The Battle of Vimy Ridge

One of the strongest points of Canadian pride in my mind is our accomplishments in the World Wars. We didn't have the highest numbers of soldiers, but our men fought exceptionally bravely and seemed to repeatedly do the impossible. Due to our fighting strength and bravery, many would say Canada went into the war as a piece of Britain ownership and came out as a sovereign country. In honour of Remembrance Day, this blog will be written about the battle of Vimy Ridge, one of the most memorable moments in Canadian war history. 

The actual battle took place between April 9-12 in 1917. The Germans held the high ground on a long cliff, seven kilometres in length rising gradually, in France. At the apex, the Germans held an unobstructed view of a vast portion of the land. It was a German stronghold, heavy with fortifications and critical in the plans to take win the war on the western front - the Nivelle Offensive needed the taking of Vimy Ridge to allow for a southern flank that would be undisturbed by artillery fire from above. 

The Allies had already tried to Vimy Ridge twice; the French were the first to lose when they attacked in the Second Battle of Artois. They briefly captured the territory but due to a lack of reinforcements and supplies they were unable to hold the line. They tried once more sometime afterwards, but were again unsuccessful. In the battles for Vimy, the French lost over 100,000 casualties in their attempts to control the ridge and the territory surrounding it. 

The Canadian attack plan...
Uh... it's in there somewhere.

The British were the second to make an attempt. They were called in due to German tunnellers setting off explosives to damage French positions near the ridge. The Royal Engineers (I'm pretty sure Britain just puts "Royal" in front of everything to show it's theirs) deployed their own tunnellers in an attempt to counteract the Germans. However, artillery and mortar fire sent them scrambling, and a German assault forced them out. As a result, the Germans captured a number of previously British controlled tunnels that were constructed shortly before. 

This is when Canada comes in. Britain and France, unable to take Vimy, had to call in their kid to take care of business. Sir Julian Byng, governor general of Canada at the time, took over operations and for the first time in Canadian history had all four divisions of Canada's forces working on the same operation. Augmented by the British artillery, engineers and resources, the Canadian Corps had 170,000 men under their control, 97,184 of which were Canadian. France provided their support in terms of knowledge they have gained through attacking Vimy Ridge previously - how the territory looks, where the trenches are, and so forth; basically what to expect when the battle took place. 

Eyesight wasn't as good back then, so maps, like this
one demonstrating the trenches of Vimy,
had to be pretty big. 

The plan heavily relied on speed. The idea was to "leapfrog" their forces one after another in order to be consistently attacking, leaving no time for the German forces to properly cover their retreat as they were pushed back. They also planned to use the idea of "creeping artillery", which meant consistently bringing the artillery at hand closer to the line and moving step by step up the ridge, clearing a path for the ground forces to advance. The plan was to move 4,000 yards by 1:00 p.m. on the first day, starting around dawn (about 5:30 a.m.). This required a massive amount of artillery and a complex plan of attack. Small units were important, as the idea of firing and moving forward was integral to the plan of attack. The planning for the battle was immense: large practice battles using hills for cover and men on horses holding flags to mark artillery movements were used to give an idea on how the battle was to go forth. A large number of maps were also given out to even somewhat low ranking officers to allow them to understand not only their objectives, but their role in the mission as a whole. The German defensive planned to have a sufficient force to stem the initial force and have reinforcements replace them from a fair distance away, allowing their men to not be consistently affected by the loud pounding of the artillery fire. 

You don't mess with Byng. The majority of the
Allies' artillery fire was attributed to his stare alone.

On March 20th, the attack commenced - sort of. The idea is not to simply run face-first into the battle, and a lot of preliminary assaults had to be made. For two weeks, allied artillery bombed the defences, destroying fortifications, trenches and any number of German holdouts to begin to level the surface to make for an easier assault. The following week even more artillery was brought in for what would be called the "Week of Suffering" for the German defences. The trenches were ravaged, and the morale of the defending soldiers was depleting. Having to be on high alert mixed with the physical trauma of consistent bombing took its toll. After these many days of almost constant artillery bombardments, the final step was about to take place. 

