Opium Wars

A detailed Summary of Opium Wars


The Opium War was a display of how the greed of one country can destroy the very lives of millions of people in another country. Britain would be categorized as the greedy nation and China the victim. Even though Britain was the main aggressor in this war, there were also other nations involved in the degrading of China's culture, they were France, Russia, and even America. All of these countries took advantage of the addiction China's people had to opium by sending chests of opium with about 150 pounds of it in each barrel to china and selling it overpriced. In fact Britain sent 2,330 chests of opium in 1788, then 4,968 in 1810, then increased that to 17,257 chests of opium in 1835, which was worth millions of British pounds!

Opium was first manufactured in China for medicinal purposes in the end of the 15th century. It was used to treat


As you can see, Britain took major advantage of China even though it was outnumbered. Britain had greater technology and experience in wars than China, which is the reason China had lost so much dignity in this war which was fueled by the greed of Britain and every other country that participated in the opium trade.

1. Chesneaux, Jean. China from the Opium Wars to the 1911 Revolution. Pantheon Books. New York. 1976, pgs 3-64.

3. Williams, S. Wells. A History of China.



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Approximate Word count = 573
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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