Hun speech

The Hun speech was delivered by German emperor Wilhelm II on 27 July 1900 in Bremerhaven, on the occasion of the farewell of parts of the German East Asian Expeditionary Corps (Ostasiatisches Expeditionskorps). The expeditionary corps were sent to Imperial China to quell the Boxer Rebellion. The speech gained worldwide attention due to its incendiary content. For a long time, it was considered to be the source of the epithet "Huns" for Germans, which was used by the British to much effect during World War I. The "Hun speech" took place against the historical backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in Qing China between 1899 and 1901. A flashpoint of the rebellion was reached when telegraphic communications between the international legations in Beijing and the outside world were disrupted in May 1900. After the disruption, open hostilities began between foreign troops and the Boxers, who later were supported by regular Chinese forces. On 20 June 1900, the German envoy to China, Clemens von Ketteler, was shot dead by a regular Chinese soldier while on his way to the Zongli Yamen, a Chinese government body in charge of foreign policy. After this shooting the Qing court declared war against all foreign powers in China and the Siege of the International Legations in Beijing began. Upon the beginning of the siege, the Eight-Nation Alliance – Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and five European states – dispatched an expeditionary force to intervene and free the legations. After seven weeks, the international expeditionary force prevailed, the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi fled Beijing, and the foreign alliance looted the city. The "Hun speech" was delivered by Wilhelm II during a farewell ceremony for some of the troops belonging to the German East Asian Expeditionary Corps (Ostasiatisches Expeditionskorps). It was one of at least eight speeches the Emperor gave on the occasion of the embarkation of the troops. However, most of the German forces dispatched arrived too late to partake in any of the major actions in the conflict.