On April 9th the main assault began. The weather was cold, with a wind paired with snow. While it was uncomfortable for both sides, the attacking side benefited more due to the direction of the wind - the wind was at the backs of the allies, meaning it was blowing in the faces of the German troops. That, and the forces were mostly made up of Canadians - the majority of our life is completed while cold. That meant that the planned assault was surely to continue, as it had already been delayed for a day due to unrelated reasons. For the first time in what must have seemed like ages, the artillery stopped for a moment. However, this was hardly a reprieve, as the purpose of the sudden quiet was not to let up, but rather to gather the artillery for a combined assault, rather than consistent, spread out firing. At exactly 5:30, the weapons fired together, as well as detonating the mine charges that the British had placed earlier. After the artillery had sufficiently dismantled the defences, the first wave of Canadians poured through. The swiftness of the assault prevented the Germans from properly reacting effectively, and the first day of the assault was mostly successful, save for Canada's fourth division. They had requested a portion of the trench be left undamaged, I assume to use it when the land was taken by their troops, but the plan backfired heavily. The defences, undisturbed by the siege, killed many of the attackers and the defending forces held until they were out of ammunition. 

Either an exploding mortar, or a Canadian soldier
punching the ground due to frustrations of not taking
Vimy fast enough.

The following day the attacks began in much the same manner, with the creeping artillery moving ever forward and dismantling the defences as they pressed up the hill. The idea of leapfrogging began as British troops reinforced the Canadians to propel themselves faster into position, overtaking the Germans before they could properly defend themselves in retreat. The peak was taken briefly, but a German counterattack brought it once again under their control. However, seeing as they would not be able to hold it, they evacuated. It was a successful day. 

April 12th was the final battle, after a one day delay at the request of the French. Gas was fired into the defences to cause confusion, and artillery continued to disrupt the defensive positions. The last bastion of defence was what was called the "pimple", a high-ground that was heavily fortified. Beginning the day at 5:00 a.m., the Allied forces took the ground at 6:00 p.m., winning the battle for Vimy Ridge. 

In the end, 3,598 of the victors were killed, with another 7,004 wounded. 4,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner. Four Canadians received the Victoria Crosses, the highest military award that can be given to the British and commonwealth forces for valour in the face of the enemy. The result was a strong sense of Canadian national unity, and many would argue that through the blood that was shed on Vimy Ridge, Canada became a country rather than a colony. Following the War, the French would grant use of the area to the Canadians to be made into a war memorial which still stands today. 

True north strong and free, man. True north strong and free.

Famous Historical Figures Say the Darndest Things!

1. "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. On approaching the first objective, Pte. Milne observed an enemy machine gun firing on our advancing troops. Crawling on hands and knees, he succeeded in reaching the gun, killing the crew with bombs, and capturing the gun. On the line re-forming, he again located a machine gun in the support line, and stalking this second gun as he had done the first, he succeeded in putting the crew out of action and capturing the gun. His wonderful bravery and resource on these two occasions undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his comrades. Pte. Milne was killed shortly after capturing the second gun." William Johnstone Milne's military citation for his Victoria Cross. As true a Canadian hero as any. 
2. "A standard had been set in meticulous preparation, training and staff works, receptiveness to new techniques and [the embrace of] tactical innovations." Words of the biographer for Byng. 
3. "Lions led by donkeys." This was a phrase used to speak of the British generals leading the men in World War I. It's a darn good thing Canadians were there.

Tsar Nicholas II

While Tsardom (I'm so excited that's a word) officially ended in 1721, Russian autocrats, emperors, and what have you were still given the title of Tsar. Nicholas II was the last of these such rulers, his reign lasting from 1894-1917. Overall Russia under his leadership was... well, let's just say it got kinda rocky.
Nicholas II was born into the Romanov family, the then leading dynasty of Russia. He became Tsesarevich (essentially the heir) after his grandfather was assassinated. Thrown into the rather terrifying world of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, he survived his own assassination attempt in 1891 in Japan. Right from the beginning, there were at least some people out for poor Nicky's head. From this brief introduction alone, I bet you can guess that the fate of this Tsar ends in blood. Probably some vodka as well, as it is Russia, after all.

The Tsar and his wife. She... she doesn't
look that into it.

