INTL 190 - Haiti in a Transnational Context

Eight-Nation Alliance

The Boxers, an extremist patriotic group in China, were determined to erase foreign influence from China. According to Britannica, sometime in the fall of 1899, the slogan "Support the Qing Dynasty and destroy foreigners" appeared. By May 1900, the Qing government secretly supported the Boxers, and Cixi believed that the Boxers were reliable. Finally, she called on all Chinese to attack foreigners. On June 20, boxers launched an eight-week siege of the foreign legations in Beijing. According to Michael Dillon in Encyclopedia of Chinese History, 1900, Cixi's extreme patriotism and xenophobia eventually led to the invasion of China by the Eight-power Allied Forces (124). The purpose of the eight invasions was to relieve the foreign legations besieged by the Boxers. China signed the Xin-chou Treaty after the eight-power allied invasion. According to Charles O. Hucker on Britannica, China paid 450 million taels of silver to eight countries and gave up its military in southern China.


According to Rare Historical Photos, the photograph showed soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900. They are (left-to-right): Britain, United States, Australia, British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Japan. 
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