Opium War Dbq Essay

By 1839, war was imminent. The opium trade had caused the reversal of the silver deficit, now putting an economic strain on China, while Britain’s economy flourished from the profit they were making off the drug. Because it was being illegally imported, all of the money was going directly to Britain instead of to the Chinese government in the form of taxes. This caused a severe economic decline in China as unemployment rose, agriculture declined, and funding for public improvements diminished.

(1850-1864) The Taiping Rebellion resulted in a lot of damage in political power that caused weakness within the Qing dynasty in China. However, the uproar lasted 14 years before it was suppressed with the help of European descendant which manifested into a Western trained and

In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain and other European countries demanded more and more Chinese commodities, especially tea and silk. However, only the port in Canton was opened to foreign countries, and Chinese would not take any other form of payments besides silver. The desire to make China into a free market that foreigners have more access to and the increasing, though illegal, European opium import to China eventually created tension between the European countries, especially Britain, and the Chinese government (Allingham Par. 1-2). The two battles fought and won by European powers were known as the Opium Wars. China’s politics, economy, and intellects were both positively and negatively

There were two Opium Wars. The first one was from 1839-1842. This war was fought between China and Britain. This war was fought over the two not seeing eye to eye on a lot of things. The second Opium War was from 1856-1860. In this war the British forces fought toward the legalization of the Opium trade. The reason they did this was to be able to expand coolie trace, to be able to open all of China to British merchants, and also to be able to expand foreign imports from internat transit duties. This was when France then joined the British. In this essay we are going to cover both of the Opium Wars.

To begin with, China didn’t really modernize which eventually hurt them. China started to develop a sort of cultural chauvinism, in which they believed they were greater than other nations. This is because China believed they were the center of civilization, and they had a longer recorded history than Europe. This became a major problem for China as they refused to modernize like many other nations did. China despised Europe for certain reasons, such as how they smell bad. China didn’t want to trade with Europe but, soon, Europeans began to trade Opium to the Chinese people who started to trade this drug around China. Opium caused a major issue for the Chinese as it formed many addicts. As the Opium trade increases, from 1800 to 1839, the Chinese

The first opium war which began in 1839 is a story of how China a rich, prosperous and stable power, “”” albiet a closed, confucian society” ruled by the Emperor Daoguang (r. 1820 to 1850) turned into a weakened and compromised state brought about by the exploitation and humiliation by the British and other Western powers throughout the 19th century. The war stemmed from an extremely strained Sino-British relation through the early 1800s, the inherent cultural differences between the Chinese and the West especially Britain as well as their extremely contrasting views on trade in general and specifically opium. I will be exploring how the opium war stemmed from an extremely strained Sino-British relation through the early 1800s, the inherent cultural differences between the Chinese and the West especially Britain as well as their extremely

Foreign military and economic intervention by European imperial powers created greater instability in China. Western powers, through an unequal treaty system, engaged in legal imperialism that gave them protection through special rights and privileges that gradually reduced Chinese tradesmen to a subordinate role. Opium trade, fueled by Britain, drained China of silver, and drove up the price of silver. Silver was the standard payment for taxes, but rising prices made tax payments an economic burden for peasants. The First Opium War, 1839 to 1842, resulted in the defeat of the Chinese and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing. The treaty forced ceded Hong Kong to the British and open treaty ports to the British along the southern coast providing Britain with greater access to foreign trade. The emerge of western competition in China threaten the livelihood of people throughout the country and weakened China’s economic power in the region overall. New trade routes, commodities, and the introduction of western business practices affected many people in various parts of the country.

