Alfred Von Waldersee - Expedition To China

Expedition To China

Two thousand European and Chinese Christians were trapped in the legation compound at Peking by Boxer insurgents in 1900. An eight-nation International Relief Force of European, American and Japanese troops maneuvered to the rescue. Since Kaiser Wilhelm II’s minister to China, Baron Clemens von Ketteler, was murdered by the Boxers, the Germans "claimed a certain priority in the crusade against Chinese barbarism." The now semi-retired, sixty-eight year old, but for the occasion newly promoted Field Marshal Alfred Count von Waldersee, was proposed by the Tsar of Russia, and seconded by the Japanese, as the first Allied Supreme Commander of modern times.

Preparations for the field marshal's departure from Germany to China caused a good deal of satirical comment on what became known as Waldersee Rummel or "Waldersee theatricals" — which he detested. Much of this circus, he wrote in his irritation "... unfortunately made it into the newspapers." Waldersee arrived at the frontlines of Peking too late to direct his multinational force in any fighting of note, but was in charge of the pacification of the Boxers. "These punitive expeditions ... were unrewarding enterprises from Waldersee's point of view ... hardly constituted war." It is probable, however, that "if his appointment had not existed, or if it had been filled by a less positive personality, the animosities which ceaselessly embittered the contingents in North China would have assumed serious proportions. ... there were countless minor incidents, and it is at least partly to Waldersee's credit that nothing came of them."

The field marshal did not understand the resilience of the Chinese psyche. But he understood that the conduct of the conquerors was unbecoming: their soldiery was idle and bored, venereal disease was rampant, and after looting was curtailed, the rank-and-file remained gullible enough to be swindled with "Chinese art" of all descriptions. At the end of the campaign he hastened his return to Germany. In 1901, for his "accomplishments in the interest of world peace," he was named an honorary citizen of Hamburg, his erstwhile home. Again at Hanover, he resumed the duties of inspector-general, which he performed almost until his death in 1904 at age 72.