The Opium Wars were two wars in the 19th century between Britain and China over Britain's export of opium to China. The First Opium War (1839-1842) erupted after Chinese officials confiscated and destroyed opium stockpiles belonging to British merchants. Britain defeated China and the Treaty of Nanking opened new Chinese ports to British trade and ceded Hong Kong to Britain. Disputes over the implementation of the treaty provisions led to the Second Opium War (1856-1860), which ended with Britain and France capturing Beijing and forcing China to further concessions.

1. The Opium Wars

2. Introduction
•The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into
the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from
1856 to 1860 between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British
Empire.
•Canton System which restricted trade to one port and did not allow
foreign entrance to China, the British East India Company faced a trade
imbalance in favour of China and invested heavily in opium production to
redress the balance.
•Aware both of the drain of silver and the growing numbers of addicts,
the Daoguang Emperor demanded action.
•In 1838, the Emperor sent Lin Zexu to Guangzhou where he quickly
arrested Chinese opium dealers and summarily demanded that foreign
firms turn over their stocks.
•When they refused, Lin stopped trade altogether and placed the foreign
residents under virtual siege, eventually forcing the merchants to
surrender their opium to be destroyed.

3. •In response, the British government sent expeditionary forces from India which
ravaged the Chinese coast and dictated the terms of settlement.
•The Treaty of Nanking not only opened the way for further opium trade, but
ceded territory including Hong Kong, unilaterally fixed Chinese tariffs at a low
rate, granted extraterritorial rights to foreigners in China.
• When the court still refused to accept foreign ambassadors and obstructed the
trade clauses of the treaties, disputes over the treatment of British merchants in
Chinese ports and on the seas led to the Second Opium War and the Treaty of
Tientsin.

4. Prelude to First Opium War
•Within the Chinese mandarinate there was an ongoing debate over legalising
the opium trade itself.
•However, legalization was repeatedly rejected and instead, in 1838 the
government sentenced native drug traffickers to death.
•Emperor appointed a new strict Confucian commissioner, Lin Zexu to control
the opium trade at the port of Canton.
•His first course of action was to enforce the imperial demand that there be a
permanent halt to drug shipments into China.
•On 27 March 1839 Charles Elliot, British Superintendent of Trade agreed that all
British subjects should turn over their opium to him.
•In a departure from his brief, he promised that the crown would compensate
them for the lost opium.
•Unable to allocate funds for an illegal drug but pressed for compensation by
the merchants, this liability is cited as one reason for the decision to force a war.

5. The First Opium War

6. • When the British learned of what was taking place in Canton, as
communications between these two parts of the world took months at this
time, they sent a large British Indian army, which arrived in June 1840.
•British military superiority drew on newly applied technology.
•British warships wreaked havoc on coastal towns; the steam ship Nemesis was
able to move against the winds and tides and support a gun platform with very
heavy guns.
•In addition, the British troops were the first to be armed with
modern muskets and cannons which fired more rapidly and with greater
accuracy than the Qing firearms and artillery.
•After the British took Canton, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax
barges, a devastating blow to the Empire.

7. The Treaty of Nanking

8. •In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of
Nanking negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843.
•In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open four ports to
Britain, and cede Hong Kong to Queen Victoria.
•In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognised Britain as
an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports.
•In 1844, the United States and France concluded similar treaties with China, the Treaty
of Wanghia and Treaty of Whampoa respectively.

9. The Second Opium War

10. •The Chinese authorities were reluctant to keep to the terms of the 1842 Treaty of
Nanking.
•To protect those Chinese merchants who were friendly to them at Hong Kong, the
British granted their ships British registration in the hope that the Chinese
authorities would not interfere with vessels which carried the British flag.
•In October 1856, the Chinese authorities in Canton seized a vessel called the
"Arrow" which had been engaged in piracy.
•The "Arrow" had formerly been registered as a British ship and was even still flying
the British flag.
•The British consul in Canton demanded the immediate release of the crew and an
apology for the insult to the British flag
•The crew were released, but an apology
was not given. In reprisal, the British
governor in Hong Kong ordered warships to
bombard Canton.

11. •The bombardment of Canton was a breach of international law. The governor
of Hong Kong had acted rashly without consulting London.
•However, the British Prime Minister, Palmerston, supported the actions of his
officials who claimed to be upholding British prestige and avenging the insult to
the flag.
•Moreover, Palmerston was keen to force the Chinese into accepting full-scale
trade with Britain, whether they wanted to or not.
•In the British general election of March 1857 which Palmerston won with an
increased majority, he now felt able to press British claims more vigorously.
•The French were also eager to be involved after their envoy, Baron Jean-
Baptiste Louis Gros, seemingly had his demands ignored.
•A strong Anglo-French force under Admiral Sir Michael Seymour occupied
Canton (December 1857), then cruised north to capture briefly the Taku forts
near Tientsin (May 1858).

12. •Negotiations between China, Britain, France, the USA and Russia led to the Tientsin
Treaties of June 26–29, 1858, which theoretically brought peace
•China agreed to open more treaty ports, to legalize opium importation, to establish
a maritime customs service with foreign inspection and to allow foreign legations at
Peking and missionaries in the interior.
•China soon abrogated the Anglo-French treaties and refused to allow foreign
diplomats into Peking.
•On June 25, 1859 British Admiral Sir James Hope bombarded the forts guarding the
mouth of the Hai River, below Tientsin.
•However, landing parties were
repulsed and the British squadron was
severely damaged by a surprisingly
efficient Chinese garrison

13. Second Phase

14. •Anglo-French forces gathered at Hong Kong in May 1860
•A joint amphibious expedition moved north to the Gulf of Po Hai. It consisted
of 11,000 British under General Sir James Hope Grant and 7,000 French under
Lieutenant General Cousin-Montauban.
•As it approached Peking, the Chinese asked for talks and an armistice.
•An allied delegation under Sir Harry Smith Parkes was sent to parley, but they
were seized and imprisoned.
• It was later learned that half of them died under torture.
•The expedition pressed ahead, defeating some 30,000 Chinese in two
engagements before reaching the walls of Peking on September 26.
•Preparations for an assault commenced and the Old Summer Palace (Yuan
Ming Yuan) was occupied and looted.

15. Aftermath of Second Opium War
•Another Chinese request for peace was accepted and China agreed to all demands.
•The survivors of the Parkes delegation were returnedGeneral Grant burned and
destroyed the Old Summer Palace in reprisal for the mistrea,tment of the Parkes
party, October 24.
•Ten new treaty ports, including Tientsin, were opened to trade with the western
powers, foreign diplomats were to be allowed at Peking and the opium trade was to
be regulated by the Chinese authorities.
•Kowloon, on the mainland opposite Hong Kong Island, was surrendered to the
British. Permission was granted for foreigners (including Protestant and Catholic
missionaries) to travel throughout the country.
•An indemnity of three million ounces of silver was paid to Great Britain and two
million to France.

17. Conclusion
•The Anglo-French victory was heralded in the British press as a triumph for Palmerston,
which made his popularity rise to new heights.
•British merchants were delighted at the prospects of the expansion of trade in the Far
East.
•Other foreign powers were pleased with the outcome too, since they hoped to take
advantage of the opening-up of China.
•Russia soon extorted the Maritime Provinces from China and founded the port
of Vladivostok.