Battle of Ciqi

Battle of Ciqi

Part of: First Opium War

Map of the battle with the city of Ciqi in the center, from a British historical work on the Madras Pioneers , first published in 1883

date	March 15, 1942
place	Ciqi , Zhenhai , China
output	British victory

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom :  British East India Company	Qing Dynasty
Commander
Hugh Gough William Parker	Yu Pu-yun
Troop strength
3 warships 1,200 infantry	8,000 soldiers
losses
3 dead 20 wounded	Around 1000

The Battle of Ciqi (alternatively Tzeki , Szekee , Cixi or Tsz'kí ) took place during the First Opium War on March 15, 1842 not far from the city of Ningbo , where a Chinese counterattack had failed a few days earlier. The battle ended in the defeat of the outnumbered Qing troops .

course

After the unsuccessful attack at the Battle of Ningbo , a skirmish between advancing British troops and the remnants of the Qing Army, which under Yiying should have conquered Ningbo , broke out around 30 kilometers outside. The British brought a force on board the Queen , Nemesis and Phlegeton to the small town of Ciqi . The British chose the city as a target because they saw it there as a base for further attacks by the Qing military on the British Expeditionary Force. The approximately 1,200 British infantrymen supported by field artillery met around 8,000 Chinese soldiers. The Chinese troops were able to be surrounded by the British units on hills, despite the favorable starting position. The Chinese resistance collapsed after heavy losses.

consequences

The battle cost the British only very few losses, with three dead and around 20 wounded. The losses on the Chinese side are estimated at around 1,000, of which many of the wounded who remained on the battlefield did not survive the battle. Yiying tried to cover up his military defeat by misinformation in reports to Emperor Daoguang.

The British advanced from Ciqi to Changxiling. The local commander of the Chinese troops had fled from the approaching British at the news of the fighting at Ciqi. On March 17, 1842, the British contingent returned to Ningbo.

literature

• Bulletins of State Affairs , Westminster: F. Watts. 1842.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mao Haijian: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge, 2016, pp. 27-29, 335f
2. ^ ^{A b} Julia Lovell: The Opium War. 2nd edition, London 2012, pp. 206 f.
3. ^ Bulletins of State Affairs, p. 590
4. ↑ Mao Haijian: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge, 2016, pp. 27-29, 335f