Siege of the International Legations

Siege of the International Legations
Part of the Boxer Rebellion
I'll Try, Sir!: American troops scale the walls of Peking, with the Fox Tower in flames. Depicted is trumpeter Calvin Titus who first climbed the wall and was later awarded the Medal of Honor.
Date June 20 – August 14, 1900 (1 month, 3 weeks and 4 days) Location Beijing, China 39°54′11″N 116°24′06″E / 39.90306°N 116.40167°E / 39.90306; 116.40167 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Eight-Nation Alliance: United Kingdom  Russia  France  Japan  United States  Italy  German Empire  Austria Hungary  Kingdom of Bavaria  Kingdom of Württemberg  Baden  Netherlands  Belgium Spain Chinese Christian refugees	Qing dynasty Boxer movement
Commanders and leaders
Claude MacDonald Alfred Gaselee Edward Seymour Nikolai Linevich Yevgeny Alekseyev Alfred von Waldersee Eugène Darcy Gorō Shiba Adna Chaffee Angelo Klokgieter	Empress Dowager Cixi Ronglu Li Hongzhang Prince Yikuang Prince Duan Dong Fuxiang Ma Haiyan Ma Haiyan Ma Fulu † Ma Fuxiang Ma Fuxing Cao Futian Zhang Decheng †
Strength
51,755 51 warships	About 160,000 Qing Army and Boxer soldiers
Casualties and losses
190 military casualties, 13 civilians killed	approx. 2500[citation needed]

The siege of the International Legations occurred in 1900 in Peking, the capital of the Qing Empire, during the Boxer Rebellion and led to the deaths of approximately 2500 Chinese people by western soldiers.^{[citation needed]} Threatened by the Boxers—an anti-Christian, anti-foreign peasant movement—900 soldiers, sailors, marines, and civilians, largely from Europe, Japan, and the United States, and about 2,800 Chinese Christians took refuge in the Peking Legation Quarter. The Qing government took the side of the Boxers after the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Tianjin at the Battle of the Taku Forts (1900), without a formal declaration of war. The foreigners and Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter survived a 55-day siege by the Qing Army and Boxers. The siege was broken by an international military force, which marched from the coast of China, defeated the Qing Army, and occupied Peking (now known as Beijing).