The First Opium War

opium is the sap of the papavia somniferum of poppy seed pods also known colloquially as the opium poppy between 1839 and 1842 a war was fought between imperial china and the united kingdom around the trade of this substance which is famous for its narcotic properties while the war itself lasted only around two years and didn't feature many significant battles do stay tuned because it was still a clash between two huge empires that reshaped southeastern asian history today on more graphics first opium war the root cause of the opium war was that britain had begun to sell copious amounts of illegal narcotics to the chinese and shockingly chinese officials didn't like that very much but why was a growing portion of the chinese population so enamored with this drug well life as a poor person sucked and opium made it suck less it's also extremely addictive and key to our story today since 1796 trading importing and growing opium had been illegal in china naturally the local chinese people mostly in remote areas where they'd been left in peace still grew poppies and refined opium but as we shall see it wasn't anywhere near enough but similar to modern drug epidemics attempts to stop trading the drug didn't really work out china's top supplier and the biggest drug dealer in the world aforementioned britain had their work cut out for them and they hatched a devious plan to still sell as much opium to china as they possibly could to make the chinese populist even more dependent british traders or rather smugglers in this case started offering free opium samples to spread their range hidden in their regular wares those samples were stored in things like small glasses cans or bags that could then be passed on to chinese traders these traders then sold illegally obtained opium on the black market this unsurprisingly worked and before long china demanded an increasing amount of opium from the british whose traders come smugglers gladly provided while the drug was officially illegal all ranks of society from the poorest farmers to the wealthiest nobles were becoming addicts and since they wanted their stuff but couldn't get it locally on a big enough scale they had to resort to paying the british outsiders to supply them but where did britain get its opium from well that would be india a colony of the empire by the british east india company which held a monopoly on trading opium britain also went on the offensive and tried getting chinese officials to loosen up their anti-opium regulations and they might have succeeded in getting china to buckle if it wasn't for something china had to offer them but what could that be well the british empire was well british thus they were positively hooked on something that china had to offer them t now you might scoff and think that tea addiction isn't comparable to opium addiction but for the british tea has always been serious business while they could get some of their tea from india china was still the top producer famed for the quality of its leaves that dependency on its tea led to china becoming filthy rich off being the empire's top tea supplier keenly aware of this situation the british pushed their smuggling trafficking of opium even harder you see the main issue for britain was that the legal tea trade with china was very one-sided as the british empire had nothing but tons of money to pay for their tea in other words china was squeezing their financial reserves dry and they just weren't interested in anything britain had to offer them legally so britain's solution to that issue had been the whole illegally smuggling opium shtick after some time had passed the consequences of britain's smuggling operations started to show on china's people in response the daogwang emperor tasked lin zeksu an ambitious and talented politician with leading a commission to curb the national drug problem lin tried to stop the influx of opium by confiscating as much of it as he could and rounding up domestic opium distributors before punishing them harshly however no long lasting results were achieved so on june the 3rd 1839 lin flexed his muscles and in a show of force had 20 000 barrels of british opium destroyed however sadly this didn't have a positive impact on the opium situation as the smuggling efforts from india only increased in order to recuperate the damage additionally with tons of already produced opium destroyed the remaining stuff was spiking up in price making the whole situation arguably even worse and driving droves of already addicted people into even harsher poverty also as we shall see the act of destroying british opium was a catalyst for the war itself at this point the chinese navy and indo-british smugglers began to engage in increasingly violent conflicts things kicked up a notch when an innocent chinese merchant was killed by intoxicated british sailors in kowloon superintendent charles elliot the de facto boss of british trading operations in china offered rewards for the capture of the culprits and compensated the victim's family to show his goodwill once the culprits had been found lynn however demanded that they be handed over to china but elliot refused instead he held a trial on one of the british ships docked in hong kong harbor five men were found guilty and given fines and hard labor but lin was left dissatisfied this extra-territorial handling of the murder may have been retribution for lynn destroying all of that opium then then established a trade embargo against the british empire hence trading supplies with the british was forbidden which caused the station british ships to quickly run out of stuff the british then decided they had enough of china resisting turning their population into opium zombies and opened fire and thus with the battle of kowloon on september 4 1839 the first opium war had effectively begun essentially this battle was about britain seeking to break up the embargo lin had issued elliot sailed to kowloon to get some supplies during the embargo with three ships three chinese war junks small but armored were encountered and elliott sent his interpreter to those ships he put forth elliot's demands the purchase of provisions which didn't go as planned hours went by and elia