Eight-Nation Alliance

By Zhenyi Tan

The image depicts military forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance gathered in formation. Soldiers from different countries are shown standing together. Traditional Chinese architecture in the background highlights the setting of the conflict in China during the Boxer Rebellion.

In 1894, the Qing dynasty lost the First Sino-Japanese War. After this loss, China signed a treaty agreeing to pay a lot of money to Japan. The treaty also gave Japan access to Chinese markets for their ships and goods. This opened the door for other foreign countries to bring in their industrial products and missionaries. The sudden flood of foreign goods hurt China’s traditional industries.

In response to the growing foreign influence, secret societies and local militias fought back in what became known as the Boxer Rebellion. They attacked foreigners and Chinese Christians, whom they blamed for China’s troubles. The Boxers believed that through rituals and practices, they could make themselves invulnerable to bullets and other modern weapons.

Empress Dowager Cixi, who controlled the Qing government1, took notice of the Boxer Rebellion. Convinced of the Boxers’ claim of invulnerability, she decided to support them by declaring war on foreign nations. This decision ended years of cautious diplomacy and turned internal tensions into a full-scale conflict with those countries.

In response to Cixi’s declaration of war, eight nations2 quickly formed an alliance. With better weapons and strategies, they invaded China with the goal of suppressing the Boxer Rebellion and protecting their vested interests within the country.

The foreign armies eventually captured Beijing, China’s capital. This defeat was a humiliating blow for China and showed that the Boxers were not as invincible as they believed. Worse still, the Qing government was forced to pay an enormous sum of money to appease the eight nations involved.

After this, the power of the Qing government grew weaker. Ten years later, the Qing dynasty fell3.

  1. Although Emperor Guangxu was the official ruler, the real power lay in Cixi’s hands. Her conservative control prevented Guangxu from reforming China during the Hundred Days’ Reform in 1898. But that’s a topic for another day. ↩

  2. Austria-Hungary, the British Empire, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States. ↩

  3. Some people believe that Cixi was secretly a reformist. They argue that she supported the Boxers to help bring down the Qing dynasty faster, so that China could become more modern. I guess for those people, every stupid move can be seen as a 4D chess move. ↩