The main theme of 19th century was the imperialism expansion of western capitalistic industrial nations throughout the whole world. During this process, the conflicts between occidental imperialism powers and oriental countries never stopped. The First Opium War, well known as the Opium War, was the war that happened during September, 1839 to Autumn, 1842, between China and Britain. The war was initiated by the conflicts between China and Britain on the fact that some British merchants, who worked for the East India Company, smuggled opium to China and ignored Chinese laws. The mania of opium smoking shocked the Chinese government and triggered the anti-opium movement. Lin Zexu, a Chinese official known as Commissioner Lin, burned out the confiscated opium at Humen. During the war, China suffered great loss and ended up with a disastrous fiasco. The result was extremely humiliating to China and profoundly changed the fate of China: China was compelled to sign a series of unequal treaties, cede Hong Kong and compensate huge war indemnity. When I viewed this miserable history of China, a question was created in my mind. Considering the great power gap between the declining China and the rising Britain, what factors led the Chinese government to launch the anti-opium movement at the expense of triggering the Opium War? My answer is quite explicit: the

In a way I feel that the opium war was justified. I think that it was justified for the Chinese to strike back and go against the British to put an end to the opium being smuggled and used. I wouldn't exactly say that back then, the Chinese were weak or ineffective, but that the British just had more influence and

Opium was grown in northern India and was shipped to Chinese markets. The demand for Opium grew, but the Chinese government banned the trade because of its alarming traits. The British declined to stop the exchange. Then the Chinese quarantined trade routes and seized the opium, starting the Opium War. The Opium War lasted from 1839-1842. The Chinese couldn’t keep up with the British, who had plenty of warships that destroyed coastal and river forts. The two sides ended the war with the Treaty of Nanjing, which unlocked 5 Chinese ports to the British and limited taxes on British goods.

The primary cause of the fall of the Qing dynasty was British merchants smuggling opium into China. British merchants smuggled opium across the border and gave free samples to unsuspecting citizens eventually getting ten percent of China’s population addicted. High levels of homelessness contributed to opium’s appeal because it made users feel less hungry, less stressed, and happier. Opium affected every strata of Chinese society, from the addicts, their families, co-workers, and parents. Eventually government officials that got addicted would help British smugglers for opium in return. This was a huge setback in Chinese culture for many reasons. One was that people were spending money on opium instead of their families. This lead to widespread

Imperial China was one of the greatest civilizations. It was leading in its inventions, trading routes, and craftsmanship. Beginning in 221 BC, it lasted up till the final Qing Dynasty. It’s downfall can be attributed to the introduction of the drug, opium, from the west. It’s introduction inspired two wars, namely The Opium wars of the 19th century. In the 18th century, the country was flourishing, while it had control of international trade. By the 19th century, China had lost control of trade and was struggling with mass amounts of poverty and addiction.

The Opium Wars was two battles that was in-between China and countries like Great Britain and France. the first battle was against Britain (1839-1842) and the second against France (1856-1858). The wars ended in a loss to the Chinese people. The wars took place because the Chinese started to stop receiving all exports of opium from Britain due to the addiction that followed using the drug, which made the trade between them and Britain all messed up. Britain, of course, was unhappy with the sudden change in their trade with the Chinese people, and tension increased between the two countries for a short period of time. Not long after the trade of opium was shut down, hostility reached an all-time high and Britain sent troops that quickly defeated

The Opium Wars were two wars between China and Britain that lasted from 1839 to 1860. They were essentially over trade rights. The wars were titled ‘The Opium Wars’ as the narcotic opium that was exported from Britain to China was a crucial part of the war. The Opium Wars not only exposed the weaknesses of the Qing Dynasty, but also politically and economically changed China. This report will cover the causes and effects that the Opium Wars had on China.

Second, those scholars failed to considered the economic factor of opium trade that played a core role in my argument. China suffered great loss when its people "paid a high price for a commodity which not only provided no utility, but brought enormous damage to health, morality, efficiency, harmony and law and order" (Chung 171). The opium impoverished Chinese people, heightened their suffering, degenerated Chinese society and made China extremely vulnerable before British imperialism and later Japanese imperialism. Considering all of the factors above, it is no longer reasonable to say the war was irrelevant to opium and ignore all opium's crimes and sins that eventually compelled Chinese government to declare war against