Alfred von Waldersee
Field Marshal; Allied Commander-in-Chief
"No mercy will be shown; no prisoners will be taken."
Biography
A German field marshal and former chief of the general staff, Count von Waldersee was appointed supreme commander of the international expeditionary force at the insistence of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was determined that a German should lead the coalition. But Waldersee arrived only in late September 1900, after Peking had already been relieved by the others, and his command was largely of the punitive phase. Under his direction, and infused with the spirit of the Kaiser's infamous 'Hun speech' urging the troops to make the name 'German' feared for a thousand years, the allied forces mounted dozens of punitive expeditions across North China, marked by looting, executions, and brutality. Waldersee's belated, vengeful command did much to fix the bitterness of the war's aftermath in Chinese memory.
Did you know?
The Kaiser's send-off to the German troops — the 'Hun speech' urging them to be as terrible as Attila's Huns — gave the Allies of the First World War the derisive nickname 'the Huns' for Germans.
Key Battles
The Sack of Peking and the Punitive Expeditions
Eight-Nation Alliance victoryAugust 1900 – 1901 · 15,000 total casualties
The sack of Peking and the brutal punitive campaigns embittered Chinese opinion for generations and stripped away the moral pretensions of the 'civilising' powers; the looting of imperial treasures scattered Chinese artefacts across the world's museums.
Life Journey
Timeline
April 8, 1832
🌅 Birth
Born in Potsdam
October 1900
📍 Posting
Arrives to command the punitive expeditions
March 5, 1904
✝️ Death
Dies in Hanover