The wall around the adjoining Outer (Chinese) city was 30 feet high. The wall around the Inner (Tartar) city was 40 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the top. The city was surrounded by walls 21 miles in length and broken by 16 gates. The objective of the alliance forces was to fight their way into the city of Peking, make their way to the Legation Quarter and rescue the 900 foreigners besieged there by the Chinese army since 20 June. The British, American and Japanese commanders wanted to push on and attack Peking on 13 August, but the Russian commander said he needed another day to prepare and 13 August was devoted to reconnaissance and rest. The relief force was much reduced by heat exhaustion and sunstroke and the men available for the assault on Peking probably did not greatly exceed 10,000. The Alliance forces defeated the Chinese army at the Battle of Beicang (Peitsang) on 5 August and the Battle of Yangcun (Yangtsun) on 6 August and reached Tongzhou (Tongchou), 14 miles from Peking, on 12 August. The route of the Eight-Nation Alliance force to relieve the Siege of the Legations in Peking, August 1900. Other sources give a figure of 18,000 troops. France - 800 ( Indochinese brigade with artillery).Britain - 3,000 (mostly Indian infantry, cavalry and artillery).Russia - 4,000 (infantry, Cossacks and artillery).United States - 2,000 (soldiers and marines with artillery).The alliance force consisted of 22,000 troops from the following countries: ![]() On 4 August a second, much larger relief force, called the Eight-Nation Alliance, marched from Tientsien (Tianjin) toward Peking. The first attempt to relieve the legations by a force of over 2,000 sailors and marines commanded by British Admiral Edward Seymour was turned back by strong opposition on 26 June. From 20 June 1900, Boxers and Imperial Chinese Army troops had besieged foreign diplomats, citizens and soldiers within the legations of Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and the United States. ![]() The Battle of Peking, or historically the Relief of Peking, was the battle fought on 14–15 August 1900 in Peking, in which the Eight-Nation Alliance relieved the siege of the Peking Legation Quarter during the Boxer Rebellion.
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