<P> The British won the race among the international forces to be the first to reach the besieged Legation Quarter . The U.S. was able to play a role due to the presence of U.S. ships and troops stationed in Manila since the U.S. conquest of the Philippines during the Spanish--American War and the subsequent Philippine--American War . In the U.S. military, the action in the Boxer Rebellion was known as the China Relief Expedition . United States Marines scaling the walls of Beijing is an iconic image of the Boxer Rebellion . </P> <P> The British Army reached the legation quarter on the afternoon of 14 August and relieved the Legation Quarter . The Beitang was relieved on 16 August, first by Japanese soldiers and then, officially, by the French . </P> <P> In the early hours of 15 August, just as the Foreign Legations were being relieved, Empress Dowager Cixi, dressed in the padded blue cotton of a farm woman, the Guangxu Emperor, and a small retinue climbed into three wooden ox carts and escaped from the city covered with rough blankets . Legend has it that the Empress Dowager then either ordered that the Guangxu Emperor's favourite concubine, Consort Zhen, be thrown down a well in the Forbidden City or tricked her into drowning herself . The journey was made all the more arduous by the lack of preparation, but the Empress Dowager insisted this was not a retreat, rather a "tour of inspection ." After weeks of travel, the party arrived in Xi'an in Shaanxi province, beyond protective mountain passes where the foreigners could not reach, deep in Chinese Muslim territory and protected by the Gansu Braves . The foreigners had no orders to pursue the Empress Dowager, so they decided to stay put . </P> <P> The Russian Empire and the Qing Empire had maintained a long peace, starting with the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, but Tsarist forces took advantage of Chinese defeats to impose the Aigun Treaty of 1858 and the Treaty of Peking of 1860 which ceded formerly Chinese territory in Manchuria to Russia, much of which is held by Russia to the present day (Primorye). The Russians aimed for control over the Amur River for navigation, and the all - weather ports of Dairen and Port Arthur in the Liaodong peninsula . The rise of Japan as an Asian power provoked Russia's anxiety, especially in light of expanding Japanese influence in Korea . Following Japan's victory in the First Sino - Japanese War of 1895, the Triple Intervention of Russia, Germany and France forced Japan to return the territory won in Liaodong, leading to a de facto Sino - Russian alliance . </P>

Which of the following was an effect the boxer rebellion had on china