What happened
The Boxers attacked Chinese Christians and foreigners; in June 1900 the Qing court under Empress Dowager Cixi backed them and declared war on the foreign powers. Boxers and Qing troops besieged Beijing’s legation quarter for 55 days, and the German minister von Ketteler was killed. An Eight-Nation Alliance expedition — Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary — took Beijing in August 1900; the court fled to Xi’an, and looting and punitive expeditions followed.
Background
The “Boxers United in Righteousness” blended martial arts and spirit-possession rituals with anti-foreign and anti-Christian anger, fed by drought and by resentment of missionary privilege.
Consequences
The Boxer Protocol (September 1901) imposed an indemnity of 450 million taels payable over 39 years, foreign garrisons, punishment of officials, and the razing of forts. The dynasty’s credibility drained away, and even the court turned to reform; parts of the indemnity were later remitted toward education — the origins of Tsinghua.