Question: "Didn't the Qing declare war on the Dutch, Belgians and Spanish even though they had no part in the taking of the forts? If so, was the taking of the forts really just a catalyst or also a pretext to do something (eliminate the legation district) that the Qing had wanted to do anyway?" This question is answered by Joe a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Calgary talks about the influence of the Taiping Rebellion / Civil War on the Boxer Rebellion / Uprising / Wars. Joe is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Calgary. His Thesis concerns Anglo-Japanese military relations during the period of 1894-1905 with a special focus on the Boxer War. Follow Justin on twitter https://twitter.com/CBI_PTO_History @CBI_PTO_History Follow Joe on twitter https://twitter.com/JoeFonsecaHist @JoeFonsecaHist Follow MHV on twitter https://twitter.com/MilHiVisualized @MilHiVisualized Cover design by vonKickass. »» SUPPORT MHV «« » patreon, see videos early (adfree) - https://www.patreon.com/join/mhv » subscribe star - https://www.subscribestar.com/mhv » paypal donation - https://paypal.me/mhvis »» MERCHANDISE «« » teespring - https://teespring.com/stores/military-history-visualized » SOURCES « Selected Primary Sources: Brown, Frederick. From Tientsin to Peking with the Allied Forces. London: Charles H. Kelly, 1902. Giles, Lancelot. The Siege of the Peking Legations: A Diary by Lancelot Giles. L. R. Marchant Ed. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1970. Hooker, Mary. Behind the Scenes in Peking: Being the Experiences During the Siege of the Legations. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. 1910; Internet Archive, 2008. https://archive.org/details/cu31924023151131. Landor, Arnold Henry Savage. China and the Allies. London: W. Heinemann, 1901. MacDonald, Claude A. “The Japanese Detachment During the Defense of the Peking Legations, 1900,” in Transactions and Proceedings of