Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion was a war that happened in China between 1899 and 1901.

The Foreigners in China

Main Articles: Opium Wars, First Sino-Japanese War

It happened during a time when many foreign countries were dominating China. These were countries like Japan, Britain, Germany, and Russia. China had lost many wars to these countries and were being humiliated by them.

The Boxers

The Boxers were angry Chinese people who went around killing foreigners and Chinese people who helped foreigners. The Boxers got a lot of people to help them and went to Peking (Beijing) to kill all of the foreigners.

55 Days at Peking

Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy made an alliance to keep the Boxers out of their part of the city. While they did that, the Empress Dowager Cixi declared war on all of them and sent the Chinese Army to help the Boxers. They fought for 55 days before the foreign reenforcements got through and defeated the Chinese. Afterwards there was a celebration, and foreign soldiers ran around stealing from the people and raping Chinese women. Their commander heard about it and was angry, but they kept doing it anyway.

Aftermath

The foreigners were very angry with the Chinese. They said that China had to pay them even more money and give them more land. They also said China had to execute every Boxer. China had to agree, and the foreigners got what they wanted. A few years later in 1911, the Qing Empire collapsed and China had a new government, but the foreigners still influenced China, especially Japan.

See Also

• Opium Wars
• First Sino-Japanese War
• Qing Dynasty
• Empress Dowager Cixi
• Imperial Japanese Army
• Open Door Policy
• Imperialism