Editing Second Opium War (section)

==Second phase (1858–1860)==

===Three battles of Taku Forts===
[[File:CousinMontaubanCampaignOf1860.jpg|thumb|[[Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao|Cousin-Montauban]] leading French forces during the 1860 campaign]]
[[File:Looting of the Yuan Ming Yuan by Anglo French forces in 1860.jpg|thumb|Looting of the [[Old Summer Palace]] by Anglo-French forces in 1860]]
[[File:oldsummerpalaceruin.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the [[Xiyang Lou|"Western style" complex]] in the Old Summer Palace, burnt down by Anglo-French forces]]

On 20 May, the British were successful at the [[Battle of Taku Forts (1858)|First Battle of Taku Forts]], but the peace treaty returned the forts to the Qing army.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

In June 1858, shortly after the Qing imperial court agreed to the disadvantageous treaties, hawkish ministers prevailed upon the Xianfeng Emperor to resist Western encroachment. On 2 June 1858, the Xianfeng Emperor ordered the Mongol general [[Sengge Rinchen]] to guard the [[Taku Forts]] (also romanized as Ta-ku Forts and also called Daku Forts) near Tianjin. Sengge Rinchen reinforced the forts with additional artillery pieces. He also brought 4,000 Mongol cavalry from [[Chahar (province)|Chahar]] and [[Suiyuan]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

The [[Battle of Taku Forts (1859)|Second Battle of Taku Forts]] took place in June 1859. A British naval force with 2,200 troops and 21 ships, under the command of Admiral [[James Hope (Royal Navy officer)|Sir James Hope]], sailed north from Shanghai to Tianjin with newly appointed Anglo-French envoys for the embassies in Beijing. They sailed to the mouth of the [[Hai River]] guarded by the Taku Forts near Tianjin and demanded to continue inland to Beijing. Sengge Rinchen replied that the Anglo-French envoys might land up the coast at Beitang and proceed to Beijing but he refused to allow armed troops to accompany them to the Chinese capital. The Anglo-French forces insisted on landing at Taku instead of Beitang and escorting the diplomats to Beijing. On the night of 24 June 1859, a small group of British forces blew up the iron obstacles that the Chinese had placed in the [[Chaobai River|Baihe]] River. The next day, the British forces sought to forcibly sail into the river, and shelled the Taku Forts. Low tide and soft mud prevented their landing, however, and accurate fire from Sengge Rinchen's cannons sank four gunboats and severely damaged two others. American Commodore [[Josiah Tattnall III]], though under orders to maintain neutrality, declared "[[blood is thicker than water]]", and provided covering fire to protect the British convoy's retreat. The failure to take the Taku Forts was a blow to British prestige, and anti-foreign resistance reached a crescendo within the Qing imperial court.{{sfn|Hsü|2000|pp=212–213}}

Once the Indian Mutiny was finally quelled, [[Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde|Sir Colin Campbell]], commander-in-chief in India, was free to amass troops and supplies for another offensive in China. A 'soldiers' general', Campbell's experience of casualties from disease in the First Opium War led him to provide the British forces with more than enough materiel and supplies, and casualties were light.<ref>Greenwood, ch. 12</ref>

The [[Battle of Taku Forts (1860)|Third Battle of Taku Forts]] took place in the summer of 1860. London once more dispatched Lord Elgin with an Anglo-French force of 11,000 British troops under General [[James Hope Grant]] and 6,700 French troops under General [[Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao|Cousin-Montauban]]. They pushed north with 173 ships from Hong Kong and captured the port cities of [[Yantai]] and [[Dalian]] to seal the Bohai Gulf. On 3 August they carried out a landing near [[Beitang, Tanggu District|Beitang]] (also romanized as "Pei-t'ang"), some {{convert|3|km|mi}} from the Taku Forts, which they captured after three weeks on 21 August.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Southern Chinese laborers served with the French and British forces. One observer reported that the "Chinese coolies", as he called them, "renegades though they were, served the British faithfully and cheerfully... At the assault of the Peiho Forts in 1860 they carried the French ladders to the ditch, and, standing in the water up to their necks, supported them with their hands to enable the storming party to cross. It was not usual to take them into action; they, however, bore the dangers of a distant fire with great composure, evincing a strong desire to close with their compatriots, and engage them in mortal combat with their bamboos."<ref>{{cite book|title=China: Being a Military Report on the North-eastern Portions of the Provinces of Chih-li and Shan-tung, Nanjing and Its Approaches, Canton and Its Approaches: Together with an Account of the Chinese Civil, Naval and Military Administrations, and a Narrative of the Wars Between Great Britain and China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1AMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA28|year=1884|publisher=Government Central Branch Press|page=28}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=century old source and conflict of interest|date=January 2022}}

