Siege of the Embassy Quarter in Beijing

Although in fact the performances of the Ikhetuans began in 1898, the official date of the beginning of the uprising is considered to be November 2, 1899. The troops sent to suppress him in Shandong and Zhili provinces were defeated in the winter of 1899-1900, and the army began to retreat to Beijing . In the current situation, foreign diplomatic missions in Beijing requested troops from their metropolises for their protection. The contingents, mainly from the fleets located in the Far East, began to land in Tianjin and go by rail to the capital. On May 18, 1900, 75 French, 63 Americans, 50 Germans, 28 Italians, 25 Japanese arrived in the Embassy Quarter , as well as 74 Russian sailors from the Sisoy the Great and Navarin battleships (they had to deliver more guns, but only a few boxes of shells to it). The next day, another 79 Englishmen arrived with two guns and 30 Austrians.

From May 23, 1900, the ihetuans began to enter Beijing. The unification of the insurgent people with the army of Dong Fusyan , introduced into the city the day before, began. On May 24, at a secret meeting in Beijing, it was decided to arm and train the ihetuans to repel foreigners; Three senior dignitaries were sent to the leaders of the rebels - a member of the Military Council of the Qing Empire.

Seeing the aggravation of the situation, foreign colonies in Beijing began to buy food and arm themselves from mid-May. At the end of May, a Russian paratrooper erected a barricade 3.5 m high and 2 m wide (dubbed “Fort Navarin-Sysoevsky”), connecting the diplomatic mission with the gates of the Russian-Chinese bank . To better organize the defense, the houses of the Chinese around the diplomatic missions were destroyed. By the end of May, most foreigners, as well as many Chinese Christians , moved to the territory of the Embassy Quarter.

Of the reinforcements arrived, as well as men who had military experience, the International Military Detachment was formed, which took upon itself the task of defending the Embassy Quarter. Its number was 450 people. About a thousand foreigners and about 3 thousand Christian Christians were under the protection of these forces. On the personal initiative, the Austrian, the commander of the warship Tomani, headed the international detachment, but did not cope with his duties, and was soon killed. As a result, the leadership of the defense led by the English envoy Claude MacDonald .

The embassy quarter was divided into two defense sectors: the first united the British, American and Russian missions, the second - the French, German and Japanese. The Austrian and Italian embassies were decided to leave if necessary. The Beitan Catholic Church , located 3 km from the Embassy Quarter, held a siege on its own. He was defended by a Franco-Italian contingent of 40 people and more than a thousand Chinese Christians under the leadership of Bishop Favier.

Skirmishes between foreigners and ihetuans began to occur in Beijing. On May 28, a translator of the Japanese mission, Sugiyama, was killed, who set off to meet Japanese troops allegedly entering the city. Foreigners did not remain in debt and at any opportunity interfered with what was happening: Hieromonk Avraamy described how a 17-year-old Chinese was seized on Ambassador Street (personally caught by German ambassador Ketteler ) and beat everyone, “each ambassador gave a crack”; On May 31, the Spanish ambassador personally shot the ihetoyan; Russian sailors arrested a Chinese man with smoking candles.

On May 31, 20 German soldiers attacked the idol, where the rebels produced their mysteries, and killed 7 Chinese. This attack served as a signal for the start of an assault by the ihetuis of spiritual and diplomatic missions in Beijing. Within a few days, the Catholic centers of Duntan , Nantan , Citan, and Beytan were besieged in the city, and several European missionaries were killed. On the evening of May 31, the Russian Northern Compound was destroyed, where the Spiritual Mission was located. On June 1, the Austrian embassy was burned, then the Netherlands mission was destroyed.

Formally, the leadership of China did not support the ihetuans. May 31 was published a decree of Empress Cixi , which stated:

We are deeply saddened by the news of the murder of Japanese secretary Akira Sugiyama by a mob of wrongdoers ... We command the head of the Beijing gendarmerie to determine the period during which all murderers should be captured and punished to the fullest extent of the laws ... We command the generals Sun and Ma to protect the environs of the capital, attack attackers arrest their leaders and disperse the rest

However, despite assurances from the authorities, it was clear to everyone in Beijing that military conflict could not be avoided.

On June 2, 1900, a joint Russian-American detachment made a military expedition to the Catholic Temple of Nantang. The ihetuani destroyed the temple were defeated, 300 Chinese Christians were released, 10 ihetuans were arrested and handed over to the Chinese authorities. The next day, an exchange of fire took place between Dong Fusyan’s soldiers and the guard post of the Russian-Chinese Bank.