got progressively more pissed off eventually he simplified things allow us the purchase of rations or we will sink your junks the stated time ran out nothing happened and the british opened fire the chinese fired back and with support from a nearby onshore fort the british retreated the british ship soon came back with reinforcements fighting the chinese to a stalemate in the end two chinese sailors were killed six were wounded and three brits were injured and that is how the first opium war started pretty much exactly two weeks after kowloon the next engagement in the war took place and that was the battle of chuwonpi chuwanpi began with a blockade ordered by elliot of the pearl river on november 3rd 1839. so why did elliot think that the blockade was a good idea well let's backtrack a few days it all began when a merchant ship the thomas coots arrived in china and sailed onto canton the ship was owned by quakers who refused to deal with opium on principles something that the chinese authorities knew it also meant that the merchants and traders on board alongside many other merchants in the region were pretty upset that elliot tried to block their trade with his blockade seeing that as an infringement on their rights as merchants agreed with the local governor that all british ships that were not carrying opium could enter and unload their wares at trunpi an island at the mouth of the pearl river now let's go back to november 3rd eliot's block 8 had just started when another british ship tried to sail past the blockade and was warned by two other british ships to not proceed these british ships ended up shooting warning shots against another british vessel as a reaction and a sign of good will towards honest trading partners a handful of chinese warships sailed out to protect the royal saxon the british ship that broke through the blockade as you can imagine the ships in the blockade didn't like that one bit so naturally the british ship started firing at the chinese ships a couple of cannibals flew around some people got hit and that's about it the first battle of trent p was a short one and in the end four chinese junks were destroyed and both fleets retreated imperial chinese accounts of the battle presented the chinese sailors as saviors of the british merchant vessel however chen p also showed that the chinese couldn't keep up with british vessels as in addition to the four destroyed ones multiple other chinese vessels were damaged superintendent eliot meanwhile portrayed himself as protector of 29 british ships in tuan b and china as the aggressor for fear of chinese retaliation he ordered all british ships to leave tron p and locate to causeway bay nearby macau the governor of macau then a portuguese colony was contacted and requested to let british ships trade their wares but he refused not wanting to anger the chinese and risk portugal's own trade with them the chinese emperor had decreed that all trade with british merchants was to be halted and all foreign ships sailing in the pearl river region were blocked between kowloon and officially approved reactions from the british government eight months passed and only two battles had taken place 1840 was also a pretty bad year for commissioner lin he was made a scapegoat for the british retaliation and exiled [Music] now let's look at britain itself you have to consider that messages took their sweet time to travel in the olden days over the first months of the conflict everything that happened in china was entirely the responsibility of superintendent eliot and commissioner lip but once the news hit london things picked up speed the war with china was repeatedly decried as immoral by both parliament and the population as the consequences of opium consumption were well known in britain as well on the flip side there was also a lot of outcry over how british dignitaries were treated by the chinese they felt as if china had slighted the british empire also it turns out that the dope trade just then as it is now was just too darn profitable to give up the whigs leading the government were the loudest pro-war faction shouting battle cries and calling for some good old ultraviolent against the despotism and cruelty in china on october 1 1839 an expedition was sent out to china and in november foreign minister palmerston instructed the governor of india george eden to prepare military action against china in late february 1840 palmerston drafted two letters one to elliot the other to the chinese imperial government the letter could be summed up as we've set some warships your way we're at war now by the way jolly good the letter to superintendent elliot included a list of demands to be made as well as a course of action meanwhile in london internal struggles delayed deciding how to face the whole situation lord palmerston or whig led the pro-war faction arguing that the opium lin had destroyed was in fact british property and not contraband so reparations needed to be paid palmerston drafted a letter to british prime minister william melbourne pushing him for a military response though leading tories tried to stop it after three days of debate a vote was held and war was officially declared on april 3 1840 a whole eight months after the first shots were fired in june 1840 44 navy vessels sailed into chinese waters and issued an ultimatum to the ching government demanding compensation for the destroyed opium and damages sustained during the interruption of trade understandably chinese authorities told them to while kindly unbeknownst to china lord palmerston had made obtaining at least one island to serve as a trading hub from the chinese coast a prime objective in the war an opportunity to do so opens up shortly after when the british expeditionary force attacked shojan island and its important city of ding hai superintendent italian demanded immediate surrender but the garrison commander of the city refused elliot opened fire twelve chinese war junks sunk to the bottom of the ocean and the hills south of port dinghai were captured on the fifth of july the british took control of the city itself and made it their base of operations for the rest of the war after the capture of dinghai british forces were split in two