Description:

'It is impossible,' Lord Salisbury informed Queen Victoria on 5 July 1900, 'to exaggerate the horror of the news from Peking.' In fact there was no news from Peking; the only authentic message from the eleven diplomatic missions beleagured in the Chinese capital read 'Our plight is desperate. MAKE HASTE!' Although they had been reported massacred, the Legations (British, French, American, Japanese, etc.) were still holding out. Their small, polyglot garrison, supplemented by armed volunteers, had to contend not merely with the fanatical Boxers but with the Imperial Chinese Army. In the history of warfare there has been no stranger siege. Cooped up behind their improvised barricades (many of the sandbags were made of silk), tortured by heat and flies, sustained by strictly rationed pony-meat and unlimited champagne, heartened by delusions of impending relief, somehow the Legations withstood the daily and nightly onslaughts. These strange events took place less than sixty years ago, and Mr Fleming's detailed study of them is based partly on important new evidence.

In June 1900 the foreign legations at Peking were attacked by troops of the Boxer rebellion and Imperial Chinese troops. The ensuing siege lasted 55 days and shook the world. In this work, Peter Fleming traces its history and impact.