Translated from reference material
Diana Preston. The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners that Shook the World in the Summer of 1900. Bloomsbury Publishing US
Paul Henry Clements (1979). The Boxer rebellion: a political and diplomatic review. New York: AMS Press
The Eight-Nation Coalition occupied Zhili Province and Russia occupied Manchuria, but the rest of China was not occupied because several Han governors formed the Southeast Alliance, which refused to obey the Chinese court's declaration of war and retained their troops and provinces.
Zhang Zhidong told the British consul general in Hankow, Everard Fraser, that he was against the war so that the Eight-Nation Alliance would not occupy the provinces under the Southeastern Mutual Protection.
Beijing, Tianjin, and Zhili provinces were occupied by an international expeditionary force under the command of German General Alfred von Wadsey for more than a year. The United States and Britain paid General Yuan Shikai and his army to help the coalition suppress the Boxers. After the coalition forces occupied Beijing, Yuan Shikai's army suppressed tens of thousands of people in the anti-Boxer Rebellion in Zhili Province and Shandong Province.
Most of the hundreds of thousands of people living in the inner city of Beijing were Manchu and Mongol bannermen from the Eight Banners, who moved here after 1644.
Japanese journalist Tokusuke Sawara wrote in "Miscellaneous Notes of the Boxers" about the insults of the Manchu and Mongolian banner girls, and the daughter and wife of the Mongolian nobleman Chongqi of the Arut clan were allegedly insulted by the allied soldiers, and the whole family was humiliated and martyred.
During attacks on Boxer-controlled areas from September 1900 to March 1901, European and American forces employed tactics that included public beheading of Chinese civilians suspected of Boxer supporters, systematic looting, shooting of farm animals and destroying crops, destruction of religious and public buildings, burning of religious texts, and widespread insults to Chinese women and girls.
Contemporary British and American historians have been the harshest critics of German, Russian, and Japanese forces for their ruthlessness, executing Chinese of all ages and backgrounds, and sometimes burning entire villages.
German troops could not take part in the battle because they arrived too late on the battlefield, but carried out a "punitive expedition" to rural China. According to missionary Arthur Smith, in addition to looting, the Germans "executed many Chinese under their jurisdiction, many of them simply for trivial crimes." ”
US Army Lieutenant C.D. Rhodes reported that German and French soldiers set fire to the buildings where innocent peasants had taken refuge and shot at fleeing peasants and stabbed them with bayonets. According to Australian soldiers, the Germans extorted ransom money from the village in exchange for not burning down their houses.
British journalist George Lynch writes that German and Italian soldiers insulted Chinese women and girls before burning down villages. According to Lynch, the violence of German soldiers would have tried to cover up the facts, "There are things that I cannot write about and cannot be printed in England, which seems to indicate that the civilization of some Western countries is only a semblance of barbarism." ”
One British newspaper called the aftermath of the war a "carnival of plunder," while others called it a "carnival of plunder" for soldiers, civilians, and missionaries. These features are reminiscent of the ransacking of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French in 1860, where "each nation accuses the others of being the worst predators".
American diplomat Herbert G. Squiers filled several train cars with loot and artifacts.
The British Legation held an auction of loot every afternoon and declared that "the looting of the British army was the most orderly." However, a British officer noted that "cities that do not surrender will be sacked, which is one of the unwritten laws of war." "Between 1900 and 1901, the British held loot auctions in front of the main entrance of the British Embassy every day except Sundays.
Many foreigners, including journalists from The Times, were active bidders, and the looted items ended up in Europe. The American commander, General Adna Chaffee, forbade American soldiers to loot, but the ban had no effect.
According to General Chaffee, "It is safe to say that for every member of the Titan Peace Regiment, at least fifty harmless civilians were killed, including many women and children." ”
Translated from reference material
Diana Preston. The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners that Shook the World in the Summer of 1900. Bloomsbury Publishing US
Paul Henry Clements (1979). The Boxer rebellion: a political and diplomatic review. New York: AMS Press
#Let's do some dry goods# #Beijing# #Qing Dynasty# #Military# #United Kingdom# #United States# #Russia# #日本#