Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
German Expeditionary Force
Bronze Commemorative Badge
德國遠征軍銅質紀念章
Item number: M229
Year: AD 1901
Material: Bronze
Size: 20.4 x 20.4 mm
Weight: 30.5 g (with box)
Provenance: Künker 2024
This is a bronze commemorative badge issued to mark the Boxer Rebellion. The obverse side features a beaded circle around the edge. At the centre, a German soldier is depicted holding a long sword in one hand and the tricolour German flag in the other, standing triumphantly over a defeated Chinese dragon with its tongue protruding. The lower edge of the medal bears the signature of the engraver, “LAUFR.”
The reverse side of the badge also features a beaded circle around the edge. At the centre is an emblem of the German Imperial Eagle. Surrounding the eagle are inscriptions in Gothic script: “ERSTÜRMUNG D. TAKU FORTS. EINNAHME V. TIENT SIN. MARSCH AUF PEKING,” which translates to “Assault on the Taku Forts, Capture of Tianjin, March on Beijing.”
In AD 1900, a xenophobic movement known as the Boxer Rebellion erupted in rural Shandong and quickly spread across northern China, causing alarm among foreigners stationed in Beijing. On June 20th, the conflict escalated dramatically when German Minister to China, Clemens von Ketteler, was killed. With the approval of Empress Dowager Cixi, the Boxers besieged the Legation Quarter, trapping a German officer and 50 soldiers among the foreigners under siege. News of the minister’s assassination and the besieged legations reached Germany, prompting Kaiser Wilhelm II, a staunch advocate of military expansion, to call for an expeditionary force to avenge the death.
On August 20th, under the nominal command of Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee, 24,000 German troops set out for China. By the time the German forces arrived in September, the Allied forces had already captured Beijing. Nevertheless, the German troops participated in subsequent military operations in northern China and played a role in the negotiations for the Boxer Protocol. As part of these negotiations, Germany demanded that China erect a commemorative archway in Beijing in honour of the slain Minister von Ketteler.