{{anchor|Looting}}<!--linked-->

===Burning of the Old Summer Palaces===
After taking Tianjin on 23 August 1860, the imperial emissary and word arrived that the British had kidnapped the prefect of Tianjin. Parkes was arrested in retaliation on 18 September.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Albert H. Yee |title=A People Misruled: Hong Kong and the Chinese Stepping Stone Syndrome |date=1989 |publisher=API Press |page=59}}</ref> Also captured were a number of British and French officers, Sikh soldiers, and a [[Thomas William Bowlby|journalist from The Times]]. Parkes and the others were imprisoned, tortured, and interrogated.<ref name="Hibbert">{{cite book |last1=Hibbert |first1=Christopher |title=The Dragon Wakes |year=1988 |publisher=Penguin Book |isbn=0-14-006646-2}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2022}}

The prisoners had been tortured by having their limbs bound with rope until their flesh was lacerated and became infected with maggots, and by having dung and dirt forced into their throats. Several were executed by beheading, their corpses fed to animals. Captured [[coolie]]s who had worked for the allies were buried up to their necks and left to dogs.<ref name="Hibbert" />{{page needed|date=January 2022}}

[[File:Second Opium War British Beijing 1860.jpg|300px|thumb|right|British taking [[Beijing]]]]
The Anglo-French forces clashed with [[Sengge Rinchen]]'s Mongol cavalry on 18 September [[Battle of Zhangjiawan|at the battle of Zhangjiawan]] before proceeding toward the outskirts of Beijing for a decisive battle in [[Tongzhou District, Beijing|Tongzhou]] (also romanized as Tungchow).{{sfn|Hsü|2000|pp=214–215}} On 21 September, at [[Battle of Palikao|Baliqiao (Eight Mile Bridge)]], Sengge Rinchen's 10,000 troops, including the elite Mongol cavalry, were annihilated after doomed frontal charges against concentrated firepower of the Anglo-French forces. The French army arrived at the Summer Palace outside Beijing on 6 October, followed by the British a day later.<ref name="Hibbert" />{{rp|276}}

With the Qing army devastated, the [[Xianfeng Emperor]] fled the capital and left behind his brother, [[Prince Gong (Qing dynasty)|Prince Gong]], to take charge of peace negotiations. Xianfeng first fled to the [[Chengde Mountain Resort|Chengde Summer Palace]] and then to [[Rehe Province]].{{sfn|Hsü|2000|p=215}} Anglo-French troops began looting the [[Summer Palace]]<ref>E. W. R. Lumby, "Lord Elgin and the Burning of the Summer Palace." ''History Today'' (July 1960) 10#7 pp 479–480.</ref> (Yiheyuan) and [[Old Summer Palace]] (Yuanmingyuan) immediately (as they were full of valuable artwork).<ref>M'Ghee, Robert. (1862). [https://books.google.com/books?id=wLneD9rxVeoC&q=loch+how+we+got+to+pekin  ''How we got to Pekin: A Narrative of the Campaign in China of 1860,'' pp. 202–216].</ref>

After the release of Parkes and the surviving prisoners on 8 October, the extent of their mistreatment became apparent. The destruction of the [[Forbidden City]] was discussed, as proposed by Lord Elgin, to discourage the Qing Empire from using kidnapping as a bargaining tool, and to exact revenge on the mistreatment of their prisoners.<ref name="Endacott">{{cite book |title= A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong|last= Endacott|first= G. B.|author-link=George Beer Endacott|author2=Carroll, John M. |year= 2005|orig-year= 1962|publisher= [[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn=978-962-209-742-1}}</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2021}} However, an attack on Beijing was ruled out, as this had already been presented as threat for other terms. Elgin decided on burning the Summer Palace. In a letter, he explained that the burning of the palace was the punishment "which would fall, not on the people, who may be comparatively innocent, but exclusively on the Emperor, whose direct personal responsibility for the crime committed is established".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elgin |first1=James Earl of |title=Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin |date=2018 |publisher=Outlook Verlag |location=[Place of publication not identified] |isbn=978-3-7340-5487-7 |page=343}}</ref>

On 18 October, British soldiers burnt the Old Summer Palace, the French refusing to assist. The razing of the buildings took two days, with imperial property in the vicinity also destroyed.<ref name="Hibbert" />{{rp|282}} Most accounts say that the Old Summer Palace was burnt for three days and three nights.