Itho Tuan Rebellion: Description, History, Goals, Causes and Consequences

In November 1899, the Ikh Tao rebellion broke out in China. This popular speech was directed against foreigners who flooded the Celestial Empire. The murders of European missionaries led to the fact that the Western powers declared war on China.

Reasons and Goals

At the end of the nineteenth century, the Qing Empire lived on in China. Despite the catchy name, this state could not resist the influence of the Western powers. The first to appear in Beijing were the British. They settled not only in the capital, but also in strategically important ports. 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 nineteenth century reforms began in this country, designed to rebuild society and the economy in the Western manner. In China, such transformations have failed. The policy of isolationism from Europeans also did not lead to anything.

Peasant discontent

At first, the Western powers confined themselves to trade privileges. But in the same second half of the XIX century, they began to seize Chinese ports. Through them, a flood of foreign missionaries, preached, including Christianity, poured into the country.

All this was not liked by the simple conservative population. In addition, in the early 1890's. The peasants suffered from several droughts and other natural disasters that finally deprived them of the already small farms. Discontent of the poor led to the fact that the Icelandic uprising began in the Celestial Empire. In historiography, it is also known as Boxer.

Spontaneous rebellion

The name "iehtuani" was assigned to the members of the formed detachments that participated in the struggle against foreigners. Initially, these formations were scattered and spontaneous, but over time they merged into a general nationalist patriotic movement. The Ihethuan uprising was primarily directed against foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians. Members of the groups practiced mystical and religious rituals, borrowed from traditional Chinese cults. Another obligatory attribute of the insurgents was the regular employment of fisticuffs. It is because of this that they were also called "boxers".

In the ranks of theirs, there came impoverished artisans, ruined peasants, soldiers demobilized from the army and even teenagers with women. The latter fact especially surprised Europeans, who are not accustomed to seeing something like this in their homeland. The Ithuan uprising (especially at the initial stage) was not amenable to anyone's management. In the conditions of the anarchy, the detachments often attacked not only foreigners, but also simple peasant settlements. Such raids resulted in looting. In part, therefore, many Chinese residents did not support them.

Charter of motion

They had their own set of 10 rules, the execution of which was compulsory. This charter was permeated with mysticism, which was a characteristic feature of the entire movement. For example, the "Boxers" believed that they are invulnerable to shells and bullets. This idea was even fixed in the charter.

At the same time, they were explaining the death of their associates from bullet wounds by the fact that only the rebel who lost faith in his true gods can die. Such a betrayal was punished by the fact that the spirits turned away from the soldier. Such logic allowed to maintain high discipline in the superstitious people of the detachments. Over time, among the "boxers", marauding was condemned, which was punished by military commanders. Any looted goods (including from foreigners) soldiers had to surrender to local authorities. To the Chinese Christians, the attitude remained principled. The heretic had to give up his new faith, otherwise he would die.

Consolidation of government and insurgents

The first local speeches were made in 1897. However, it took another couple of years for the movement to acquire a truly significant scale. In November 1899, the Chinese government tried to reassure the country with reforms, but they failed. The initiator and inspirer of the new course, Emperor Guangxu, was removed from power. Edit was his aunt Cixi. She openly supported the insurgents.

Before that, the imperial army was sent to the epicenter of performances in the north of China. She suffered several defeats. In the circumstances, the central government and the radicals concluded a truce and began to wage a joint war against foreigners. Prior to this, the goal of the Ihethuan uprising was also to overthrow the government, which had embarked on the path of pro-Western reforms. Now these slogans were removed. By the end of 1899, the number of insurgents had reached 100,000.

The fire flares up

Most of all foreigners were in Beijing, where, in addition, there was also a diplomatic quarter. However, considerable European diasporas also existed in other cities: Liaoyang, Girin, Inkou, Mukden, etc. They became the main centers of tension. Dissatisfied Chinese organized pogroms and killings of missionaries. The Ihethuan (Boxer) insurrection forced the Western countries to send reinforcements to the Celestial Empire. Especially active in this sense was Russia, which had 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 by Russian forces in the region, Yevgeny Alekseev commanded. Later he was replaced by Nikolay Linevich. Meanwhile, the riots in China were becoming more serious. Chern ignited European churches, including Orthodox churches, and schools. In late May, a huge army of "boxers" moved to Beijing. On June 11 this army entered the capital and caused terrible bloodshed, the victims of which were many foreigners. Ihethuanians managed to outrun the detachment of Americans and British, who landed in Tianjin and went to the rescue of his compatriots in Beijing. Gradually all the powers that had their own spheres of influence in China got involved in the conflict. They were the USA, Germany, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, Italy France Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The bloodshed in Beijing

For some time, the Chinese authorities, realizing that on the verge of a big war, they tried to negotiate with the Europeans. The maneuvers of the Qing government between foreign powers and the insurgents could not be infinite. Empress Cixi had to decide which side she would take definitively. June 21, 1900, she officially declared war on Europeans and Japan. The decisive factor that influenced her decision was the pogrom that was committed by them in the embassy quarter of Beijing the day before. In the course of this act of intimidation, the German ambassador in China was killed.

The Empress went to an alliance with the insurgents, primarily because she was afraid of the disgruntled peasants more than foreigners. This fear was justified. The reasons for the Ihatuan uprising were hatred of Christians. On the night of June 24, 1900, this rage led to the murder of all Chinese who professed the Western religion in Beijing. A terrible event became known in Europe as the new Bartholomew's Night. Later, the victims of that massacre were canonized by the Orthodox Church.

Defeat of the rebels

On August 2, the Allied forces launched an offensive against Beijing. On the 13th, the Russian parts appeared on the outskirts of the city. The Empress immediately left the capital and moved to Xian. The Ihethuan uprising (Boxer uprising) in China reached its culmination. The defeat of the discontented in Beijing would mean that the whole campaign against foreigners is doomed.

The storming of the capital began on August 15. The next day Beijing was in the hands of the Allied Powers. Now the main focus of the bloodshed was Manchuria. In October, this northern region was completely occupied by Russian troops. This operation finally suppressed the Ihatuan uprising. The consequences of foreign intervention were unclear to either the Chinese government or the ally countries. Even before the rebels were finally defeated, the European powers began the behind-the-scenes section of the Qian pie.

Results

September 7, 1901, China, defeated, concluded a so-called "Final Protocol" with the Western powers. The treaty included provisions that further worsened the position of the Ch'ing Empire. The Chinese government was obliged to punish all the leaders of the insurgency, to pluck several of its forts, to transfer 12 cities to foreigners, to ban all organizations whose activities were directed against Europeans.

The conditions were enslaving, but the Chinese authorities did not have any forces to resist these demands. The Ihethuan insurrection, briefly, made the contradictions in the region even more difficult and complicated. In the end, after 11 years, they led to the fall of imperial power in China.