Gaselee Expedition

Second intervention, Gaselee Expedition, China 1900
Part of the Boxer Rebellion
Date August 1900 Location Tienstin, China Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Empire of Japan  United Kingdom  United States France  Russia  German Empire Italy  Austria-Hungary	Qing China Righteous Harmony Society
Commanders and leaders
Baron F. Yamaguchi Nikolai Linevich Alfred Gaselee Adna Chaffee	General Ma Yukun General Song Qing
Strength
55,000	50,000–100,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Gaselee Expedition was a successful relief by a multi-national military force to march to Beijing and protect the diplomatic legations and foreign nationals in the city from attacks in 1900. The expedition was part of the war of the Boxer Rebellion.

The Boxers were an anti-Christian, anti-foreign rural mass movement. Their objective was to rid China of foreign (Western) influence. In May and early June 1900, they advanced on Beijing. The Qing government of China was equivocal about the Boxers, fearing that they might become anti-Qing. The Boxers were a serious threat to Western and Japanese citizens and Chinese Christians living in Beijing, Tianjin, and other areas of northern China.

The diplomatic Legations (Embassies) in Beijing requested that marines be sent to protect them; more than 400 from eight countries arrived in Beijing on 31 May. However, as the threat from the Boxers increased, it become apparent that additional soldiers were needed. On 9 June, Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald the British Minister cabled Vice Admiral Edward Hobart Seymour, commander of the British Navy's China fleet, that the situation in Beijing "was hourly becoming more serious" and that "troops should be landed and all arrangements made for an advance to Peking [Beijing] at once."

On receipt of MacDonald's message, Seymour assembled within 24 hours a force of more than 2,000 sailors and marines from Western and Japanese warships and prepared to embark for Beijing from Tianjin, 75 miles away, by train. His force consisted of 916 British, 455 Germans, 326 Russians, 158 French, 112 Americans, 54 Japanese, 41 Italians, and 26 Austrians. Seymour's Chief of Staff was Captain John Jellicoe. The Commander of the Americans in the expedition was Captain Bowman H. McCalla.

The diplomats in Beijing anticipated that Seymour would arrive there on 11 June, but he didn't. Shortly thereafter, all communications were cut and the Seymour Expedition disappeared in the interior of China. Acting without the Chinese Imperial court's permission, they had, in effect, launched an invasion. The Chinese response was decisive; the Seymour Expedition suffered a disastrous defeat.

Allied troops suffered from severe illnesses, unsanitary conditions, diarrhea, flies, and other pests. General Dorwood cautioned advance, urging 60,000 men to be ready before going forward, since he witnessed the Chinese pound the Allied forces with their weaponry at Tianjin. The Chinese destroyed the railroads and junk ships to prevent the allied advance. German Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee was selected as supreme commander, but he was in Germany with his soldiers. Lieutenant General Sir Alfred Gaselee was chosen as temporary commander of the expedition because the Alliance was prejudiced against the non-white Japanese General Baron F. Yamaguchi even though he was the highest-ranking officer.

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Wikipedia