In November 1899, the Ihehtuan revolt broke out in China. This popular uprising was directed against foreigners who invaded China. The killing of European missionaries led the Western powers to declare war on China.
Reasons and Goals
At the end of the 19th century, the Qing Empire lived in China. Despite the catchy name, this state could not resist the influence of the Western powers. The first to appear in Beijing are the British. They settled not only in the capital, but also in strategically important ports. Europeans were most interested in their own trade influence in the East Asian region, which promised huge profits.
Japan faced a similar problem. In the second half of the 19th century, reforms began in this country to rebuild society and the economy in a Western manner. In China, such transformations have failed. The policy of isolationism from the Europeans also did not lead to anything.
Peasant discontent
At first, the Western powers were limited by trade privileges. But in the same second half of the 19th century, they began to capture Chinese ports. A stream of alien missionaries gushed into the country through them, preaching, including Christianity.
All this did not like the simple conservative population. In addition, at the beginning of 1890. the peasants suffered from several droughts and other natural disasters, which completely deprived them of already small farms. The discontent of the poor led to the beginning of the Ihehtuan uprising in the Celestial Empire. In historiography, it is also known as Boxing.
Spontaneous rebellion
The name "ihetuani" was assigned to the members of the formed units that participated in the struggle against foreigners. At first, these formations were fragmented and spontaneous, but over time they united into a common nationalist patriotic movement. The Ihe-Tuan rebellion was primarily directed against foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians. The members of the detachments practiced mystical and religious rites, borrowed from traditional Chinese cults. Another indispensable attribute of the rebels was regular fist fighting. It was because of this that they were also called “boxers”.
The impoverished artisans, ruined peasants, soldiers discharged from the army, and even adolescents with women joined the ranks of the Iethuan. The latter fact particularly surprised Europeans, who were not used to seeing something like this in their homeland. Ihe-Tuan rebellion (especially at the initial stage) did not give in to anyone's control. Under the conditions of anarchy, detachments often attacked not only foreigners, but also simple peasant villages. Such raids ended with robberies. This is partly why many people in China did not support their Etui.
Charter motion
The Iethuan had their own set of 10 rules, the execution of which was mandatory. This charter was riddled with mysticism, which was a characteristic feature of the whole movement. For example, “boxers” believed that they were invulnerable to shells and bullets. This idea was even recorded in the charter.
At the same time, their étuani explained the death of their comrades-in-arms from bullet wounds by the fact that only the rebel who has lost faith in his true gods can die. Such betrayal was punished by the fact that the spirits turned away from the soldier. Such logic allowed maintaining high discipline in complete superstitious people. Over time, among the “boxers" looting was condemned, which was punished by military leaders. Any looted goods (including from foreigners), the soldiers had to surrender to local authorities. The Chinese-Christian attitude remained fundamental. The heretic had to abandon his new faith, otherwise death awaited him.
Consolidation of government and rebels
The first local performances of the Etuans took place as early as 1897. However, it took a couple more years for the movement to acquire a truly significant scale. In November 1899, the Chinese government tried to calm the country with reforms, but they failed. The initiator and inspirer of the new course, Emperor Guangxu was removed from power. His aunt Cixi became the ruler. She openly supported the rebels.
Prior to this, the imperial army was sent to the epicenter of performances in the north of China. She suffered several defeats. In the circumstances, the central government and the radicals entered into a truce and began to wage a joint war against foreigners. Prior to this, the objectives of the Ihetuan uprising were also to overthrow the government, which had embarked on the path of pro-Western reforms. Now these slogans have been removed. By the end of 1899, the number of rebels reached 100 thousand people.
Fire flares up
Most of the foreigners were in Beijing, where, in addition to everything, the diplomatic quarter was also located. However, considerable European diasporas were in other cities: Liaoyang, Jilin, Yingkou, Mukden, etc. It was they who became the main centers of tension. Dissatisfied Chinese organized pogroms and killings of missionaries. Ihe-Tuan (Boxing) uprising forced the Western countries to send reinforcements to the Celestial Empire. Particularly active in this sense was Russia, which had a huge border with China.
Reinforcements began to arrive in the Qing Empire from Vladivostok and Port Arthur. At the first stage of the uprising, Russian forces in the region were commanded by Evgeny Alekseev. Later he was replaced by Nikolai Linevich. Meanwhile, riots in China were becoming more serious. Mobile set fire to European churches, including Orthodox churches and schools. At the end of May, a huge army of “boxers” moved to Beijing. On June 11, this army entered the capital and caused terrible bloodshed, the victims of which were many foreigners. The Ihethuan managed to overtake the detachment of Americans and British, who landed in Tianjin and went to the rescue of compatriots in Beijing. Gradually, all powers that had their own spheres of influence in China were drawn into the conflict. These were the USA, Germany, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Bloodshed in Beijing
For a while, the Chinese authorities, realizing that there was a big war on the verge, tried to come to terms with the Europeans. The maneuvers of the Qing government between foreign powers and rebels could not be endless. Empress Cixi had to decide which side she would take completely. On June 21, 1900, she officially declared war on the Europeans and Japan. The decisive factor that influenced her decision was the pogrom perpetrated by their Ietuans in the embassy quarter of Beijing the day before. During this intimidation, the German ambassador to China died.
The empress entered into an alliance with the rebels primarily because she was more afraid of disgruntled peasants than foreigners. This fear was justified. The reasons for the Ihethuan rebellion were hatred of Christians. On the night of June 24, 1900, this rage led to the fact that all Chinese professing the Western religion were killed in Beijing. The terrible event became known in Europe as the new Bartholomew’s night. Later, the victims of the massacre were canonized by the Orthodox Church.
The defeat of the rebels
On August 2, allied forces launched an offensive on Beijing. On the 13th, Russian units appeared on the outskirts of the city. The empress immediately left the capital and moved to Xi'an. The Ihe-Tuan Rebellion (Boxing Rebellion) in China has reached its climax. The defeat of the dissatisfied in Beijing would mean that the entire campaign against foreigners is doomed.
The assault on the capital began on August 15. The very next day, Beijing was in the hands of the Allied Powers. Now Manchuria has become the main focus of bloodshed. In October, this northern region was completely occupied by Russian troops. This operation finally crushed the Ihethuan rebellion. The consequences of foreign intervention were unclear to either the Chinese government or the allied countries. Even before the rebels were finally defeated, the European powers began the behind-the-scenes section of the Qing pie.
Summary
On September 7, 1901, the defeated China concluded the so-called “Final Protocol” with the Western powers. The treaty included provisions that further worsened the situation of the Qing Empire. The Chinese government pledged to punish all the leaders of the rebellion, to tear down several of its forts, to transfer 12 cities to foreigners, to ban all organizations whose activities were directed against the Europeans.
Conditions were enslaving, but the Chinese authorities had no power to resist these demands. The Ihtuan rebellion, in short, made the contradictions in the region even stronger and more complicated. In the end, after 11 years, they led to the fall of imperial power in China.