In November 1899, the Yihetuan uprising broke out in China. This popular uprising was directed against foreigners who flooded the Celestial Empire. The killing of European missionaries led the Western powers to declare war on China.
Reason and purpose
At the end of the 19th century, the Qing Empire was living out its days in China. Despite the catchy name, this state could not resist the influence of Western powers. The British were the first to arrive in Beijing. They settled not only in the capital, but also in strategically important ports. The Europeans were most interested in their own trading 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, designed to rebuild society and the economy in a Western manner. In China, such reforms have failed. The policy of isolationism from the Europeans also did not lead to anything.
Peasant discontent
At first, the Western powers were limitedtrading privileges. But in the same second half of the 19th century, they began to seize Chinese ports. Through them, a stream of foreign missionaries poured into the country, preaching, among other things, Christianity.
All this did not please the simple conservative population. In addition, in the early 1890s the peasants suffered from several droughts and other natural disasters, which finally deprived them of their already small farms. The discontent of the poor strata led to the fact that the Ihetuan uprising began in the Celestial Empire. In historiography, it is also known as Boxing.
Spontaneous uprising
The name "ihetuani" was assigned to members of the formed detachments participating in the struggle against foreigners. At first, these formations were scattered and spontaneous, but over time they united into a common nationalist patriotic movement. The Yihetuan uprising was primarily directed against foreign missionaries and Christian Chinese. Members of the detachments practiced mystical and religious rites borrowed from traditional Chinese cults. Another obligatory attribute of the rebels was regular fisticuffs. It is because of this that they were also called "boxers".
Impoverished artisans, bankrupt peasants, soldiers demobilized from the army, and even teenagers with women joined the ranks of the Yihetuan. The latter fact was especially surprising to Europeans who were not accustomed to seeing something similar in their homeland. The Yihetuan uprising (especially at the initial stage) did not yield to anyone's control. In conditionsthe onset of anarchy, detachments often attacked not only foreigners, but also simple peasant villages. Such raids ended in robberies. This is partly why many people in China did not support the yhetuan.
Charter of movement
The Yihetuan had their own set of 10 rules, the implementation of which was mandatory. This charter was permeated with mysticism, which was a characteristic feature of the entire movement. For example, "boxers" believed that they were invulnerable to projectiles and bullets. This idea was even recorded in the charter.
At the same time, the Ihetuani explained the death of their comrades-in-arms from bullet wounds by the fact that only the rebel who had lost faith in his true gods could die. Such betrayal was punished by the fact that the spirits turned away from the soldier. Such logic made it possible to maintain high discipline in detachments full of superstitious people. Over time, looting was condemned among the "boxers", which was punished by military leaders. Any stolen goods (including from foreigners) were to be handed over to the local authorities. The attitude towards Chinese Christians remained fundamental. The heretic had to renounce his new faith or face death.
Consolidation of the government and the rebels
The first local performances of the Yihetuan took place as early as 1897. However, it took another couple of years for the movement to take on a truly significant scale. In November 1899, the Chinesethe 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 began to rule. She openly supported the rebels.
Before that, the imperial army was sent to the epicenter of the performances in the north of China. She has suffered several defeats. Under the circumstances, the central government and the radicals concluded a truce and began to wage a joint war against foreigners. Prior to this, the goals of the Yihetuan 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 breaks out
Most of all foreigners were in Beijing, where, in addition to everything, there was also a diplomatic quarter. However, there were considerable European diasporas in other cities: Liaoyang, Girin, Yingkou, Mukden, etc. It was they who became the main centers of tension. Dissatisfied Chinese staged pogroms and murders of missionaries. The Yihetuan (Boxer) uprising forced Western countries to send reinforcements to China. Russia was especially active in this sense, having 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, the unrest in China grew more serious. The mob set fireEuropean 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 committed a terrible bloodshed, the victims of which were many foreigners. The Yihetuans managed to overtake a detachment of Americans and British, which landed in Tianjin and went to the rescue of their compatriots in Beijing. Gradually, all the 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 some time, the Chinese authorities, realizing that a big war was on the verge, tried to negotiate with the Europeans. The maneuvers of the Qing government between foreign powers and the rebels could not be endless. Empress Cixi had to decide which side she would take definitively. On June 21, 1900, she officially declared war on the Europeans and Japan. The decisive factor influencing her decision was the pogrom perpetrated by the Yihetuan in the embassy quarter of Beijing the day before. During this act of intimidation, the German ambassador to China was killed.
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 Ihetuan uprising were hatred of Christians. On the night of June 24, 1900, this fury led to the fact that all the Chinese who professed the Western religion were killed in Beijing. terriblethe event became known in Europe as the new St. Bartholomew's Night. The victims of that massacre were later canonized by the Orthodox Church.
Defeat of the rebels
August 2, the allied forces launched an offensive against Beijing. On the 13th, Russian units appeared on the outskirts of the city. The Empress urgently left the capital and moved to Xi'an. The Yihetuan Rebellion (Boxer Rebellion) in China reached its climax. The defeat of the disaffected in Beijing would mean that the entire campaign against foreigners is doomed.
The assault on the capital began on August 15th. The very next day, Beijing was in the hands of the allied powers. Now the main focus of bloodshed was Manchuria. In October, this northern region was completely occupied by Russian troops. This operation finally crushed the Ihetuan uprising. 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 to cut the Qing pie behind the scenes.
Results
On September 7, 1901, defeated China signed the so-called "Final Protocol" with the Western powers. The treaty included provisions that further worsened the position of the Qing Empire. The Chinese government undertook to punish all the leaders of the rebellion, tear down several of its forts, transfer 12 cities to foreigners, ban all organizations whose activitieswas directed against the Europeans.
The conditions were onerous, but the Chinese authorities had no power to resist these demands. The Yihetuan uprising, 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.
