In 1900, eight major Western powers formed the Eight-Nation Alliance and launched an aggressive war against China. The next year, the Qing Dynasty signed the "Xin Chou Treaty" with the foreign powers, and China was completely reduced to a semi-colony.

In 1900, the eight major Western powers formed the Eight-Nation Alliance and launched an aggressive war against China. The next year, the Qing Dynasty signed the "Xin Chou Treaty" with other major powers, and China was completely reduced to a semi-colony. The reasons for the outbreak of this war are very complicated, making it difficult for people to distinguish whether they are true or false. This article attempts to present the causes, process and impact of the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion of China more comprehensively and fairly.

First, the frenzy of the great powers carving up China

Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1899 , China's history has entered a new stage - the late Qing Dynasty. At this stage, the Western powers have fully understood the decadence and decline of the Qing Dynasty. Britain, Russia, Japan, Germany, France and other countries are trying to seize concessions in China and divide their spheres of influence, making China's national crisis unprecedentedly serious. Austria, Italy, and the United States also wanted to obtain concessions or spheres of influence in China, but their early national strength was weak and they lost the opportunity.

Among them, Italy turned its attention to the Qing Dynasty after failing to invade Ethiopia . He tried to forcibly lease Sanmen Bay in Zhejiang and designated southern Zhejiang as his sphere of influence. Italy was the worst country among the great powers. Not to be outdone, the Qing Dynasty protested against Italy's unreasonable demands and asked the great powers to intervene. In the end, Italy returned in embarrassment.

After the second industrial revolution , the United States gradually became the world's largest industrial power. In 1898, the United States defeated Spain in a war and captured the Philippines. Since then, it has expanded rapidly in the Asia-Pacific. Since there was no sphere of influence or concession in China, the United States launched the "open door" policy in 1899. This policy nominally protects China's territorial integrity, but in fact requires all countries to open their spheres of influence to the United States and implement "equal interests" .

Western powers continue to build railways, factories, open banks, and export capital in China, controlling China's economic and financial lifeline. After the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty needed to compensate Japan 230 million taels of silver within three years. In order to raise huge sums of money, the Qing government not only increased its search for private funds, but also borrowed large amounts from banks in various countries. After the war, the Qing Dynasty successively signed the "Russian-French Foreign Loan Contract", the "English-German Foreign Loan Contract", and the "Renewal of the Anglo-German Foreign Loan Contract". The three contracts borrowed a total of 300 million taels of silver. Not only do these contracts have high interest rates, but they also require tariffs and gold as collateral, further undermining sovereignty.

The disastrous defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1898 and the surrounding powers made many people with lofty ideals aware of the crisis, and they began to run for the future and destiny of the country. Among them, Sun Yat-sen and other foreign students were completely defeated by the Qing Dynasty. They advocated democratic revolution, overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established a republic. Kang Youwei , Liang Qichao and other reformers advocated the implementation of reforms and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy .

Zhang Zhidong and other officials advocated continuing to implement the Westernization Movement and strictly adhering to China's old system. The lower class people had extreme anti-foreign movements. The most typical ones were the Boxer Movement. They proposed "supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying foreign countries" and rejected all Westernization. In addition, there are some people who abandon their official positions and engage in business, advocating industry to save the country, Zhang Jian is one of the representatives.

Regarding the above national salvation measures, we cannot say which one is more advanced and which one is more backward. It is just that people from different classes will choose different paths. No matter what, China does need a major change to destroy the decadent and backward forces and clear obstacles for the new forces. However, the Qing Dynasty has entered the end of the dynasty, and is like a dying old man, already terminally ill.

2. Cixi ’s power ambition and the contradiction in the West

In 1898, Emperor Guangxu accepted the ideas of the reformists and launched the reform movement. However, this reform touched the interests of the die-hards, and the representative of the die-hards, Empress Dowager Cixi, did not want Emperor Guangxu to gain real power, so he launched the Wuxu Coup . After that, Emperor Guangxu was placed under house arrest. In order to consolidate their power forever, the die-hards tried to abolish Emperor Guangxu and establish a new emperor.

