Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901)

Anti-foreign, anti-Christian movement of peasants in northern China known to Westerners as the Boxers (from their martial arts practice; their actual name translated as the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists). They believed they were spiritually invulnerable to Western weapons. They attacked foreign missionaries, Chinese Christians, and Western diplomatic compounds in Beijing. Empress Cixi briefly supported them. An international force of eight nations (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, Japan, and the United States) crushed the rebellion. The Boxer Protocol imposed an enormous indemnity on China and further humiliated the dynasty.