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Increasing foreign intrusion into China by Western European powers which had been accompanied by missionary activity, the forced importation of opium and the acceptance of unequal treaties under which foreigners were accorded immunities from Chinese law, all led to a violent xenophobic and anti-Christian confrontation. The rebels were referred to as Boxers by Western observers, from the closed fist that appeared on their banners. When the uprising was finally supported by the Qing in 1900, it was suppressed by a 40,000-strong foreign army consisting of troops from Britain, the US, Germany, France, Russia, Italy and Austria, all led by Japan. Tens of thousands of Boxers, Qing soldiers and civilians were massacred and the last Qing emperor eventually abdicated in 1911. To China’s great misfortune, this would not be the end of war for its population in the 20th century, just the beginning.