Editing Boxer Rebellion (section)

{{Short description|1899–1901 anti-foreign uprising in China}}
{{For|the rock band from London|The Boxer Rebellion (band)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof            = 
| conflict          = Boxer Rebellion
| image             = Boxer-tianjing-left.jpeg
| caption           = A company of [[Boxer movement|Boxers]] in 1901
| date              = 18 October 1899{{snd}}7 September 1901
| place             = North China, [[Yellow Sea]]
| result            = [[Eight-Nation Alliance]] victory
| combatant1        = {{udl|wrap=
;[[Eight-Nation Alliance]]
:{{flag|British Empire}}
:{{flagcountry|Russian Empire}}
:{{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}
:{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
:{{flagcountry|German Empire}}
:{{flagcountry|United States|1896}}
:{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}
:{{flagcountry|Austria-Hungary}}
}}
----
{{ubl
| {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}
| {{flagcountry|Restoration (Spain)}}
| {{flagcountry|Belgium}}
}}
----
{{flagicon|Qing dynasty}} [[Mutual Defence Pact of Southeast China]] {{nwr|(after 1900)}}
| combatant2        = {{ubl
|  [[File:Yihetuan flag.svg|border|20px]] [[Boxer movement]]
|  {{flag|Qing dynasty}} {{nwr|(after 1900)}}
}}
| commander1        = {{udl|wrap=
; Legations
: {{flagicon|UKGBI}} [[Claude MacDonald]]
; Seymour Expedition
: {{flagicon|UKGBI}} [[Edward Seymour (Royal Navy officer)|Edward Seymour]]
; Gaselee Expedition
: {{flagicon|UKGBI}} [[Alfred Gaselee]]
: {{flagicon|Russian Empire}} [[Nikolai Linevich]]
: {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} [[Fukushima Yasumasa]]
: {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} [[Yamaguchi Motomi]]
: {{flagicon|French Third Republic}} [[Henri-Nicolas Frey]]
: {{flagicon|United States|1896}} [[Adna Chaffee]]
; Occupation Force
: {{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Alfred von Waldersee]]
; Manchuria occupation
: {{flagicon|Russian Empire}} [[Aleksey Kuropatkin]]
: {{flagicon|Russian Empire}} [[Paul von Rennenkampf]]
: {{flagicon image|Flag of CER (1897).svg}} [[Pavel Mishchenko]]
; Mutual Defence Pact
: {{flagicon|Qing dynasty}} [[Yuan Shikai]]
: {{flagicon|Qing dynasty}} [[Li Hongzhang]]
: {{flagicon|Qing dynasty}} [[Liu Kunyi]]
: {{flagicon|Qing dynasty}} [[Zhang Zhidong]]
}}
| commander2        = {{udl|wrap=
; Imperial government
: [[Guangxu Emperor]]
: [[Empress Dowager Cixi]]
: [[Yuxian (Qing dynasty)|Yuxian]]{{Executed}}
; Commander-in-chief
: [[Ronglu]]
; Hushenying
: [[Zaiyi]]
; Tenacious Army
: [[Nie Shicheng]]{{KIA}}
; Resolute Army
: [[Ma Yukun]]
; Gansu Army
: [[Dong Fuxiang]]
}}
| strength1         = {{udl|wrap=
; Seymour Expedition: 2,100{{nbnd}}2,188{{sfnp|Harrington|2001|p=29}}
; Gaselee Expedition: 18,000{{sfnp|Harrington|2001|p=29}}
; China Relief Expedition: 2,500<ref>{{Cite web |title=China Relief Expedition (Boxer Rebellion), 1900–1901 |url=http://www.veteranmuseum.org/chinarelief.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716013130/http://www.veteranmuseum.org/chinarelief.html |archive-date=16 July 2014 |access-date=20 March 2017 |website=Veterans Museum and Memorial Center}}</ref>
; Russian troops: 58,000<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Egorshina |first1=O. |last2=Petrova |first2=A. |year=2023 |publisher=Edition of the Russian Imperial Library |isbn=978-5-699-42397-2 |location=Moscow |page=719 |language=ru |script-title=ru:История русской армии |trans-title=The history of the Russian Army}}</ref> to 100,000<ref>Pronin, Alexander (7 November 2000). [https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/17953 Война с Желтороссией] {{in lang|ru}}. ''[[Kommersant]]''. Retrieved 6 July 2018.</ref> or 200,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hsü |first=Immanuel C. Y. |title=The Cambridge History of China |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-521-22029-3 |editor-last=Fairbank |editor-first=John King |page=127 |chapter=Late Ch'ing Foreign Relations, 1866–1905 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pEfWaxPhdnIC&q=20%2C000%20russian%20manchuria&pg=PA127}}</ref>
}}
| strength2         = {{udl|wrap=
; Boxers: 100,000{{nbnd}}300,000
; Qing troops: 100,000{{sfnp|Xiang|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lAxresT12ogC&pg=PA248 248]}}
}}
| casualties3       = {{ubl|32,000 Chinese Christians and 200 Western missionaries (northern China)<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hammond Atlas of the 20th Century |publisher=Hammond |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8437-1149-3|page=22}}</ref>|100,000 total deaths<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Boxer Rebellion |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Boxer-Rebellion |date=13 September 2024}}</ref>}}
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Boxer Rebellion}}
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| t = 義和團運動
| s = 义和团运动
| p = Yìhétuán yùndòng
| tp = Yì-hé-tuán yùn-dòng
| w = {{tonesup|I4-ho2-t'uan2 yün4-tung4}}
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|yi|4|.|h|e|2|.|t|uan|2|-|yun|4|.|d|ong|4}}
| bpmf = {{bpmfsp|ㄧˋ|ㄏㄜˊ|ㄊㄨㄢˊ|ㄩㄣˋ|ㄉㄨㄥˋ}}
| mnc = ᠴᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ<br />ᠰᡝᡵᡝ<br />ᡝᡥᡝ<br />ᡥᡡᠯᡥᠠ ᡳ<br />ᡶᠠᠴᡠᡥᡡᠨ
| mnc_v = ciowan sere ehe hūlha i facuhūn
| l = Militia united in righteousness movement
| j = Ji6 wo4 tyun4 wan6 dung6
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|j|i|6|-|w|o|4|-|t|yun|4|-|w|an|6|-|d|ung|6}}
| y = Yih-wòh-tyùhn wahn-duhng
}}
{{Contains special characters|Manchu}}

