Siege of the International Legations

Siege of the International Legations, engagement from June 20 to August 14, 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Placed under siege by Chinese irregular forces and soldiers, the foreign legations in Peking (Beijing) held out for fifty-five days until relieved by an international expeditionary force. These events fatally undermined the authority of the Chinese Qing dynasty, which was eventually overthrown and replaced by a republic.

In 1899, Chinese frustration at the intervention of foreigners in their country, especially Christian missionaries, found expression in the Boxer Rebellion. Attacks on foreigners and Chinese Christians were orchestrated by a secret group known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, noted for their martial arts and calisthenic rituals that they believed made them invulnerable and impervious to bullets.

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By June 1900, the movement had spread to Peking, and the foreign legations had requested a special international expedition of troops (the 2,100-man “Seymour Expedition” led by British Vice Admiral Edward Seymour) to guard them from the Boxers torching Western churches, attacking foreign residences, and murdering Chinese Christians. The international force, eventually made up of forces from eight foreign governments, began their trek by train from Tianjin to Peking on June 10, but they met heavy resistance from imperial troops along the way, suffering heavy casualties, and within two weeks the Western relief force was itself in need of relief and forced to retreat back to Tianjin.

In light of this attempted march on Peking by foreign troops, China’s ruler, Empress Dowager Cixi, on June 20, ordered all foreigners and foreign diplomats also to leave Peking for Tianjin under escort of the Chinese army, which she ordered not to interfere with the Boxers. . When the German minister on the way to discuss the order at the Royal Court was killed by a Chinese guard, the foreign legations quickly fortified their compound, marking the beginning of the siege. In light of the foreigners’ refusal to leave the capital, Empress Cixi finally decided to back the rebels, declaring war on all foreign powers on June 21. Foreigners and Chinese Christians in Peking took refuge in the Legation Quarter, within an improvised defensive perimeter held by 409 soldiers of different nationalities. Fortunately for the foreigners, the Chinese troops and Boxers besieging them attacked only fitfully and with little determination.

On July 17, a cease-fire was agreed, although the siege was maintained. Foreign powers, meanwhile, had hastened to organize another, much larger international relief expedition, eventually composed of some 55,000 British, American, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, German, Japanese, French, and Russian troops. On August 4, the allied force began its trek from Tianjin to Peking. The Chinese troops made little serious attempt to block the relief column. As it approached the capital, however, assaults on the legation defenses resumed. The expeditionary force reached Peking on August 14. While U.S. Marines climbed the city walls, British troops found a way through an unguarded gate and reached the legations first. Empress Cixi fled the city. She was allowed to return only in 1902 after agreeing to humiliating peace terms, which included a punishing indemnity that bankrupted the Chinese government. The Qing dynasty, its prestige shattered, limped on until it was overthrown in 1912, enduring further defeats with the Japanese occupation of Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War.

Among the veterans of the siege was American civilian engineer Herbert Hoover, who designed part of the fortifications within the Legations. The future president’s wife, Lou, saw service as a nurse.

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Losses: Legation, 55 dead, some 135 wounded; Chinese casualties unknown.