Last time we spoke about the Boxers march upon Beijing. The situation in China escalated until the point of no return. The Boxers began attacked Christians and foreigners, seeing less and less opposition from the Qing government. The Qing court were hard pressed to do anything to suppression the boxers lest they fall into a full blown rebellion. The foreign community in Beijing scrambled to call for help from their navies before the Boxers cut the railways and telegraph lines to the capital. Not only were the Boxers a threat to the foreign community, but the recently arrived Kansu army of General Dong Fuxiang were also causing troubles. The foreign legations held tight waiting to see what would occur and on June 11th of 1900 the violence escalated. Mr. Sugiyama of Japan was murdered by the Kansu army, it seemed all hope for avoiding conflict was now lost.    #62 The Boxer Rebellion part 2: Seymour's 8 Nation expedition   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The death of Mr. Sugiyama drove the tension through the roof. 40 French and Italian marines had detached from the legation main force to defend the Peitang Cathedral. They were led by 23 year old Paul Henry and Italian officer Olivieri who was 22. The two went to work directing a defense of the Cathedral, as Henry’s commanding officer sent a message to quickly recall him back over to the legations, the message never arrived. A detachment of US Marines, were also sent to guard the large Methodist Mission half a mile from the American legation. At this point the mission was housing some 1500 refugee’s within its walls. Streams of refugees had flooded in when the panic began, as told to us by Frank Gamewell running the mission “The missionaries are coming in from outside districks [sic]; some with only such articles of clothing as they could carry in their arms, as they had to flee for their lives. The situation is getting more serious as the Boxers are gathering and getting more bold every hour; as the Chinese soldiers sent out to guard Foreign property are assisting the Boxers to loot the places.” On June 12th the ministers sent another message to the Zongli Yamen. The Japanese were invited to partake in the message but declined so they could submit another message bearing this. “The Chinese have murdered our Third Secretary of Legation, and Japan can have no more communication with China—except war.” The next day, a Boxer appeared on Legation Street wielding a large carving knife. Baron von Ketteler was so livid at the scene he rushed into the street and began hitting the boxer with a stick. The Boxer leapt out of his cart, running for an alley, whereupon von Ketteler discovered a young boy hiding in the cart and seized him as a hostage at the German legation. Later that afternoon thousands of Boxers stormed the city wielding spears and swords. The Boxers had prepared blacklists and were quote “hunting down all who had been connected with the foreigners, cutting them down, hacking them to pieces, or carrying them off for more terrible torture in a Boxer camp”. Beijing was filled with torches held by Boxers who began destroying all the Missions they could. The East Cathedral, South Cathedral, Nan Tang and Tung Tang were ablaze. Christians caught