Background A group of Chinese peasants in norther China who were known as the I-ho chu'üan or righteous and harmonious fists. Boxers were young chinese men who had lost their livelihoods due to Imperialism. They used diet, prayer, martial arts, taoism, and training to summon the warrior spirits. They used swords, pikes, and spears. If the boxers could get western weapons such as rifles and artillery they would use them. The boxers destroyed railroads and telegraph lines.
The boxers wanted to overthrow the Ch'ing Dynasty. Then foreigners came into china and divideded it among themselves. The I-ho chu'üan or the boxers changed their focus of overthrowing the Ch'ing Dynasty to forcing foreign forces to leave China. The Empress backed the boxers.
Summary The Boxers and the Empress's troops fought against French, English, American, German, Italian, Austrian-Hungarian and Japanese soldiers for control of Beijing and surrounding land. The boxers attacked and killed many Chinese Christian and destroyed where they worshiped. Also, not only did many people die in battle, but there were several executions of prisoners by both sides.
Many Boxers and Chinese soldiers fought for a free China. They were defeated by the western countries and Japan. Around 32,000 chinese catholics and 188 foreign ministers were slaughtered. There were several battles in which hundreds of thousands of troops fought for each side. Over 49,000 foreign soldier fought for control of China. There were about 1-3 million boxers who fought back.