However, being a young man, he had still a strong interest in the opposite sex despite people trying to kill him and whatnot. At his coming of age ceremony at the age of sixteen, he found himself interested in Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt - this is seemingly all well and good, but she was twelve, which makes it a little awkward looking back on it. Age wasn't what stood between them, though (although I'd understand if it did...) - the problem was Alix was a devout Lutheran and refused to convert to Nicholas' Russian Orthodoxy. He later proposed but she denied him, but was later convinced that it was her duty. Oh, young love.

The Tsar in power at the time and the father of Nicholas, Alexander III, was very sick during this period. It became apparent that soon the Tsardom will fall into the hands of Nicholas, despite the fact that he was rather ill-prepared. Alexander provided little guidance for the role, believing Nicholas to not yet be ready to take on responsibility while he was in good health. As a result, after Alexander's death, Nicholas was twenty six years old and horribly unprepared. Nicholas took the throne, and in spite of the lack of experience and responsibility in his life, he demanded full autocratic rule, denying any attempts at a constitutional monarchy that a number of peasants were suggesting. It's basically the same mentality for spoiled rich kids in modern day, except with pant-loads of power. Right from the coronation ceremony, things started going down hill for Russia.

If only the Tsar's leadership
was as high quality as his
moustache.

Through a ceremony held in the Kremlin, Nicholas became the Tsar officially. He held a festival with free food and beer some distance away in the Khodynka, a field outside Mosco. This seems all well and good, but there were some problems with the field - and the organization. The field was a training ground for the military, making it uneven and rocky. Unfortunately, not enough food or booze was brought to the ceremony - a cardinal sin for any party. This caused the 100,000 in attendance to really, really want their fair share of free food, resulting in 1,389 dead and 1,300 injured from trampling and suffocation in what is truly a low moment in human history when you get right down to it. In fairness to Nicholas II, he intended to may his respects to those who died but was called away to an important meeting with a French ambassador. Regardless, it reflected very poorly on him in the eyes of the public.

So day one for the new Tsar didn't start off so well, and in fact kicked off about as poorly as one could have ever expected. And if only it had stopped there... In all fairness, Russia is a very big country, and with big countries there's quite literally a lot more room for things to go wrong. Being big wasn't just enough either - Russia wanted to be bigger, and secure their footholds in the eastern portion of their land. Unfortunately, this was in opposition to the Japanese, who were much smaller but feisty like nobody's business. Japan wanted China and mainland Asia, and they wanted it badly enough to surprise attack the Russian military. The Russians called back their fleet (who was stationed around Europe at the time) and through a series of what wikipedia defines as "misadventures" their ships were annihilated. You see, being big isn't always a good thing - the ships were far, and the in the trip they were picked off by the Japanese and things went downhill. Sending units by land didn't help much either, as the transportation was poor as, lets not forget, Russia is freaking huge. The Tsar was eventually forced into calling for peace after a massive amount of losses in a terrible war. But things couldn't get much worse...

The most successful military campaign of Tsar Nicholas II:
the defeat of the peaceful protestors at Bloody Sunday.

...Except for when things got drastically worse. In 1905, a group consisting of 120,000 displeased but peaceful Russian protestors marched on the Winter Palace in an attempt to bring about some change in the way the country was being run. Apparently, they were actually singing hymns of "God save the Tsar" along the way, making it about as peaceful as a six figure mob can be. Fearing the worst, the military lined up and confronted the people. In a horrible event that killed 92 civilians and wounded several hundred, the military opened fire unprovoked. It would later be named "Bloody Sunday", after the song by U2 - or the other way around. Historians are uncertain.

Now, to continue this blog I have to make a point. The main purpose of these write-ups is to basically get the gist. It's not meant to be a flawless historical analysis of events, but instead a casual summary. Basically enough to answer a Jeopardy question if it comes along. While I plan on writing a blog just about why I blog these things, for now you simply need to know this - the next part is rather long and tedious, and I'm essentially taking a summary and summarizing on top of that. It's the gist of the gist.

The revolutions begin! There were a number of problems that led to the Russian Revolution of 1905 - the nationality problem, in the sense that the a number of the Tsar's anti-semetic attitudes caused some discontent among, well, the Jews. There was also severe famine which was in turn caused by a horrible economy due to the failure in the war - prices for food skyrocketed. The educated were also turning against the Tsar, and education typically goes hand in hand with power. The Tsar also introduced prohibition in an attempt to up patriotism and productivity for the war effort. However, this took a massive toll on the treasury as the alcohol could no longer be taxed. Also, you took away vodka from Russia - just not a good idea. All of these factors forced the Tsar into the creation of the Duma, basically an advisory board that introduced some basic civil liberties. However, lets not forget Nicholas really was stuck in the whole autocrat thing, so he had some issues with giving up the power to these Dumas. A number of them were made, a number dissolved, and... well, they were mostly unsuccessful, all in all.

