With the bulk of forces engaged in South Africa, they looked to their naval contingents to provide a pool of professional, full-time crews, as well as reservist-volunteers, including many ex-naval men. Australian colonies were keen to offer material support to Britain. Armed contingents from France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Japan were on their way.

By March 1900 the uprising spread beyond the secret societies and Western powers decided to intervene, partly to protect their nationals, but mainly to counter the threat to their territorial and trade ambitions.Ī Boxer gun structure on the wall of the Imperial Cityīy the end of May 1900 Britain, Italy, and the United States had warships anchored off the Chinese coast at Taku, the nearest port to Peking. Throughout 1899 the I-ho-ch'uan and other militant societies combined in a campaign against Westerners and Westernised Chinese. Christian missionaries were probably the first to refer to the well-trained, athletic young men as 'Boxers', because of the martial arts they practiced, and so the society gave the Boxer Rebellion its name. This eventually led to the Chinese revolution of 1911 which toppled the imperial dynasty.īy the end of the nineteenth century the balance of the lucrative trade between China and merchants from America and Europe, particularly Britain, lay almost entirely in the West's favour. The Chinese government's failure to resist inroads on its sovereignty and withstand further demands from the Europeans, such as the right to build railways and other concessions, caused much resentment among large sections of the population. The largest of these was Shanghai, where French, German, British, and American merchants demanded large tracts of land in which they asserted 'extra-territorial' rights - being subject to the laws of their own country rather than Chinese law. In the Opium Wars of 60, the British forced the Chinese to accept the import of opium in return for Chinese goods, and trading centres were established at major ports. There was little the Chinese government wanted from the West at the time but there was a strong demand for opium among the population. D uring the nineteenth century the major European powers compelled the reluctant Chinese Empire to start trading with them.

Victoria 2 boxer rebellion