The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in 1900 during the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...
, with the stated aim of relieving the
foreign legations in
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, which were being
besieged by the popular
Boxer militiamen, who were determined to remove foreign imperialism in China. The allied forces consisted of about 45,000 troops from the eight nations of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, and
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. Neither the Chinese nor the quasi-concerted foreign allies issued a formal
declaration of war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the public signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national gov ...
.
No treaty or formal agreement bound the alliance together. Some Western historians define the first phase of hostilities, starting in August 1900, as "more or less a civil war", though the
Battle of the Taku Forts in June pushed the
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
government to support the Boxers. With the success of the invasion, the later stages developed into a punitive colonial expedition, which pillaged Beijing and
North China
North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities ...
for more than a year. The fighting ended in 1901 with the signing of the
Boxer Protocol
The Boxer Protocol was a Protocol (diplomacy), diplomatic protocol signed in China's capital Beijing on September 7, 1901, between the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including ...
.
[Hevia, James L. "Looting and its discontents: Moral discourse and the plunder of Beijing, 1900–1901" in R. Bickers and R.G. Tiedemann (eds.), ''The Boxers, China, and the world'' Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009 ]
History
Background
The Boxers, a peasant movement, had attacked and killed foreign missionaries, nationals, and
Chinese Christians across northern China in 1899 and 1900. The Qing government and its Imperial Army supported the Boxers and, under the
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
general
Ronglu, besieged foreign diplomats and civilians taking refuge in the
Legation Quarter in Beijing (then romanized as Peking).
The diplomatic compound was under siege by the Wuwei Rear Division of the Chinese Army and some Boxers (''Yihetuan''), for 55 days, from 20 June to 14 August 1900. A total of 473 foreign civilians, 409 soldiers from eight countries, and about 3,000 Chinese Christians took refuge in the Legation Quarter. Under the command of the British minister to China,
Claude Maxwell MacDonald, the legation staff and security personnel defended the compound with small arms and one old cannon discovered and unearthed by Chinese Christians, who turned it over to the allies. It was nicknamed the ''International Gun'' because the barrel was British, the carriage Italian, the shells Russian and the crew American.
Also under siege in Beijing was the North Cathedral, the
Beitang of the Catholic Church. The Beitang was defended by 43 French and Italian soldiers, 33 foreign Catholic priests and nuns, and about 3,200
Chinese Catholics. The defenders suffered heavy casualties from lack of food and Chinese
mines that exploded in tunnels dug beneath the compound.
On 14 August 1900, the allies marched to Beijing from
Tianjin
Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
to relieve the Legation Quarter siege.
Military engagement, punitive expeditions and looting
The allied troops invaded and occupied Beijing on 14 August 1900. They defeated the Qing Imperial Army's
Wuwei Corps in several engagements and quickly brought an end to the siege and also the Boxer Rebellion.
Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who effectively but periodically controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 ...
, the emperor and high government officials fled the
Imperial Palace for
Xi'an
Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
and sent
Li Hongzhang for peace talks with the alliance.

As allied troops moved from Beijing into the North China countryside, they executed unknown numbers of people accused or suspected of being or resembling Boxer rebels, which became the subject of an early short film. A
U.S. Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
wrote that he witnessed German and Russian troops raping and then bayoneting women. While the allies were in Beijing, they looted the palaces,
yamens, and government buildings inflicting incalculable loss of cultural relics, books on literature and history (including the famous ''
Yongle Dadian'') and damage to cultural heritage (including the
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...
, the
Summer Palace
The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden during the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quar ...
, Xishan and the
Old Summer Palace).
More than 3,000 gold-plated bronze
Buddhas
In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the supreme goal of Buddhism, variously described as awakening or enlighten ...
, 1,400 artistic products and 4,300 bronzes in
Songzhu Temple (嵩祝寺) were looted. The gold plating on the copper tanks in front of the Forbidden City palaces was scraped off by allied troops, leaving scratch marks that can be seen even now. The ''
Yongle Dadian'' that was compiled by 2,100 scholars during the
Ming Yongle period (1403–1408), with a total of 22,870 volumes, was partially destroyed in the
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...
in 1860. Later, it was collected in the Imperial Palace on Nanchizi Street. It was found and destroyed completely by the alliance in 1900. Part of the ''Yongle Dadian'' was used for the construction of fortifications.
