The erosion of Chinese sovereignty and seizures of land from Chinese by foreigners contributed to a spectacular anti-foreign outbreak in June 1900, when the "Boxers" (properly the society of the "righteous and harmonious fists") attacked foreigners around Beijing. The Imperial Court was divided into anti-foreign and pro-foreign factions, with the pro-foreign faction led by Ronglu and Prince Qing hampering any military effort by the anti-foreign faction led by Prince Duan and Dong Fuxiang. The Qing Empress Dowager ordered all diplomatic ties to be cut off and all foreigners to leave the legations in Beijing to go to Tianjin. The foreigners refused to leave. Fueled by entirely false reports that the foreigners in the legations were massacred, the Eight-Nation Alliance decided to launch an expedition on Beijing to reach the legations but they underestimated the Qing military. The Qing and Boxers defeated the foreigners at the Seymour Expedition, forcing them to turn back at the Battle of Langfang. In response to the foreign attack on the Taku Forts the Qing responded by declaring war against the foreigners. the Qing forces and foreigners fought a fierce battle at the Battle of Tientsin before the foreigners could launch a second expedition. On their second try Gaselee Expedition, with a much larger force, the foreigners managed to reach Beijing and fight the Battle of Peking. British and French forces looted, plundered and burned the Old Summer Palace to the ground for the second time (the first time being in 1860, following the Second Opium War). German forces were particularly severe in exacting revenge for the killing of their ambassador due to the orders of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who held anti-Asian sentiments, while Russia tightened its hold on Manchuria in the northeast until its crushing defeat by Japan in the war of 1904–1905. The Qing court evacuated to Xi'an and threatened to continue the war against foreigners, until the foreigners tempered their demands in the Boxer Protocol, promising that China would not have to give up any land and gave up the demands for the execution of Dong Fuxiang and Prince Duan.
The erosion of Chinese sovereignty and seizures of land from Chinese by foreigners contributed to a spectacular anti-foreign outbreak in June 1900, when the "Boxers" (properly the society of the "righteous and harmonious fists") attacked for,eigners around Beijing. The Imperial Court was divided into anti-foreign and pro-foreign factions, with the pro-foreign faction led by Ronglu and Prince Qing hampering any military effort by the anti-foreign faction led by Prince Duan and Dong Fuxiang. The Qing Empress Dowager ordered all diplomatic ties to be cut off and all foreigners to leave the legations in Beijing to go to Tianjin. The foreigners refused to leave. Fueled by entirely false reports that the foreigners in the legations were massacred, the Eight-Nation Alliance ,decided to launch an expedition on Beijing to reach the legations but they underestimated the Qing military. The Qing and Boxers defeated the foreigners at the Seymour Expedition, forcing them to turn back at the Battle of Langfang. In response to the foreign attack on the Taku Forts the Qing responded by declaring war against the foreigners. the Qing forces and foreigners fought a fierce battle at the Battle of Tientsin before the foreigners could launch a second expedi.tion. On their second try Gaselee Expedition with a much larger force, the foreigners managed to reach Beijing and fight the Battle of Peking British and French forces looted, plundered and burned the Old Summer Palace to the ground for the second time (the first time being in 1860, following the Second Opium War). German forces were particularly severe in exacting revenge for the killing of their ambassador due to the orders of Kaiser Wilhelm II who held anti-Asian sentiments, while Russia tightened its hold on Manchuria in the northeast until its crushing defeat by Japan in the war of 1904–1905. The Qing court evacuated to Xi'an and threatened to continue the war against foreigners, until the foreigners tempered their demands in the Boxer Protocol, promising that China would not have to give up any land and gave up the demands for the execution of Dong Fuxiang and Prince Duan.