The '''Boxer Rebellion''', also known as the '''Boxer Uprising''', was an anti-foreign, [[anti-imperialist]], and [[anti-Christian]] uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the [[Qing dynasty]], by the [[Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists]], known as the "Boxers" in English due to many of its members having practised [[Chinese martial arts]], which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". It was defeated by the [[Eight-Nation Alliance]] of foreign powers.

Following the [[First Sino-Japanese War]], villagers in North China feared the expansion of foreign [[Spheres of influence#China|spheres of influence]] and resented the extension of privileges to [[Christian missionaries]], who used them to shield their followers.{{Clarification needed|reason=Shield their followers from what?|date=April 2025}} In 1898, North China experienced several natural disasters, including the [[Yellow River]] flooding and droughts, which Boxers blamed on foreign and Christian influence. Beginning in 1899, the movement spread across [[Shandong]] and the [[North China Plain]], destroying foreign property such as railroads, and attacking or murdering Christian missionaries and [[Chinese Christians]]. The events came to a head in June 1900, when Boxer fighters, convinced they were invulnerable to foreign weapons, converged on Beijing with the slogan "Support the Qing government and exterminate the foreigners".

Diplomats, missionaries, soldiers, and some Chinese Christians took refuge in the [[Legation Quarter]], which the Boxers besieged. The Eight-Nation Alliance—comprising American, Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian troops—moved into China to lift the siege and on 17 June stormed the [[Dagu Fort]] at [[Tianjin]]. [[Empress Dowager Cixi]], who had initially been hesitant, supported the Boxers and on 21 June issued [[Imperial decree of declaration of war against foreign powers|an imperial decree]] that was a de facto declaration of war on the invading powers. Chinese officialdom was split between those supporting the Boxers and those favouring conciliation, led by [[Yikuang|Prince Qing]]. The supreme commander of the Chinese forces, the Manchu general [[Ronglu]], later claimed he acted to protect the foreigners. Officials in the [[Mutual Defence Pact of the Southeastern Provinces|southern provinces]] ignored the imperial order to fight against foreigners.

The Eight-Nation Alliance, after initially being turned back by the Imperial Chinese military and Boxer militia, brought 20,000 armed troops to China. They defeated the Imperial Army in Tianjin and arrived in Beijing on 14 August, relieving the 55-day [[Siege of the International Legations]]. Plunder and looting of the capital and the surrounding countryside ensued, along with summary execution of those suspected of being Boxers in retribution. The [[Boxer Protocol]] of 7 September 1901 provided for the execution of government officials who had supported the Boxers, for foreign troops to be stationed in Beijing, and for 450&nbsp;million [[tael]]s of silver—more than the government's annual tax revenue—to be paid as [[indemnity]] over the course of the next 39 years to the eight invading nations. The Qing dynasty's handling of the Boxer Rebellion further weakened their control over China, and led to the [[Late Qing reforms]].