However, most Western powers supported Emperor Guangxu.Western countries believe that the reforms implemented by Emperor Guangxu will be beneficial to China's economic development, thereby expanding China's market and improving China's openness. In addition, Western countries also hope that China's national power can be improved to a certain extent, so that Russia's expansion in the Far East can be curbed. Therefore, when the Qing government announced the appointment of the crown prince, the envoys from various countries in Beijing refused to enter the palace to congratulate him.

The support of Emperor Guangxu by the great powers fundamentally threatened the interests of the die-hards, and the die-hards were bound to make a desperate struggle. In order to make the great powers compromise and recognize her dominance in China, the Empress Dowager Cixi began to support the Boxer Rebellion in order to force the great powers to make concessions.

The Boxer Movement was a peasant movement that developed from the anti-foreign religious movement in North China. Their thoughts were relatively extreme, advocating blind xenophobia and hating all foreign things. The Boxers attacked churches everywhere, destroyed wires and railways, and killed foreigners and Catholics. The foreign powers repeatedly asked the Qing government to suppress the Boxers, but the Qing government always turned a blind eye. Local officials even organized the Boxers into a militia and secretly supported them. As a result, the Boxer Rebellion spread rapidly in North and Northeast China.

The Boxer Rebellion became more and more intense, while Cixi "killed people with a borrowed knife" and hijacked the fate of the entire country in her own power struggle. The Qing government allowed the Boxers to kill foreigners indiscriminately, and the great powers gradually formed a consensus that they must personally send troops to suppress them. In June 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces officially launched an attack on Beijing and Tianjin, and war broke out.

The invasion of China by the Eight-Power Allied Forces exceeded Cixi's expectations. In panic, Empress Dowager Cixi finally announced the "United Forces to Fight Foreign Countries", declared war on the foreign powers, and ordered the governors of various provinces to encourage each other to resist foreign invasion. The die-hards even wanted to lead the Boxers to assassinate Emperor Guangxu, but Emperor Guangxu was also a bargaining chip now, and Cixi prevented this from happening. After

declared war, Cixi mobilized a large number of Qing troops to the Zhili front line to distribute food and silver to the Boxers. However, Cixi still did not want to cause a complete stalemate among the great powers. While she ordered the Qing army to besiege the embassy and Xishku Church, she secretly asked the Qing army generals to protect the embassy and church. Cixi also continued to send food and vegetables to the embassy to express her condolences.

The Chinese soldiers and civilians on the front line (including the Qing army and the Boxers) fought bravely and caused a lot of trouble for the Eight-Power Allied Forces. In the first attack, the Boxers destroyed the railway. Dong Fuxiang and Nie Shicheng resolutely fought back, forcing the Eight-Power Allied Forces to withdraw to Tianjin. After the fall of Dagukou, The Tianjin Defense War broke out, and the Qing army and the Boxers repeatedly fought for the old dragon head station. The coalition forces deployed mine formations to stop Chinese soldiers and civilians, and Boxer general Zhang Decheng used the "Fire Bull Formation" to clear mines. In the battle of Balitai, Nie Shicheng took the lead and was eventually shot and died.

In the end, the Chinese military and civilians suffered heavy losses due to backward weapons and improper command, and had to retreat from Tianjin, and Tianjin fell.

Third, the Qing Dynasty became "the court of foreigners"

After capturing Tianjin, the great powers increased their troops to 20,000 people and began to advance towards Beijing. The Chinese military and civilians continued to block the Eight-Power Allied Forces on the front line of Beijing and Tianjin. Yulu, the governor of Zhili, and Li Bingheng, the former governor of Shandong, also committed suicide in the battle.

htmlOn August 13, the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing. Except for the tenacious resistance of the Qing army under Dong Fuxiang's department, all others collapsed at first sight, especially the Eight Banners soldiers under the Ronglu Ministry of Defense and Zaiyi 's command. After the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, Cixi took Emperor Guangxu hostage and led the princes and ministers to leave the palace in a hurry. The Boxers in Beijing City were unwilling to give up their resistance. They fought with the Eight-Power Allied Forces for three days in street battles. Although they could not save the defeat, they were still lamentable.