To add to the increasingly self-destructive country, the world was on the brink of war. Despite both Germany and Russia not being particularly eager to fight each other (Russia being in horrifying disrepair and Germany not wanting to go to war with the sheer volume of soldiers at their disposal) Russia entered the war, woefully unprepared. While their armies numbered in the millions, a lack of supplies, poor transportation and what would soon be massive casualties caused increasing discontent in the people. They frequently lost battles to Germany, and their losses accounted for 1/3rd of the total military deaths in WW1.

 Demonstrating his leadership qualities
as the Tsar, Nicholas allowed this man,
Rasputin, near his wife and children.

At home the situation fared hardly better. Political unrest continued, and Nicholas II, near the warfront, was cut off from public opinion. On top of that, rumours were spread about the interference (and possible affair) of Alix with Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin. Rasputin became close with Alexandra after she became convinced he was a starets, meaning a mystic of some sorts, after his healing of their young hemophiliac heir to the throne. Rasputin later met his end at the hand of some Russian nobles, which seems to be one of few parts of his story that seems to be actually agreed upon by historians. The man is completely shrouded in mystery. He also seemed like kind of a pervert.

With the military poorly supplied (and rapidly dying), the economy in shambles and peaked political unrest, eventually the crap hit the fan. Everyone revolted, including the military, pillaging political buildings and torching police offices. In the wake of the revolution, Nicholas was finally forced to abdicate the throne. However, this wasn't just one of those cases where you say "well, I'm done and did a pretty crappy job, so I'll be walking out of here now." The Tsar cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russians, and the people wanted their vengeance. The Bolsheviks, essentially the working class of Russia, overthrew the impromptu provisional government created to temporarily replace Nicholas, and went out for blood. Eventually, they found the former Tsar and murdered him and the entire Romanov family.

Famous Historical Figures Say the Darndest Things!

1. "I want everyone to know that I will devote all my strength to maintain, for the good of the whole nation, the principle of absolute autocracy..." Oh boy. Let me paraphrase. "For your own good, I'm going to run things by myself.
2. "Difficult day! In St. Petersburg there were serious disturbances due to the desire of workers to get to the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different places of the city, there were many dead and wounded. Lord, how painful and bad!" This is from the Tsar's diary after Bloody Sunday. 
3. "The innocent blood of workers, their wives and children lies forever between you and the Russian people... may all the blood which would be spilled fall upon you, you Hangman." The words of the leader of the Bloody Sunday protest. He as well believed it to be a "difficult day."
4. "God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow doctors to bother him too much." Rasputin, upon meeting the hemophiliac son of the Tsar.
5. "...The Presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet, fulfilling the will of the Revolution, resolved to shoot the former Tsar, Nikolai Romanov, who is guilty of countless, bloody, violent acts against the Russian people." Now that just about sums it up.

Cleopatra

I assume she looked better NOT as a statue.

I believe the name Cleopatra is fairly common. For the most part, people know she's Egyptian, lived a long time ago, walked like the people in those paintings, and was likely somewhat of a babe. I hardly knew much more than that either, and realistically I know hardly any more now - but, true to this blog's purpose, I know enough information that if a kid came up and asked me "hey, what the heck was Cleopatra all about?" I could give him a quick run-down on a few important things she did, hopefully opening the door for him to read more in depth on his own time. Good enough for me.

Anyways, like most leaders way back when, she came to power through lineage. Meritocracy wasn't really a thing back then. She came to power when she was only fourteen years old, the leadership falling to her and her younger, ten year old brother Ptolemy XIII through a number of deaths (assassinations, likely) that placed her as the next in line. At the time, Egyptian rulers were joint monarchs, one a man and one a woman, and the power was meant to be at least somewhat shared, although favouring the man.

Cleopatra, almost wearing a shirt.

