Opium Wars
Consider two teams fighting not over toys or territory, but over a weird, addicting plant known as Opium. That was essentially the point of the Opium Wars! Britain desperately wanted to export opium to China in the 1800s. But China was having none of it. They knew opium was harmful to the country, turning people into lazy zombies. These confrontations, which lasted from 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860, resulted in foreign wins, granting commercial and geographical advantages but weakening China's Qing monarchy.
Well, how did the history unfold after this?
Let's unlock the chest of history to know more!
First Opium War (1839-1842):
The Opium Wars arose as a result of China's efforts to combat the illegal opium trade. British merchants were importing opium into China, particularly from British-controlled India, causing severe addiction and societal instability. The Chinese government, concerned about the influence of opium, confiscated and destroyed a large amount of opium possessed by British traffickers in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1839.
European Factory in Canton
The situation worsened after British sailors killed a Chinese farmer in July of the same year. To safeguard its countrymen from Chinese law, the British government refused to give over the sailors for trial. This sparked clashes, with British vessels breaking a Chinese blockade of Hong Kong.
The Treaty of Nanjing
Despite resolute Chinese resistance, the British expeditionary force that was dispatched to China in 1840 was able to seize Canton in 1841 and Nanjing in 1842. The Treaty of Nanjing, signed in August 1842, put an end to the conflict. China was forced to give British people extraterritorial rights, open more ports for trade, including Shanghai, pay a substantial indemnity to Britain, and hand up Hong Kong to the British Empire.
The story of the Opium Wars developed in a turbulent confrontation between two worlds at a period when shadows of ships danced over restless seas. The story begins with the illegal commerce of opium, a vice that had been secretly injected into the veins of China by foreign traders, primarily the British, since the 18th century. However, it was the brisk increase in opium exports from India to China around 1820 that triggered a tidal wave.
The venomous grasp of the drug dug its fangs deep into China's heart, spawning addiction that poisoned not only bodies but also the nation's soul. In the spring of 1839, China's authorities, showing resolve, confiscated and destroyed over 20,000 chests of Opium hidden by British merchants in Canton, a staggering 1,400 tons of the intoxicating drug.
Later that year, the Pearl River estuary in Hong Kong witnessed the deafening roar of British battleships breaking a Chinese blockade. The British invasion force sailed in 1840 and arrived at the shores of Hong Kong like an armoured storm in June.
In May 1841, negotiations—which were nothing more than diplomatic fronts—were replaced by an attack on Canton. The British took control of the city, which was a bustling centre of trade and culture. Despite the heroic efforts of Chinese troops to drive back their invaders in 1842, British campaigns cut wins from the hearts of the inferior Qing armies throughout the ensuing months.
As August came to a conclusion and Nanjing fell into British hands, the conflict's crescendo reached a symphonic finale. It was a sombre curtain drawn over the theatre of war.
Before long, on August 29, quills danced across parchment to inscribe the Treaty of Nanjing. The pages were blemished with the ink of China's responsibilities, which included a substantial compensation given to Britain, the handover of Hong Kong Island (whose eventual reunification with China would not occur until 1997), and the development of five treaty ports, among them Shanghai. The opening of these ports to foreigners marked the beginning of Shanghai's development into a thriving commercial centre.
On October 8, 1843, the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Human) resounded with octaves of power and privilege. It bestowed extraterritoriality to British nationals and earned them the coveted most-favoured-nation status. Other Western nations clamoured for and were accorded equal affluence and privilege inside China's confines. As a result, the seeds of unequal treaties were sown, ushering in a period in which China's sovereignty was questioned and foreign countries held unprecedented authority over the once-secluded kingdom.
Second Opium War
During the mid-1850s instability, China's Qing authorities faced the boiling tempest of the Taiping Rebellion. However, amid the disarray, the British wanted a spark to reignite hostilities in order to expand their economic dominance in China.
A terrifying episode occurred in early October 1856, when Chinese officials boarded the British-flagged ship Arrow in Canton like phantoms in the night. Several Chinese crew members were arrested, and the Union Jack was allegedly mocked. Thunder rang out when a British vessel sailed into the Pearl River estuary, cannons blazing, heralding the commencement of a deadly battle between British and Chinese troops. Trade stalled in the midst of the commotion, tensions thickening the air like an ominous fog.
As the French, enraged by the murder of a missionary within China, joined the British expedition, a symphony of violence beckoned. The Allies regrouped their forces in late 1857, after being delayed by the Indian Mutiny. Canton succumbed to the onslaught, its governor was ousted, and a more accommodating figure was replaced. In May 1858, allied ships breached Tianjin, forcing China into negotiations and giving birth to the Treaties of Tianjin in June—a manifesto of Western privilege, providing a safe haven for foreign envoys in Beijing, opening new ports to Western trade, allowing foreign travel within China, and granting free passage to missionaries.
The British withdrew from Tianjin, but returned in June 1859 with French and British diplomats to sign the treaties in Beijing. China's gates, guarded by the massive Dagu forts, stood in their way. Refusing China's alternate route, British-led soldiers attempted a daring passage. But the sound of cannons met their advance, pushing them back with a heavy toll. China, adamant in its opposition, rejected the treaties, reigniting the fires of war.
In August 1860, a gigantic fleet and troops landed on Dagu in a storm of conflict, wreaking havoc on the walls. They marched on to Tianjin, and in October, Beijing fell under their control. The formerly lovely Yuanming Garden, the emperor's sanctuary, was destroyed by flames. In the midst of defeat, China acceded to the Beijing Convention, grudgingly upholding the Tianjin Treaties and giving the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula to British ownership next to Hong Kong and thus giving a full stop to the war.
The Opium Wars revealed the cost of unequal power. Let's heed history's lesson: strive for fair, empathetic collaboration among nations. Together, let's build a future that values equity and mutual respect, forging a world where exploitation finds no place, and unity thrives.