On 6 June 1900, an imperial edict was issued, which stated:

Since the founding of our dynasty, foreigners who have visited China have enjoyed good treatment in it ... At first, they did not come out of obedience, but over the past 30 years, taking advantage of China’s condescension, they began to encroach on its territory, trample on the Chinese people and harass China's wealth. Every concession to China increased their cheekiness. They oppressed civilians, insulted gods and holy men, causing the hottest resentment among the population. This led to the burning of churches and the beating of converts by patriots. Wishing eagerly to avoid war, the government issued decrees in which it commanded to protect the embassies and spare the converts. Decrees declaring the ihateans and converted Christians as children of the Fatherland were issued in the hope of eliminating the old enmity between them, and extreme kindness has long been rendered to foreigners. But this people did not know the feeling of gratitude and everything continued to increase its pressure on China. The other day, a message from Du Chaliare in Tianjin was received demanding the surrender of fortifications to foreign troops, otherwise they would be taken by force. These threats have shown that they mean seizures. In all matters relating to international relations, we have always been polite to them, while, calling themselves civilized states, acted without any respect for the law, relying only on brute force. We reigned for almost 30 years, treated the people as our children, the people honored us as a deity, and during our reign we enjoyed the merciful attention of the widowed empress. Further, our ancestors helped us, and the gods responded to our calls, and there was never such a universal manifestation of devotion and patriotism. With tears in our eyes, we declared war in the Temple of our ancestors. We chose to resort to at least and enter into the struggle, than at the cost of eternal shame to look for some means to save our life. Our opinion is shared by all the ranks, and hundreds of thousands of patriotic soldiers have gathered without our call, even the children — and they are dragging spears to serve the Fatherland. Foreigners rely on cunning, but we place hope in heavenly justice; they rely on violence, and we - on humanity. Not to mention the rightness of our business, we have more than 20 provinces, in which there are more than 400 million people, and it will not be difficult for us to support the dignity of our country.

The Chinese demanded that foreigners leave Beijing within 24 hours, otherwise the Qing government cannot vouch for their lives. The diplomatic corps responded that it took 48 hours to think. Since the ambassadors did not have the authority to discuss the problems of war and peace, and also did not intend to leave the capital, it was decided at a meeting of foreign diplomats to send a note to the Chinese government. The German envoy Baron von Ketteler made the decision to speak independently with the Manchu dignitaries.

On June 7, Ketteler went to a palanquin in Zongliyamen, taking with him the interpreter Cordes and eight guards, but halfway there he sent the guards back. Soon a Chinese soldier approached the palanquin and shot the German ambassador ^[1] , the wounded Cordes managed to escape. Ketteleer's corpse was hidden in Zongliamen's building, but the ihetuani building was burned down, and the found corpse was cut into pieces. The German detachment sent to the scene met with stubborn resistance and was forced to return with nothing.

After the murder of Catteler began continuous fighting, which lasted about a month. With the support of the soldiers, Dun Fusyan began to storm the barricades. The most persistent battles were fought in the first days, even bayonet attacks occurred. There was a time when the defenders left the Russian and American missions, but soon all the embassies, except for the Austrian and Italian, were cleared of the Chinese. The corpses of the murdered Chinese, lying in a multitude around the embassies, were not removed for a long time and began to decompose.

Soon the initiative began to pass into the hands of Europeans. The first major foray into Chinese positions was held on June 20th. During the raids on June 24, Russian sailors found an old Chinese cannon, to which Russian shells approached. The shells reduced the stock of gunpowder and the Russian mission received its artillery.

Periodically, the Chinese went on the offensive. On June 29, after heavy shelling, they managed to partially capture the French and German embassies, but on June 30, the Europeans managed to repel them back.

On July 4, the Chinese declared a truce that lasted a week. Representatives of the Qing government repeatedly visited diplomats, inviting them to leave Beijing. Europeans brought gifts and treats, including those from Cixi itself.

On July 5, a Japanese messenger returned to Beijing from Tianjin, bringing the latest news from the outside world to the diplomats.

On July 11, battles resumed, but the case was reduced to sluggish firefights and rare attacks from both sides. Cixi was convinced of the impotence of the Iheituan in front of European troops, but did not lose hope of getting out of the current situation "without losing face". At the court the struggle of various factions intensified, as a result it was not clear: the Qing government is fighting against foreigners or defending them. Shelling alternated with gifts from the emperor; decrees prescribing to expel the "barbarians" were followed by orders to protect missions and compensate them for material losses. In July, more than a hundred people in Beijing were executed for belonging to secret societies, while some major Chinese dignitaries, who were opponents of the war with foreigners, were also executed.

In late July, in connection with the approach of the Allied forces to Beijing, the fighting intensified, but it was clear to everyone that the siege would soon be lifted. On July 25, it became known that Li Hongzhang , who was opposed to the Ikhetuan , was appointed governor of Zhili province. On July 28, a letter was delivered to Beijing from the heads of European detachments that approached the walls of the capital of China, expressing confidence in the release of missions within 5-6 days.

All night on July 31, the Chinese desperately attacked, trying to take the mission by storm, but they did not succeed. On the morning of August 1, the defenders of the Embassy Quarter counterattacked the Chinese positions against the advancing Allied forces. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the benhans of the Bengal regiment approached the Embassy Quarter. The siege was lifted.

On August 1, Beijing was captured by the Allied forces.

The total losses of the international detachment during the two months of the siege amounted to 75 killed and 170 wounded.

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• From the Journal of Events of the Russian Airborne Company of the battleships of the battleships Navarin and Sisoy the Great in Beijing from May 18 to August 2, 1900
• W. G. Datsyshen . Russian-Chinese war of 1900. Hike to Beijing. - SPb .: Almanac "Citadel"; Galeya Print, 1999. - ISBN 5-8172-0011-2
• A. B. Shirokorad. Russia and China. Conflict and cooperation. - M .: Veche, 2004. - ISBN 5-94538-399-6
• D. G. Yanchevetsky. 1900. Russian stormed Beijing. - M .: Yauza; Eksmo, 2008. - ISBN 978-5-699-25264-0