From 'Can-Can Diabolique' to 'Sitzkrieg': The International China Expeditionary Force, 1900–1901

In terms of modern military historiography, the International China Expeditionary Force (CEF) of 1900-1 is a largely forgotten army. This is wholly undeserved. Based on British, German, Indian and United States Army and other records, this article examines its operations as an overseas counter-insurgency campaign. It also examines the problematic nature of Field Marshal von Waldersee’s ’Supreme Command’ and the complex relations between the various national contingents of this, the only active military alliance between the Crimean conflict and the First World War. Ultimately, the CEF was an interesting, if flawed, late nineteenth-century experiment in coalition warfare. But it was more than just that. It was also a microcosm that makes evident the problems of turn-of-the-century international politics.