The first three years of her rule were difficult; economic issues, a lack of food, the floods of the Nile and political strife plagued her lands, and in lack of a better term, crap was hitting the fan. She felt it was her time to really take control, not needing the help of her younger brother. She began to sign only her name on official documents and had her face on the coins - basically saying she was the one ruler. This was all well and good until the arguments that arose with the Gabiniani, Roman soldiers placed in Rome. At the time, Egypt was connected to the Roman Empire and had to bow down to their rule as they saw fit. The problems began to occur when the Roman governor of Syria sent his sons to ask for assistance in a war, which resulted in a very literal "killing the messenger" type response from the Gabiniani, despite the fact that they were Roman as well. Cleopatra got word of this, captured the murderers, and handed them over in chains to the governor. This, however, displeased Rome as locking up their soldiers, regardless of what cause, typically makes them a little cranky. The result was a fall from power for Cleopatra, forcing her to flee, leaving the power in Ptolemy XIII's small, childish hands.

During her absence, the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey was reaching its end. Pompey, having his armies defeated and thus on the run from Caesar, travelled to Egypt basically to lay low for a while and possibly rebuild. Expecting to be welcomed with open arms, being a Roman and all, he was most likely somewhat surprised when Ptolemy III had his head lopped off in front of his wife and kids. Now, the relationship with Caesar and Pompey was rather complicated - yes they were at war, but Caesar was traditionally quite merciful, and did not wish Pompey any harm. He was furious at the assassination at his friend (in all fairness, I wouldn't have guessed that either if I was Ptolemy III) and demanded that the murderer find the same beheaded fate as his dear, warring friend. Tensions were high between Ptolemy III and Caesar.

The death of Cleopatra. Her servants, evidently,
were shot. Dramatically. I believe this is the first
painted case of overacting. 

Cleopatra recognized the opportunity and decided to take advantage - she had herself smuggled into Caesar's chambers, apparently by being rolled up into a rug, and decided to, well, woo him. Caesar being a middle aged man and Cleopatra being young and all good looking and such, she quickly became his mistress. This was quite the scandal as Caesar was married back home. She eventually had a son with Caesar of which they named Caesarian, meaning "little Caesar". Aww... adorable. Having pleased Caesar in ways that Ptolemy just couldn't do, he decided to back Cleopatra's claim to the throne. In a war between the two previously joint monarchs, Ptolemy was defeated and left to drown in the Nile. Poor guy just had the wrong gender. As a result, she established Caesarian as her co-regent and successor to the throne.

Unfortunately for her, down went Caesar at the hands of Brutus and his crew way back in Rome. The result was a civil war (again) that led to the sides of Brutus and Mark Antony, with the backing of Octavian, the heir of Caesar, to war it out. Antony, stationing himself in Egypt, became quite taken with Cleopatra. She pledged loyalty to him, and gave birth to twins. This all occurred while Antony was married to Octavian's sister... whoops. Basically Cleopatra was in a lot of ways a home-wrecker. Naturally, this put a bit of stress on the relationship of Octavian and Antony, as cheating on one's sister is usually worthy of an argument or two - especially when he's so bloody brazen about it. Antony eventually married Cleopatra, and Octavian eventually went to war with Antony. Of course it was over a heck of a lot more than just Cleopatra, but she definitely played a part. Antony was eventually defeated, and knowing that, he committed suicide. Cleopatra followed suit, and the most likely manner in which she died was she allowed an asp to bite her. They're poisonous. I believe you most likely have figured that out.

 Since, Cleopatra has been modernized as a slutty costume for Halloween. A wonderful legacy.

Famous Historical Figures Say the Darndest Things!

1. "Her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased..." This is from Plutarch, a Greek historian. Uh... I guess he's saying she wasn't that hot, but had a charm about her. 
2. "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed." The words of a French theologian, saying if her face was a different face the face of the world would be a different face.
3. "All strange and terrible events are welcome; but comforts we despise, our size of sorrow; proportion'd to our cause, must be great." From the play Antony and Cleopatra. Even the great Egyptian leader is not immune to the boredoms of Shakespeare. 

The Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion is two things; one, a violent anti-foreigner movement in China circa around 1900, and two, an incredible band. Today I'll be talking about the former.

