Battle of the Taku Forts (1900)
The Battle of the Taku or Battle of Dagu Forts was a short engagement during the Boxer Rebellion between the Chinese Qing dynasty military and forces belonging to the Eight Nation Alliance in June 1900. European and Japanese naval forces captured the Taku forts after a brief but bloody battle with units of the Qing dynasty. Their loss prompted the Qing government to side with the Boxers while the Chinese army was ordered to resist all foreign military forces within Chinese territory. Allied powers remained in control of the forts until the end of the Boxer Rebellion in September 1901.
Allies charging at the forts
The attack on Taku by the Allies influenced Empress Dowager Cixi's decision to support the Boxers.
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising or the Boxer Insurrection, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known as the "Boxers" in English due to many of its members having practised Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". It was defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance of foreign powers.
A company of Boxers in 1901
A French political propaganda cartoon depicting China as a pie about to be carved up by Queen Victoria (United Kingdom), Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany), Tsar Nicholas II (Russia), Marianne (France) and a samurai (Japan), while Boxer leader Dong Fuxiang protests
Chinese Muslim troops from Gansu, also known as the Gansu Braves
Admiral Seymour returning to Tianjin with his wounded men on 26 June