one went north to the yellow sea off the coast of eastern china's mainland and the other was sent to the pearl river the army headed for the yellow sea had superintendent elliot himself in it and headed to meet authorities only subject to emperor ching himself the highest ranking person present governor general of canton qishan and superintendent eliot engaged in negotiations in exchange for the british retreating from the loc qishang promised to compensate british traders who had sustained damages from the destroyed opium still the opium war was ongoing even if qi shan and superintendent elliot could have ended the war but why didn't they if you recall from earlier lord palmerston called for harsh actions against britain and handed a list of war goals to eliot which wasn't yet checked off entirely elliot knew that had he made peace at that point he was going to get into trouble plus as we'll see china wasn't yet defeated enough to give up [Music] the year 1841 was another slow one in terms of actual fights and battles a key place along the canton river is humane and its port a strait that marks the spot where the pearl river discharges into the southern chinese sea controlling a large section of the pearl river would also put pressure on the chinese authorities to open negotiations as was to be expected the chinese got wind of the british plans and reinforced their positions around humane to have around 10 000 soldiers the british arrived on january the 7th the second battle of trent p led to the destruction of 11 chinese war junks and much more devastatingly the capture of all forts along the human strait in late spring the british force sent the yellow sea received reinforcements from india to help with the attack on the province of kansan the pearl river delta was exceedingly important to china and the british knew that chichen the governor-general of canton knew that the british knew and so was forced to reopen negotiations with superintendent eliot the two of them met on january 21st and agreed to the convention of trent p another attempt to stop the war during these negotiations it was agreed that hong kong would be exchanged for the city of chusan chusan the largest island in the eponymous archipelago had been captured by the british on july the 6th 1840. it was an important administrative center in the southeast and thus was of higher importance the chinese than hong kong was they also agreed on diplomatic equality between britain and china and reopening trade in canton by february 1841 as well as the release of british pows additionally china would reimburse the british empire 6 million silver dollars for the opium that lin had destroyed so sounds good right well yes except for the fact that both the british and chinese governments didn't agree with this if anything both were pissed off by qishan and elliot punching above their pay grade and signing the treaty without explicit permission emperor dagwan ordered chishan arrested and even at first sentenced to death meanwhile lord palmerston recalled superintendent elliot back from his post firstly because elliot acted too independently and secondly because palmerston didn't want peace he wanted to squeeze more concessions out of china in the following weeks the remaining forts in the humane were captured and important small-scale battles were won all of which opened up more of canton to the british funnily enough at this point superintendent elliott had no idea that had been dismissed even after the truce ended on march 6 eliot was still against aggressive measures and would much rather negotiate with the chinese authorities likewise the chinese forces focused on setting up defensive positions rather than reconquering lost ground but british troops spotted their chinese counterparts building stuff and wrongly assumed that they must be getting ready for an attack worried they relayed the information to superintendent eliot because of the false information he'd received from his troops however elliot launched an attack on the heart of canton province canton city on march the 18th long story short the city was easily captured and partially occupied by the british who grabbed as much industry as possible this was then followed by another truce on march 20. furthermore eliot restored most royal navy warships under his command to the human a decision that didn't sit well with the subordinate officers by mid-april following a decree of the governor-general of liangguang the province in which canton lay trade was to remain open and emissaries were sent to superintendent eliot to negotiate the chinese meanwhile had used the recent truce to strengthen their military this included stationing 50 000 soldiers directly outside of canton and constructing hidden batteries all along the pearl river furthermore hundreds of small riverboats were retrofitted into tiny warships all of this served a plan by the daogwang emperor get the chinese forces up to par to retake the canton river and reclaim hong kong before kicking the invading brits out of china altogether would it be fun if secret plans stayed secret naturally though they were leaked and in may merchants started fleeing canton city out of fear of renewed hostilities on may 20th governor yishan issued the following statement people of canton and all foreign merchants who are respectfully obedient do not tremble with alarm and be frightened out of your wits at the military hosts that are gathering around there is no probability of hostilities seemingly elliot didn't get the memo as a day later he ordered all british merchants to leave the city of canton by sundown the same night may the 21st the ching army launched a unified attack against the british army and navy the hidden batteries opened fire and with their support the qing soldiers managed to take back parts of the city furthermore the british navy was literally under fire as roughly 200 flaming rafts were sent towards the dock ships all that was for naught though as the british ships evaded the attack further british officers ordered the forces stationed in hong kong to head to canton city as quickly as possible once they arrived the city of canton was victim to a brutal bombardment all of the forts around canton that