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Abstract

This dissertation seeks to examine the contemporary debate surrounding the leadership of Vice Admiral Edward Seymour in the failed attempt to lift the siege of the Peking legations during the 1900 Boxer Uprising. Current discourse on the failure of the Seymour Expedition often holds Seymour to blame for many of the problems that came about during the expedition. This dissertation will re-examine the debates surrounding Seymour’s supposed failings by first breaking down the works and writings of prior historians on the topic of Seymour’s effectiveness as a leader and the factor he played in the Expeditions eventual failure to reach Peking. It well next identify the most common arguments against Seymour for the Expeditions failure and breakdown each argument into dedicated subchapters and with the use of primary materials such as newspapers and memoirs reassess if these faults truly do fall upon the fault of the Vice Admiral or instead can they be explained away with further context. This dissertation will also answer the question if it is fair to consider the Seymour Expedition as a failure, or instead should we see the Seymour Expedition in a more positive light. As the mistakes made during the Expedition were later rectified in the next attempt to lift the siege at Peking.

Course: History - BA (Hons) - C1087

Date Deposited: 2022-12-08

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14087.html