After the fall of Beijing, various countries continued to increase their troops, bringing the total number of troops invading China to 100,000. After debate, German Marshal Waldersee became the marshal of the Eight-Power Allied Forces. In order to make the Qing Dynasty completely surrender, Wadesi sent troops to burn, kill and loot everywhere, which caused great damage to the economy of the Beijing and Tianjin areas, and its precious cultural relics were also looted.

When the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked, the southeastern provinces refused to implement Cixi's order and chose to unilaterally sign the "Southeast Mutual Protection Charter" with the great powers.According to the charter, the southeastern provinces must prevent the Boxer Rebellion from spreading to the southeast and resolutely suppress the Boxer Rebellion, while the great powers ensure that warships will not enter the Yangtze River Basin. Southeast Mutual Protection marks the collapse of the centralization of power in the Qing Dynasty, while ensuring the security and stability of the southeast region, which plays a very important role in modern history.

When the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing and Tianjin, Russia sent 100,000 troops to invade the Northeast, captured all the big cities in the Northeast, caused the massacres of Hailan Pao and Jiangdong No. 64 Tun, and burned down Aihui City . Nicholas II even asked the Qing Dynasty to hand over all Northeast China to Russia. This was the "Yellow Russia Plan". In the face of the Russian invasion, the Qing army and the Boxers in the Northeast fought back one after another. They fought guerrilla warfare with the Russian army and recovered large areas of lost territory.

British India was not idle either. From 1899 to 1901, the British Governor-General of India wrote to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama many times, requesting direct negotiations with Tibet beyond the Qing Dynasty. However, the Dalai Lama refused. After that, Britain stepped up its aggression against Tibet and tried to bring Tibet under the jurisdiction of India.

In order to maintain her power, Empress Dowager Cixi sent Li Hongzhang to negotiate with the great powers on the way to escape, and on the other hand ordered the army to suppress the Boxer Rebellion. After the Boxer Rebellion was suppressed, various countries began to compete for control of the Qing Dynasty. In order to permanently occupy the Northeast, Russia suggested that all countries withdraw their troops from Beijing, and then unilaterally negotiate with the Qing Dynasty, asking the Qing Dynasty to cede the Northeast to Russia. The British believed that the current Qing government was a pro-Russian government and demanded the reorganization of the Chinese regime.

The great powers took sides and argued endlessly. In the end, the United States once again proposed the "open door" policy to coordinate conflicts among various countries. At the same time, the tenacious resistance of the Chinese military and civilians also made the great powers feel that the Chinese people " contain infinite vitality ", and they gradually realized that they could not directly colonize China. The Commander-in-Chief of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, Wade West, lamented: " No country in Europe, America or Japan has the brainpower and military power to rule a quarter of the world's living beings." "So carving up is actually a bad idea.". Therefore, various countries have accepted the United States' suggestions and decided to support agents in China and implement "use China to control China."

Obviously, this agent is the Empress Dowager Cixi. In December 1900, a total of 11 countries, including the eight countries and Belgium , Spain and the Netherlands , proposed the "Twelve Articles of Peace Negotiation Outline" to the Qing Dynasty. Empress Dowager Cixi saw that the content did not involve herself, so she asked Yikuang and Li Hongzhang to agree to them all. Finally, in September 1901, the Qing Dynasty and the foreign powers signed the "Xinchou Treaty". This treaty meant that the Empress Dowager Cixi exchanged the position of "agent" for China's complete semi-colonial status and received support from the West. This was to "measure China's material resources and win the favor of the country."

In addition, the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion of China also further weakened the conservative forces within the Qing Dynasty. After that, the power of officials from the southeastern mutual protection provinces increased greatly, and they became the main force in the changes in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1901, the Qing Dynasty began to implement the "New Deal", which was actually the re-implementation of the reform and . In 1905, the Qing Dynasty began to implement "preparatory constitutionalism" and sent ministers abroad for inspections. However, the best period of change has been lost, reform is no longer enough to save China, and the era of revolution is about to come.