2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

The Boxer Rebellion Concurrently to the Philippine Insurrection, Qing China was engulfed by a radical anti-imperialist movement, The Fists of Harmony and Justice, also known as the Boxers. The Boxers were called boxers because they were practitioners of Chinese martial arts and would publicly use ‘magic’ and incantations to supposedly become possessed by spirits which would grant them the power of invulnerability. The Boxer Movement was highly decentralised and mostly composed of peasants. The movement’s structure meant that it operated in smaller cells, with each cell having slightly different objectives. Though lacking in clear leadership, the goal of the Boxers was remarkably singular – to eliminate foreign influence in China. It appears that the Boxer movement was similar to the Pro-Imperial movement in Bakumatsu Japan, this assumption is based on the fact that they shared similar slogans – the Boxers were known to say “Support the Qing, exterminate the foreigners”, while in Japan the pro-imperial rallying cry was “Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians”. (Silbey D. J., 2012) The Boxers hoped to incite the Chinese peasants into a frenzied pogrom against any Christian they could find. The Boxers had little difficulty finding people who hated the Christians, as the missionaries and converts often abused their extraterritorial rights. The initial attacks against Christians were extremely counterproductive, the foreigners would use the killing of missionaries to justify intervening in China (the military strength of the foreign powers was so great that the Qing would sign off treaty ports out of fear). (Silbey D. J., 2012) The Boxer Rebellion differed greatly from previous rebellions. The Boxers had no intention of seizing the great cities of china and proclaiming their own emperor and their supposed loyalty to the Qing and anti- western agenda meant that the existing government was tepidly supportive of them. The Empress Dowager Cixi was running the country as regent for her nephew, the Guangxu Emperor. The Emperor had attempted to repair his empire during the 100 Days Reform. However, the Reform was suppressed by Cixi with the help of the conservative court faction, the factionalism within the regency government caused great instability. The Boxers took advantage of the situation at court to march into Beijing unopposed in the Spring of 1900. Upon entering Beijing, the Boxers began harassing Christians causing the foreign diplomats and their families to fortify themselves in the Western Legations and call for reinforcements. On the 20 th of June, the German minister was killed, and the legations properly besieged. The Legations resisted tenaciously as they were defended by professional soldiers. The foreign powers assembled an Eight-Nation Alliance to suppress the Boxer Rebellion. The Alliance raised two expeditions to suppress the revolt. The first expedition was a small force of around 2000 mostly western sailors. This expedition was hastily put together and rushed to Beijing, hoping that Qing forces would remain neutral and allow this force to fortify the Legations before the siege began. The second expedition numbered around 55000 men, the majority of whom were Japanese and Russian soldiers, with sizable contingents from the other empires and America. This expedition was meant to crush the revolt and fight pro-Boxer Qing forces. The first expedition was under the command of British Admiral Seymour, while the second was commanded by a council of officers led by British General Gaselee.