The ''
Complete Library of the Four Treasuries'' (or ''Siku Quanshu'') was compiled by 360 scholars during the
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
Qianlong period. It collected 3,461 ancient books, totaling 79,309 volumes. The whole book consisted of seven sets. One set was destroyed in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Another 10,000 plus volumes were destroyed in 1900 by the Eight-Nation Alliance. The
Hanlin Academy
The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an. It has also been translated as "College of Literature" and "Academy of the Forest of Pen ...
houses a collection of precious books, orphans, books of the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
, literature and history materials, and precious paintings. The Eight-Nation Alliance looted the collections. Some of these looted books remain in the custody of museums in London and Paris.
Member nations
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary had a single cruiser, , on station at the beginning of the rebellion, based at the Russian
concession of
Port Arthur. Detachments of sailors from the ''Zenta'' were the only Austro-Hungarian forces to see action. Some were taking part in defending the legations under siege, and another detachment was involved in the rescue attempts.
In June, the Austro-Hungarians helped hold the Tianjin railway against Boxer forces and fired upon several armed
junks on the
Hai River
The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea.
During the Song dynasty, the main stream of the Hai River was called the lowe ...
near
Tongzhou in Beijing. They took part in the seizure of the
Taku Forts
The Taku Forts or Dagukou Forts (大沽口炮台), 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 ...
commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and the boarding and capture of four Chinese
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
s by
Capt. Roger Keyes of .
The
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majes ...
sent the cruisers , , and a company of marines to China. Arriving in September they were too late since most of the fighting had ended, and the legations had been relieved. The cruisers and the ''Zenta'' were involved in the shelling and capture of several Chinese forts. The Austro-Hungarians suffered minimal casualties during the rebellion. After the Boxer Uprising, a cruiser was maintained permanently on the Chinese coast, and a detachment of marines was deployed at the Austro-Hungarian embassy in Beijing. Lieutenant
Georg Ludwig von Trapp, made famous in the 1959 musical ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
'', was decorated for bravery aboard SMS ''Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia'' during the rebellion.
British Empire
At the outset of the Boxer Rebellion, Britain was engaged in the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
in South Africa. Consequently, with the army tied down by the war, the British had to rely on the
China Squadron and troops
largely from India. The
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
's China Squadron, stationed off Tianjin, consisted of the battleships and , the cruisers , , , , and , and the destroyers and .
British forces were the third-largest contingent in the alliance and consisted of the following units:
Naval Brigade, 12th Battery
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...
, Hong Kong & Singapore Artillery, 2nd Battalion
Royal Welsh Fusiliers,
1st Bengal Lancers,
7th Rajput Infantry,
24th Punjab Infantry,
1st Sikh Infantry,
Hong Kong Regiment,
1st Chinese Regiment,
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
, and other support personnel.
Australian colonies
The Australian colonies did not become a unified federation until 1901. As such, several of the colonies, independently of each other, sent contingents of naval and army personnel to support the British contingent. For example,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
sent its entire navy: the gunboat
HMCS ''Protector''. Australia was not an official member of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and its forces arrived too late to see significant action.
India
Britain provided 10,000 troops, many of whom were
Indian troops, made out of units of Baluchis, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Rajputs and Punjabis. The
1st
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
,
4th, and
14th Sikhs;
3rd Madras Native Infantry,
4th Goorkas,
22nd and
30th Bombay Native Infantry,
24th Punjab Infantry,
1st Madras Pioneers, No. 2 Company
Bombay Sappers, No. 3 Company
Madras Sappers, No. 4 Company
Bengal Sappers, and the
1st Bengal Lancers, among other Indian units, all served during the Rebellion.
Numerous Indian soldiers earned the
China War Medal 1900 with the "Relief of Pekin" clasp for contributing to the relief of Peking and the International Legations from June 10 to August 14, 1900.
Germany
Germany had gained a presence in China after the
Juye Incident
The Juye Incident (, ) refers to the killing of two German Catholic missionaries, Richard Henle and Franz Xaver Nies, of the Society of the Divine Word, in Juye County Shandong Province, China in the night of 1–2 November 1897 (All Saint ...
in which two German missionaries had been murdered in November 1897. The
concession in Jiaozhou Bay, with the port of
Qingdao
Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...
, was used as a naval base for the
East Asia Squadron and a trading port. The German concession was governed and garrisoned by the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...
. At the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion in June 1900, the garrison of the concession was composed of the ''III.
Seebataillon'', with 1,126 men, a marine/naval artillery battery, about 800 men of a ''Kommando'' Detachment and sailors from the East Asian Squadron.
