b/w. frontis. photo. of Sir Claude Macdonald. On June 20, 1900 the foreign legations at Peking were attacked by Boxers and Imperial Chinese troops, with the equivocal support of the Empress Dowager, Tz'u Hsi. The ensuing siege was to last for 55 days, and the news of it shook the world. China at the end of the nineteenth century was a country in crisis. The Manchu dynasty was in its death throes, held together by the will of the Dowager Empress. Foreign powers were dismantling her Empire and treating her age-old civilisation with contempt. The siege was the cry of a humiliated, ancient culture. The armed forces of eight European powers took part in its relief and the results were disastrous for China. Aside from an indemnity of sixty million pounds, the Western powers quickened the pace of change. The Siege directly led to the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty in 1911. It was the last great co-operative endeavour of the European powers before the First World War. Includes bibliography & index