The Boxer War

In the summer of 1900,the Boxer War in China was an important transnational war.This war not only profoundly affected China’s historical process,but also the development of the world situation in the early 20th century.In order to examine the Boxer War well,this study selected a military subject and a campaign in the war—the Loyalism Army from Shandong and Hexiwu Battle as the core content of this study.The Loyalism Army from Shandong in this study refers to the Vanguard of Wuwei Right Army.This army was adapted by Yuan Shikai,who became the governor of Shandong in 1900,based on Shandong’s original defense forces,and with reference to the battalion rules of the Wuwei Right Army.The functions of this force included to be stationed in Shandong,and the other was to defend the capatil.Therefore,when the Boxer War broke out,the army became one of the earliest troops assigned to Beijing.This force also played an important role in the Hexiwu Battle.Hexiwu is an important town on the Beijing-Tianjin transportation line and has an important strategic position.Since the outbreak of the Boxer War,the allies forces had established effective joint operations,which has been prominently displayed on the Hexiwu battlefield.These included convening joint operations meetings before the war and elaborating operational plans in detail;after the drafting of the troops of the various countries,the troops marched according to the established marching route;and they carried out good cooperation during the combat.Nevertheless the Qing army was a typical individual battle,lacking unified deployment and no clear plan.This disadvantage made it difficult for the Qing Army to rely on the large number of troops to form a group advantage,which effectively suppresses and blocks the allies forces.On the contrary,the Qing army was easily destroyed by the allies forces and eventually suffered a defeat.The Battle of Hexiwu is a key battle in the Boxer War.Hexiwu is located at the midpoint of the Beijing-Tianjin Transportation Line,the fall was a huge psychological blow to the Qing army and Qing court.And this area held most Qing troops,as well as new troops entered the battlefield.The defeat of new troops meant that the Qing army had no military force to prevent the coalition from marching towards Beijing.But it must be pointed out that The Qing army’s operations in the Hexiwu region help the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Emperor Guangxu a certain amount of time to escape,to avoid the Qing court from getting into greater difficulties.