time someone did something about it, right?  Well, the Boxers weren’t happy, and they did: these civilian troublemakers, officially calling themselves the Righteous and Harmonious Fists.  Tzu Hsi herself wanted the foreigners gone, and allowed the Boxers to do the dirty work.   The Boxers preferred to use primitive, traditional, weapons and rejected modern technology as “foreign”.  They also believed in magic, and that their magic would make them bulletproof.   Moreover, they considered Chinese Christians as traitors and mercilessly attacked these converts.    

In June 1900 the Boxers besieged the foreign delegation at Beijing and another one at the Pei T’ang Cathedral.   The Legation itself had a mixed bag of soldiers and sailors: from Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.   The cathedral was defended by French and Italian sailors.

A relief expedition led by British Admiral Seymour started out from Taku, went to Tientsin, then up northwest to Beijing.  However, the Admiral assumed the railroads would be in full working order.  Wrong.   A few things the Boxers grasped were the Europeans’ reliance on the telegraphs (which they cut) and the railroads, which they also cut.   This left the hapless Admiral with no choice but to return back to the arsenal at Hsiku, just outside Tientsin, and wait to be relieved.  D’oh!

In the meantime, the Boxers besieged Tientsin, which also had a sizable foreign legation.  It also seems the Boxers were getting substantial assistance from regular Chinese troops (nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more).  Yet again, d’oh!

Now the Allies finally decided to get their act together.   With some clever planning, they attacked the Chinese forts at Taku on the coast, the first step of a line of attacks leading up to Beijing.   By June 17, Taku was in Allied hands and secured.  Just in time, because Tientsin was barely holding out – though they were defended by some well-designed forts built by none other than future president Herbert Hoover. 

The Allies sent a substantial force northwest from Taku, and by June 23 had reached Tientsin and rescued Admiral Seymour.  Then they attacked Tientsin, and after a heavy battle managed to secure it by July 14.  They regrouped and planned the next phase:  moving northwest up to Beijing.  Battles at Pei Tsang (8/5), Yang Tsun (8/6), and Tsungchow (8/12), then Beijing itself, which fell fairly easily on August 14 thanks to a clever US bugler, Calvin Titus – and no thanks to the damn Russians, who refused to go along with plans in an ill-advised competition with the Japanese to grab all the glory to themselves.  

Although this lifted the siege of Beijing, the rebellion still stewed on for several months.   The Boxers’ last stronghold, at Pao Ting Fu, fell on October 20.  A peace treaty was finally signed in 1901.   The terms were even harsher against the Chinese than the prior treaties, but the Chinese were not in a position to bargain.  Nevertheless, although the Boxers were defeated militarily, the resentment and anger against the Allies – I’d say “Europeans” except that the US and Japanese were also among the groups involved – continued for decades thereafter and stoked the “gearwheel” Nationalist movement.

Who participated in this? 

Austria-Hungary contributed 400 sailors from various warships.  Aboard the armored cruiser SMS Kaiserin und Konigin Maria Theresa was a naval officer named Georg Von Trapp.  Sound familiar?
France sent troops from...Vietnam.  While most were French troops who had been stationed in Indochina, a few were actually Annamite (Vietnamese) colonial troops.
Germany sent several brigades, including some marines.  The Germans wore slouch hats we usually associate with Australians.
Italy sent sailors, Bersaglieri (elite riflemen), some Alpini, artillery, and engineers.  Both the Italians and Germans also sent volunteer units raised at home expressly for this operation.
Most of the troops from Great Britain were actually Indian.
Japan sent two divisions of infantry, the most of any country.
The Russians sent almost as many as the Japanese, mostly from their local districts. [In 1904, war broke out between the Russians and Japanese as these troops remained there long after the Boxers had been subdued.]
The US had Army and Marine units involved....and Herbert Hoover.

"55 Days in Peking."  This is a 1963 film with David Niven as the British commander of the Beijing group and Charlton Heston as the commander of the US Marines in the legation.  Modestly entertaining but a good depiction of the events in question.  Ava Gardner is also in here, mainly to look pretty and cause a scandal.