The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China by Silbey David J

Author:Silbey, David J. [Silbey, David J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2012-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

The memory of the Battle of Tianjin has largely been lost. Even within the Boxer War itself, Tianjin has taken something of a lesser place to the siege of the legations, Seymour’s failed march to Beijing, and the ultimate relief of the Western embassies. The British government awarded a medal for service in the China operation, with clasps for capturing the Dagu Forts, the defense of the legations, and the relief of Beijing but not for the defense of Tianjin.1 This was a mistake. The battle, which took place in mid-July, was, along with the later battle at Beicang, likely the turning point of the entire affair. At Tianjin, the Chinese fought the hardest, and at Tianjin the outcome was most in doubt. Western forces could have lost here, a loss that might not have changed the ultimate outcome but would have required a much lengthier and more determined campaign to overcome. Victory at Tianjin essentially crippled Chinese resistance just as it was getting started.

In addition, Tianjin seems likely to have been the last great flourish of the Boxers themselves. They were out in force in the Tianjin area from mid-May onward, as Edward Seymour discovered to his cost, and by mid-July they had been reinforced by a substantial number of imperial troops. The forces arrayed against the European powers were large, numbering (by Seymour’s estimation) roughly twenty thousand troops of the Military Guards Army under General Yu Li and an indeterminate number of Boxers.2 The imperial troops were well trained and equipped. The Boxers were highly motivated. Together, they were a formidable opponent, but the grave difficulty that they faced was communication and coordination. The Boxers, especially, had little in the way of organized units or commanders, and they were viewed suspiciously by the regular troops.

Tianjin had its advantages in geographic terms. Unlike the Dagu Forts, the first line of defense, Tianjin was beyond the range of the powerful guns of the Western fleet. Unlike the last line of defense, the walls of Beijing, Tianjin was not harboring the throne itself. The Chinese could theoretically lose Tianjin and not lose the war. The city had a large number of European civilians in residence, and it was at the end of an extended supply line of road and river leading down to the coast. The Chinese held strong positions there, most notably the thick walls of the city itself. With the European forces tied to their supply lines, the Chinese had the freedom to maneuver as they wished.

Even more, the forces arrayed against the Chinese gave the dynasty an advantage. The Western armies in that July month were a hodgepodge from different countries, different services, and different areas of empire. They had no overall commander, they did not share a common language, they were suspicious of each other, and any cooperation they managed was tenuous at best. To give an example of the difficulties small and large that the Western contingents encountered, none of the Japanese spoke English, and none of the British or Americans spoke Japanese.

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