had been lost during the battle for the city were recaptured panicked the qing soldiers fled and were pursued by the british soldiers far into the countryside by may 30th nine days after the battle had begun the fighting finally subsided and canton was captured by the british on may 31st a ceasefire was agreed on under terms of a limited peace the british were paid off to abandon the forts they captured and retreat beyond the human line a strait that was littered with forts and other settlements located where the pearl river flows into the chinese sea the agreement was signed by elliot again without authorization from either the army or the navy elliot still had no idea that he wasn't superintendent anymore back at the imperial chinese court the battle for kanton was declared a diplomatic success by yeshan however the governor general kind of forgot to inform the emperor that the british expedition was very much intact also the emperor still really wanted hong kong back [Music] diplomatically kicked out of canton the brits simply set up shop in hong kong elliott was again pushing for more diplomatic approaches while elliot subordinated officers and the rest of the expedition force wanted more blood and to capture the southeastern coastal city of amoy but finally on july 29th elliott received the info that had been kicked out of office by palmerston his replacement was henry pottinger who arrived in hong kong on august 10th possenger had bigger visions than elliott and strived not to only negotiate with the chinese on mata's regarding the kanton region but all of china to achieve this he gave his seal of approval on aggressive plans and in cooperation with the local british navy commander a move toward the north to capture ramoy was set for august 21st by august 25th the british army arrived to des moines city prepared for a naval assault the chinese defenses seemed to leave an impression as the british officers decided against a purely naval attack and instead opted for a combined naval and ground attack the next day the attack had begun and the largest chinese batteries resisted well however these positions were eventually overrun and captured by british infantry troops two days later though amoy was being abandoned and the brits just waltzed in however by order of foreign law palmerston looting was forbidden as amoy was deemed to be a fine contender for an international trade port once all of the bloodshed was over in the days that followed however the qing army stormed into amoy retook it and restored order on october 1st the british attacked the city of chusan which had it been exchanged for hong kong in january of 1841. the so-called second capture of tucson was arguably the first battle with heavy loss of human life in the war so far around 1 500 chinese soldiers met their demise compared to only 30 for the british needless to say the brits won and they recaptured chusan which gave them control over a very important harbour not long after the belligerence forces clashed at ningbo in central china eventually chinese officials decided to evacuate the city thereby allowing the brits to take you without resistance after the capture of ningbo fighting gradually ceased as the winter of 1841 rolled on the british troops used that time to stock up on resources while for the first time in months the dow one emperor got truthful reports you see reports the emperor received were heavily downplaying the british threat probably as to not upset him eventually got a whiff of the truth and ordered the governors of nearby provinces to provide him with authentic reports when they did dogwood realized in what deep he truly was and he hastily readied cities and towns against naval attacks [Music] after defending against an attack by the qing the british managed to take multiple chinese ports by late spring of now that a handful of important chinese ports were under british control another push to break the qing empire's will was made british navy applied pressure on the yangtze river china's lifeblood twenty-five warships crewed with around ten thousand men were sent forth from the occupied harbor of ningbo to strike at the chinese heartland on their way they captured tax ships which dealt a heavy blow to china's finances the capture of the cities of wusong and baoshan on june 16th led to the takeover of the suburbs of shanghai on june 19. since shanghai had fallen with no resistance the path to nenjin was open in preparation 56 000 defensive men were gathered however defending nanjing wasn't getting china's full attention as british aggression in northern china threatened an attack on beijing the chinese capital attempts at diplomacy failed even though the daogun emperor himself had prepared a partial peace treaty july the 14th then marked the date when the british fleet finally began to sail up the river before they attacked on august the 11th frothing at the mouth with the finish line inside a request to negotiate was made by the british and the qing accepted [Music] as the clear winner the british empire put the screws to the chinese in what came to be known as the unequal treaty of nanjing negotiations started on august 14th and the treaty was signed on the 29th essentially china was forced to pay for damages on the fleet that had been shot to smithereens and pay for the burned opinion coming up to around 726 million dollars in modern money worse was that china had to open up to british diplomats and hand over hong kong to the empire also in 1843 china was obliged to open five ports to british merchants in hindsight the first opium war was rather pointless ball england had won money and an important trading hub the key point was still wonky you see the treaties of 1842 and 1843 left several unsettled issues including the root cause of the war the opium trafficking the british empire was still the world's biggest drug dealer while chinese officials continued to crack down on british smugglers regardless for about a decade and a half a somewhat peaceful arrangement surrounding the trade of opium was in effect until round two started but that's for a future video [Music] you

Channel: Warographics

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Published: Tue Jul 19 2022