With the increasing threat of the Boxers, a small armed group from the ''III. Seebatallion'' was sent to Beijing and Tianjin to protect German interests there while the majority of the remaining forces stayed behind to prevent attacks against Qingdao. The siege of the foreign legations in Beijing soon convinced Germany and the other European powers that more forces were needed to be sent to China to reinforce the allied forces. The first troops dispatched from Germany were the marine-''Expeditionskorps'' which consisted of the ''I.'' and ''II. Seebatallions''.
They were soon followed by the ''Ostasiatisches Expeditionskorps'' (East Asian Expeditionary Corps), which was a force of about 15,000 of mostly volunteers from the regular Army under the command of General
Alfred Count von Waldersee. It comprised initially four and later six two-battalion infantry regiments and a
''jäger'' company, single regiments of cavalry and field artillery and various support and logistics units. On arrival in China, it incorporated the marine-''Expeditionskorps'' that had preceded it to China by a few weeks.
Most of the German forces arrived too late to take part in any of the major actions. The first elements of the ''Expeditionskorps'' arrived at Taku on September 21, after the legations had been relieved. As a result, most of the ''Expeditionskorps'' was mainly employed for garrison duties. They fought a number of smaller engagements against pockets of remaining Boxers. The ''Expeditionskorps'' was disbanded and recalled to Germany in early 1901.
France
Three battalions of marines, the II/9th, and the I and II/11th RIMa which were stationed in
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...
were sent to China. They joined the 1st Brigade commanded by General
Henri-Nicolas Frey. In July 1900, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of infantry embarked from
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department.
The Commune of Toulon h ...
but did not reach China until September. In October, following losses and rotations of duty, the first three battalions sent were included in the 16th regiment of marines by order of General
Régis Voyron, commander in chief of the French Expeditionary Corps in China. On 1 January 1901, the 16th RIMa was renamed the 16th Regiment of colonial infantry. At the end of the campaign, it moved to a new base in Tianjin, with its headquarters in the former buildings of the Chinese admiralty.
Italy

In 1898, the Italians had demanded San Mun Bay as a concession, but the Chinese refused. The
Italian Navy
The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...
then dispatched a squadron to San Mun Bay, but no further action was taken. The squadron remained there, and in the summer of 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion broke out, detachments from Italian cruisers were sent to Beijing. Italian forces were initially made up of sailors from warships. Some of them helped the French defend the Pei Tang Catholic cathedral, and another defended the European Legations in Beijing during the 55-day siege. Italian sailors also took part in the attacks on the Taku forts and in capturing Tianjin.
A larger contingent was later dispatched from Italy, including 83 officers, 1,882 troops, and 178 horses. The contingent included a battalion of
Bersaglieri, which was formed from one company each from the
2nd Bersaglieri Regiment,
4th Bersaglieri Regiment,
5th Bersaglieri Regiment, and
8th Bersaglieri Regiment. In addition, the 24th Infantry Regiment of the
Brigade "Como", volunteers from the
Alpini, a battery of machine guns, and some engineers were also sent to China. A battery of field guns was also supplied by the Italian Navy. The total force of 1,965 officers and men, which composed the Italian expeditionary force against the Boxers, was officially referred to as the
Italian Royal Troops in China. In August 1900, when the larger force reached the capital, the Italians had seven cruisers and 2,543 men in the country. They were involved in numerous operations along the coast and in the interior of northern China.
The larger part of the approximately 2,000 Italian soldiers and officers who fought in the campaign against the Boxers were recalled from Beijing after the end of the conflict. Italy obtained a concession area in Tianjin and the right to occupy the
Shanhai Pass
The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
fort.
A small naval squadron and a naval garrison were maintained in China to protect Italian interests there.
Japan

Japan provided the largest contingent of troops; 20,840, as well as 18 warships. Of the total number, 20,300 were
Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
troops of the
5th Infantry Division under Lieutenant General
Yamaguchi Motomi; the remainder were 540 naval ''rikusentai'' (Marines) from the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...
.
At the beginning of the Boxer Rebellion, the Japanese had only 215 troops in northern China stationed at Tianjin, nearly all of whom were naval ''rikusentai'' from the and the , under the command of Captain
Shimamura Hayao. The Japanese were able to contribute 52 men to the
Seymour Expedition. On 12 June the advance of the Seymour Expedition was halted some 30 miles from the capital, by mixed Boxer and Chinese regular army forces. The vastly-outnumbered allies withdrew to the vicinity of Tianjin and had suffered more than 300 casualties.
