The first opium war: 1840 ~ 1842
The second opium war: 1856 ~ 1860
Brief introduction of the first opium war
Date: 65438+June 28th, 0840-65438+August 0842.
Location: China.
Result: Britain won.
Cause: Humen destroyed opium.
Territorial change: ceding Hong Kong Island to Britain.
1840 (twenty years of Daoguang), the British invaders, with the support of other western capitalist powers, launched a war of aggression against ancient feudal China. Because this war was caused by Britain's forced dumping of opium into China, it was called the Opium War in history. After the Opium War, China gradually changed from an independent feudal country to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, and the Chinese nation began a course of humiliation, suffering, exploration and struggle for more than 100 years.
After the middle period of Jiaqing, the rule of Qing Dynasty declined gradually. The Qing government still claimed to be a "paradise", and it was arrogant and closed its eyes. At the same time, the European and American powers are advancing by leaps and bounds, and China, with its vast territory and large population, is the main target of expanding overseas markets. China has been an agricultural country since ancient times. With the self-sufficient natural economy and the conservative thought of "China is superior to the country", China people have always had little demand for foreign products. In order to make huge profits, foreign businessmen smuggled a large amount of opium from South China into China, and the import volume of opium increased from 4,000 cases at the beginning of Daoguang's accession to the throne to 40,200 cases in the eighteenth year of Daoguang, that is, before the outbreak of the Opium War. The spread of opium affects people's physical and mental health, corrupts the management of officials, leads to the outflow of silver and the shortage of government revenue. Daoguang continued the policy of banning smoking since Yongzheng, but opium smuggling not only failed, but became increasingly rampant. The development of the situation has aroused the vigilance of people in the ruling and opposition parties. Daoguang ordered the frontier defense minister to discuss the idea of banning smoking, and there were different opinions in the ruling and opposition parties. What finally touched Daoguang Emperor was the memorial of Lin Zexu, governor of Huguang at that time. Lin Zexu hit the nail on the head and pointed out: Opium can't help but weaken the country's poor in a few decades. "There are not many soldiers who can defend the enemy in the Central Plains, and there is no silver to pay." This situation is obviously what Daoguang Emperor did not want to see anyway. "Soldiers" and "silver" are two fatal loopholes in feudal rule. In November of the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), Lin Zexu went to Guangdong to ban opium.
Lin Zexu/KLOC-0 arrived in Guangzhou in March, 839, and immediately banned smoking, strictly investigated cigarette dealers, reorganized the navy, and instructed foreign businessmen to hand in opium. On June 3 of the same year, more than 20,000 boxes (more than 2 million Jin) of opium were destroyed in public at Humen Beach. China's smoking ban met with strong opposition from the British government. 1June, 840 (in the summer of the 20th year of Daoguang), the British Expeditionary Force consisting of 48 ships and more than 4,000 officers and men blocked the Pearl River Estuary in Guangzhou, and the Opium War broke out. Under the deployment of Lin Zexu, the soldiers and civilians in Guangzhou are ready for battle. The British army had no chance to invade Xiamen from the north, but it didn't succeed. He invaded Dinghai, Zhejiang, and then went to Haikou, Tianjin, and sent a note from the British Foreign Secretary to Qishan, the governor of Zhili. Qishan was ordered to go to Chuanbi, outside Humen, Tianjin, to negotiate with the British Commander-in-Chief and agree on a draft agreement, which was called "Chuanbi Cao Yue" in history. China ceded Hong Kong with compensation of 6 million yuan, Britain returned Dinghai, and the diplomacy of the two countries went hand in hand. The Qing government was furious, so in January of the 21st year of Daoguang, the Qing government declared war on Britain and appointed Yi Shan, the nephew of the emperor, as a general to fight in Guangdong. The following month, British troops captured Humen Fort, and Guan Tianpei, the Guangdong Navy's prefect, died. Qishan was locked and brought to Beijing to plead guilty. In April of the same year, the people spontaneously fought against the British invaders in Sanyuanli, a suburb of Guangzhou, showing the courage of China people to resist foreign invasion.
In the summer and autumn of the same year, the British army continued to expand the war situation and successively captured Xiamen, Fujian, Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo. His nephew Yijing was ordered to go to Zhejiang to take charge of military affairs, but he was defeated and fled to Hangzhou. In the 22nd year of Daoguang, the British captured Wusongkou Fort, and the garrison commander Chen Huacheng died. After that, the British army once occupied Shanghai and Baoshan, then broke into the Yangtze River, captured Zhenjiang, cut off the north-south traffic of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and then reached Nanjing, an important town in the south of the Yangtze River. On July 24th of the same year, at the gunpoint of the British army, the Qing government was forced to sign the "treaty of nanking" which humiliated the country. This was the first unequal treaty of the Qing government, which seriously damaged China's sovereignty. He stipulated that China should cede Hong Kong and pay 21 million silver dollars for foreign trade in five port cities: Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai. In addition, Britain also enjoys agreed tariffs, and obtains consular jurisdiction, unilateral MFN treatment and concessions by signing the Humen Treaty, a supplementary document to the Charter of the Five Ports and the treaty of nanking. The United States and France followed closely, coercing the Qing government to sign an unequal treaty with it. In the 29th year of Daoguang, Portugal expelled China's officials in Macau, stopped paying the rent, and openly occupied Macau.
As a result of the Opium War, the Chinese Empire closed Gu Men for 5,000 years for self-defense, and it was opened by British sharp guns from then on. From then on, it is impossible to get back together. US President Taylor immediately sent a plenipotentiary ambassador to Guangzhou by warship. The Qing government was frightened and quickly signed the Wang Xia Treaty with him.
French warships sailed to Guangzhou to demonstrate, claiming to attack Zhoushan Islands in the north. Daoguang Emperor quickly signed the Huangpu Treaty with him. China people have never heard of several western countries, such as Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Prussia (Germany), Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and so on. "Some tiny countries that China has heard of or never heard of were not eligible to pay tribute in the past, and now they are all waiting in line." (Bai Yang's History of China, Volume II) They signed treaties with China one by one and enjoyed the same privileges as the British in treaty of nanking. The Chinese empire suddenly fell into a semi-colonial state. In 5,000 years, I have never been insulted like this.
Background of the First Opium War
I. International and domestic situation before the Opium War
The Opium War was an epoch-making event in the history of China. This is the beginning of China's modern history. Why did the Opium War break out? Chinese and foreign historians have different views on this issue. Some western scholars believe that the war broke out because of "business misunderstanding", while others believe that it originated from "cultural conflict between East and West". Some people say that this is purely accidental. The outbreak of the Opium War was no accident. We can examine its historical background in the development and evolution of world history and China history, that is, the social and historical overview of the pre-war world and China.