Originally Posted by
Godwit
I think that you got your revolutions mixed up Packy. The Boxer thing happened about 1898.
The boxer revolution is what started the whole mess and ultimately led to communist control!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion
Some interetersting reading, a great description of what we are seeing once again the conservatives versus the liberals only now on a global scale!
Thought this comment was of interest as well:
"the whole country is swarming with hungry, discontented, hopeless idlers.”
Also of interest at the bottom of the article:
Historian
Walter LaFeber has argued that President
William McKinley's decision to send 5,000 American troops to quell the rebellion marks "the origins of modern presidential war powers":
[85]
McKinley took a historic step in creating a new, 20th-century presidential power. He dispatched the five thousand troops without consulting Congress, let alone obtaining a declaration of war, to fight the Boxers who were supported by the Chinese government ... Presidents had previously used such force against non-governmental groups that threatened U.S. interests and citizens. It was now used, however, against recognized governments, and without obeying the
Constitution's provisions about who was to declare war.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. concurred, writing that:
[86]
The intervention in China marked the start of a crucial shift in the presidential employment of armed force overseas. In the 19th century, military force committed without congressional authorization had been typically used against nongovernmental organizations. Now it was beginning to be used against sovereign states, and, in the case of
Theodore Roosevelt, with less consultation than ever.
IN a nutshell to tie this in with teh OP, China's method ala 1898-1901 to deal with these rebels was to kill every last one of them, they even brought in the US to help with the deed. Read the entire article if you want to see how our relationship with China originated.