Boxer Rebellion (1900)

The Boxer Rebellion was a Chinese nationalistic backlash against Westerners in 1900 that endangered Americans and many Europeans. Brief but intense, it stands as a significant episode of anti-imperialist fervor at a time when the United States was just beginning to involve itself to a greater degree in international affairs and create its own empire.

By the late 19th century, European nations—Russia, Portugal, Italy, Great Britain, France, and Germany—had secured some territorial footing in China. After being [Page 85]coerced and intimidated, China had allowed these nations to send Christian missionaries to proselytize throughout the countryside and gave special foreign concessions to control various “spheres of interest” with near autonomy. American missionaries had been in China for a number of years before the Boxer uprising, but the United States did not enter the diplomatic and commercial struggle until the depression of 1893. This interest accelerated after the United States acquired the Philippines in 1899. By 1900, several thousand Westerners were in China trying to change its soul, economy, and physical landscape through missions, mines, railroads, and telegraphs. U.S. Secretary of State John Hay was a strong proponent of the Open Door policy, whereby Western nations would respect China's political integrity and maintain commercial equality. This policy would also allow the United States entry into the lucrative “China market” without having its own sphere of interest.

The Open Door policy did not, however, salve a dormant anger among many Chinese that foreign changes and influences were destroying their traditions and culture. These Chinese fiercely opposed the coerced changes in their society and blamed foreign influence for the floods and famine affecting much of northern China. Dissidents found a voice in the Boxers, who were loosely organized groups of fanatical antiforeign, anti-Christian Chinese known for their skill in martial arts as well as their belief in invulnerability and an ability to summon thousands of “spirit soldiers” to assist them.

During 1899, the Boxers gained in popularity and numbers throughout northern rural China. By early 1900, most missionaries were aware of an increasing hatred of them as well as their Chinese converts. In May, Boxers moved across the countryside, destroying railroads, dismantling telegraph lines, and murdering Christian missionaries, including some Americans, as well as their Chinese converts, whom the Boxers detested as much as the “foreign devils.” While the missionaries were threatened by the Boxers, Western diplomats in Peking did not move until the Boxers laid siege to a Belgian construction company in late May. The diplomats asked the empress of China for support, but it soon became evident that she supported the Boxers. When the Boxers openly appeared in Peking in late May, the various Western legations asked for and received token military support on June 1. Approximately 350 soldiers, including 50 U.S. Marines and five U.S. sailors, arrived to protect the Legation Quarter, which was soon teeming with hundreds of fleeing missionaries and thousands of Chinese converts. These forces patrolled the Legation Quarter until June 20, when the Chinese army besieged the diplomats. The multinational military force was woefully inadequate, with limited ammunition and firepower, but it managed to keep the Boxers and Chinese Imperial Army at bay until August 14, when more substantial forces relieved the Westerners.

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