OPIUM war: causes and consequences

The opium war was one of the most important conflicts happened between Asian and European countries, being elements that cause it to be very interesting to know the events that happened in this conflict. In order to know the enormous influence that a war that faced two powers from two different continents had on the world, in this lesson from a Professor we must talk about the causes and consequences of the opium war.

The Opium War is the name they receive two wars where the powers of China and Great Britain between the years 1839 and 1860, being one of the first confrontations between European and Asian nations.

• The first opium war it took place in 1839 and lasted until 1842
• The second war had its beginning in 1856 and ended in 1860, being more global as other nations such as France intervene.

Like most of the wars of the 19th century, the confrontation between the two nations had business reasons, being a time when all the great powers sought to open new trade routes and it was common to find struggles between different regions to control a market.

The opium war laid the foundations for future wars between European and Asian nations, provoking that conflicts between powers were increasingly global and European countries began to search for new forms of imperialism against regions of more unknown continents, such as Africans or Asians.

Like all wars, the opium wars were caused by numerous facts and events that ended up causing the start of a clash of armed forces. The main causes of the opium war were the following:

• Excessive use of opium by the Chinese population, causing the government of the Qing dynasty to a large extent ban its consumption, concerned about the huge number of deaths from its consumption.
• Rise of English smugglers that they sold opium illegally, emerging clashes between Chinese and British because the English government defended the illegal sale of opium.
• China's great economic power due to its trade with Europe, selling highly valued products such as silk, tea, porcelain or even opium.
• Appearance of the East India Company who sought to trade from India with the same products as China, but receiving money from the English government for being a foundation of theirs.
• War in india that made the English need to raise more money to win the war, opening the market to smuggling illegal products to earn more money with them.
• In 1834, the Emperor of China trade ceased between the East India Company and Chinfor the continued displays of the illegal opium trade carried out by the Company.
• China asked Queen Victoria to end the illegal trade, By arresting English smugglers, the queen's response was to start the opium war.
• In the call "Destruction of opium in Humen" the Chinese government destroyed one hundred tons of opium, being considered by the British as a direct attack on their country.

To conclude with this lesson on the causes and consequences of the Opium War, we must list all the consequences that these wars brought for both China and the United Kingdom, causing great changes in both nations.

The main consequences of the opium war were the following:

• The treaties that ended the war gave as loser and cause of the war on China, for which the Asian nation had to pay huge amounts of money to UK, the typical war damage payments being that the losers always paid the winners, although in this case all the war damages had been on Chinese soil.
• China also had to pay money to France, since the Gauls had entered the Second Opium War in search of profits.
• Over the years, China had given ports to Europeans to pause the war or simply because they had been conquered, but after the war most of the major ports in China fell into British and French hands, causing a great economic downturn for China.
• Opium was legal again, returning to be one of the great problems of Chinese society, causing addictions and deaths that for years would be one of the great plagues of the country.
• The English and French merchants and missionaries could enter China without fear of being killed or imprisoned, because France had entered the war for the death of a missionary on Chinese soil, because of this Christian missionaries could take their religion to China.
• China gave regions such as Manchuria and Hong Kong to the United Kingdom and France, regions that would take years to return to Chinese ownership, initiating tensions in both areas that will last for decades.