19001776 Club
Cixi issues war edict against five foreign powers at once; Qing China is now at war with the world
The empress dowager ends months of factional paralysis with a single decree, naming the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan as enemies.
By the summer of 1900, North China had been burning for months — foreign troops pushing inland, Boxer militias burning churches, and the Qing court lurching between factions urging conciliation and those demanding a fight. Empress Dowager Cixi resolved the question herself, issuing an edict in June 1900 that formally declared war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan simultaneously. The Eight-Nation Alliance answered by capturing Tianjin on July 14 and Beijing on August 14, lifting a 55-day siege of the foreign legations. The war Cixi started outlasted her ability to fight it by roughly eight weeks…