The Boxer Rebellion event, while not as musically talented, was an opposition to foreign imperialism and Christian meddling towards China and its people. Basically, the big European powers along with the United States wanted to run China, and the Chinese started to get a little sick and tired of, you know, having unequal treatment in regards to laws, having opium ruin their country, losing their religion, and having foreigners take over everything that's theirs. This is nothing new - the powers that be have already been working away at the sovereignty of China for quite some time now. While I cannot personally understand what got them so worked up, the fact of the matter is they revolted.

A French political cartoon of the invading
forces dividing China. They are also
made to look hilariously like their
stereotypical racial appearances.

The Boxers did not refer to themselves by that name. They were actually called the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, a clearly Chinese name that was somewhat of a secret, underground society of men growing increasingly discontent with the powers of imperialism. Adding the natural disasters and brutal drought that happened around the same time, they reached the breaking point and began to violently rebel against the soldiers of the imposing countries as well as the Christian missionaries that upset them through what I can only assume was constantly reminding them eternal damnation is the result of not accepting Christ. In all fairness, hearing that all the time quickly becomes a downer, I would assume. These Boxers were already spiritual as is - in fact, they believed they possessed the supernatural ability to be invulnerable to cannon fire, rifles and knives. This was most likely due to the fact that the men killed by cannon fire, rifles and knives could not report back to inform them of their deaths.

Before things really took off, Empress Dowager Cixi officially had the policy of suppressing the Boxer movement. The Boxers had been taking shots at Christian churches and leaders here and there, but nothing too substantial as of yet. The Empress had to make a decision (along with the Imperial Court); support the Boxers in an attempt to maintain sovereignty in the country, or attempt to maintain peace by working with the foreign powers. Cixi and the court ruled to back the Boxers, much to the displeasure of the invading forces. The result was a rapid spread of the Boxer movement, killing many freshly converted Chinese Christians, intimidating Chinese officials and burning churches. The foreign response was sending a number of soldiers to Beijing to defend - four hundred soldiers from eight countries rushed in. In retrospect, four hundred doesn't really sound like all that many considering China is kinda big with a lot of people.

Troops from (left to right) Britain, U.S., Australia,
British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy and
Russia. Just kidding, the last guy is from Japan. The Russian
must have been in the bathroom or something.

Tensions mounted even higher as time went on. More people were killed on both sides, everyone was angry and the Empress declared war on all foreign powers. The Chinese loyalists (I think you can call them that. Basically the non-Christian-converted Chinese Boxers) attacked the legation quarter of Beijing, basically where the foreigners lived. A small number of French and Italian soldiers, some priests, and (most importantly) 3,200 Chinese Catholics successfully defended the quarter against a large number of attackers.

However, the rest of the converted Chinese did not fare so well. The Boxers annihilated Christians throughout China, arguably the worst event being the Taiyuan massacre. Fourty four foreigners, including women and children, were murdered. Over time the killings continued and the protestant dead were later named the China Martyrs of 1900.

Italian soldiers wearing ponchos and ridiculously goofy hats,
hanging around in China.

In response, the allied forces send in a much larger contingent of soldiers to quell the rebellion. The countries of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. all worked together to secure the country that was in complete disarray. It was then occupied for roughly a year, but a dark spot in history it surely was. Atrocities and looting was rampant, each of the invading countries saying the others were committing the worst of these crimes. To add insult to injury, China had to pay a large sum in reparations to the countries that would be splitting their land up on their whim.

In a nutshell, the rebellion was a failure. This begs the question then, how is China a sovereign country and not divided up between the eight invaders? Well, in short, they decided the easiest and most effective way to govern China was through the Chinese dynasties instead of directly dealing with the Chinese people. I suppose over time the power just wained, but that'll be some research for another time.

I guess the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists simply would have been better if they used more guns.

Famous Historical Figures Say the Darndest Things!

1. "Support the Qing, exterminate the foreigners!" This was the rallying cry of the Boxers, the Qing being the then leading Chinese dynasty.
2. "Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome." Well, "welcome" may be somewhat of a stretch, but... you get the idea.
3. "The whole country is swarming with hungry, discontented, hopeless idlers." An American speaking to Washington soon after the Empress' initial plans on supporting the Boxers officially.
4. "The conduct of the Russian soldiers is atrocious, the French are not much better, and the Japanese are looting and burning without mercy." I was pretty serious when I said it was a dark spot in history.