Thread by @bonesoflasalle

In 1899 King Umberto I of Italy 🇮🇹 sent an expeditious to China 🐲 to establish an Italian coaling station in the Bay of San Mun, near Ningpo south of the Chusan islands. Britain & Germany didn’t want the competition & when China said “No”, Italy had to back down. Cont..👉🏻

Italy 🇮🇹 did have a legation in Peking but when Rome backed down this encouraged the anti-foreign element in China to defy all the foreigners in the country. The result was the horrific Boxer Rebellion & the 55-day siege of the foreign legation in Peking. Cont..👉🏻

Italy 🇮🇹 sent 2 warships & 2,500 troops to take part in the 8-Nation Alliance in 1900 to rescue their people in Peking and suppress the Boxers. In the aftermath, Italy received a greater concession in China, in Tientsin on September 7, 1901. After WW1 Italy gained the Austrian 👉🏻

concession as well. It served as base for the Italian Legion “Redenta” who were sent to aid the Whites against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Their name was because the legion was made up of Italians from the “unredeemed” areas previously under Austro-Hungarian rule.👉🏻

The Tientsin concession remained under Italian 🇮🇹 control into WW2. In 1943 the Japanese 🇯🇵 occupied the area during the confusion following the dismissal of Mussolini. At the time there were only 600 Italian soldiers in the garrison, taken prisoner by the Japanese. Cont..👉🏻

After the Italian Social Republic 🇮🇹 was established, Italy agreed to hand over the concession to the Reformed Government of the Republic of China 🇹🇼 led by Wang Jingwei, who was allied with the Japanese. This effectively ended Italy’s presence in China.
🇮🇹🐲🇮🇹
FIN