The
army general staff in Tokyo had become aware of the worsening conditions in China and had drafted ambitious contingency plans, but the government, in the wake of the
Triple Intervention five years earlier, refused to deploy a large contingent of troops unless it was requested by the western powers. Three days later a provisional force of 1,300 troops, commanded by Major General
Fukushima Yasumasa, was deployed to northern China. Fukushima was chosen because he spoke English, which let him communicate with the British commander. The force landed near Tianjin on 5 July.
On 17 June naval ''Rikusentai'' from the ''Kasagi'' and ''Atago'' had joined British, Russian and German sailors to seize the Taku forts, near Tianjin. The British, in light of the precarious situation, were compelled to ask Japan for additional reinforcements since the Japanese had the only readily available forces in the region. Britain at the time was heavily engaged in the Boer War, and so much of the British Army was tied down in South Africa. In addition, deploying large numbers of troops from its
garrisons in India would take too much time and weaken internal security there.
Overriding personal doubts, Foreign Minister
Aoki Shūzō calculated that the advantages of participating in an allied coalition were too attractive to ignore. Prime Minister
Yamagata likewise concurred, but others in the cabinet demanded that guarantees from the British in return for the risks and costs of the major deployment of Japanese troops. On 6 July the 5th Infantry Division was alerted for possible deployment to China, but no timetable was set for its deployment. On 8 July, with more ground troops urgently needed to lift the siege of the foreign legations at Beijing, the British ambassador offered the Japanese government one million
pound sterling
Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...
in exchange for Japanese participation.
Shortly afterward, advance units of the 5th Division departed for China, bringing Japanese strength to 3,800 members of the 17,000-strong allied force. The commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Yamaguchi Motoomi, had taken operational control from Fukushima. Japanese troops were involved in the
storming of Tianjin on 14 July, and the allies later consolidated and awaited the remainder of the 5th Division and other coalition reinforcements. The siege of legations was lifted on 14 August; the Japanese force of 13,000 was the largest single contingent, making up about 40% of the approximately 33,000-strong allied expeditionary force.
Japanese troops involved in the fighting had acquitted themselves well although a British military observer felt that their aggressiveness, densely-packed formations, and overly aggressive attacks cost them excessive and disproportionate casualties. For example, during the Tianjin fighting, the Japanese suffered more than half of the allied casualties, 400 out of 730, but made up less than one quarter (3,800) of the force of 17,000. Similarly at Beijing, the Japanese accounted for almost two thirds of the losses, 280 of 453, but constituted slightly less than half of the assault force.
Russia

Russia supplied the second largest force, after Japan, with 12,400 troops consisting mainly of garrisons from Port Arthur and
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
. On 30 November 1900, Admiral
Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev compelled the Chinese military governor of
Shenyang
Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...
, Zeng Qi, to sign an agreement that effectively ended Chinese sovereignty over
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
and placed it under Russian control.
United States

In the United States, the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion was known as the
China Relief Expedition. The United States was able to play a major role in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion largely because of the presence of American forces deployed in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
since the U.S. annexation after the
Spanish–American War
The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
in 1898.
Of the foreigners under siege in Beijing, there were 56 American sailors and Marines from the
USS ''Oregon'' and
USS ''Newark''.
The main American formations deployed to relieve the siege were the
9th Infantry and
14th Infantry regiments, elements of the
6th Cavalry regiment, the
5th Artillery regiment, and a Marine battalion, all under the command of Colonel
Adna Chaffee.
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...
and
Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was an American philanthropist, geologist, and the first lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in community organizations and v ...
were living in the foreign compound during the siege when Mr. Hoover was working for the
Chinese Engineering and Mining Company. Mr. Hoover helped erect barricades and formed a protective force of the able-bodied men. Mrs. Hoover helped set up a hospital, nursed the wounded, set up a dairy, took part in the night watch, took tea to sentries and carried a
Mauser
Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and ...
.38 semi-automatic pistol.
See also
*
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German ...
*
Foreign concessions in China
Foreign concessions in China were a group of concessions that existed during late Imperial China and the Republic of China, which were governed and occupied by foreign powers, and are frequently associated with colonialism and imperialism.
The ...
*
Scramble for China
*
The Great Game
*
Great power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...
*
Mutual Protection of Southeast China
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Twain–Ament indemnities controversy
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Alfred von Waldersee
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Tai chi chuan
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G7
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G8
Notes
References
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* Thompson, Larry Clinton
''William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.
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External links
{{Qing dynasty topics
20th-century military alliances
Boxer Rebellion
Military expeditions
Military alliances involving Austria-Hungary
Military alliances involving France
Military alliances involving the German Empire
Military alliances involving Italy
Military alliances involving Japan
Military alliances involving Russia
Military alliances involving the United States