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 in World War I.