The Opium Wars
The Opium Wars is about the two conflicts between China and Britain over trading rights. The Opium Wars are events of two wars that happened in 1839-1842 and 1856-1860. In the Second Opium War, the French military had chosen to joined forces to the British Army. The wars are named as "The Opium Wars" because they centered on the trade of opium. Opium is a powerful drug that the British merchants were smuggling into China. The drug is very dangerous because it could cause a person to be so addicted to it because the effects of the drug makes you feel so better or gives you a type of feeling that makes you feel you're floating or makes you feel that everything is so great around you without knowing the fact that you are already going crazy. This caused a lot of Chinese to be high to the drug. Opium was the last option that the British thought to trade to the Chinese because at that time, China was so rich and had a lot of good products and natural resources in their own country. And on that time, the British were selling attractive or fancy gadgets to the Chinese but Emperor Qianlong declared or said that, “We possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.” This became the reason why the British thought of trading opium to the Chinese, which turned out that the Chinese liked these products. The British were doing this because they wanted tea from China. And as a result both countries were trading with each other. But sooner the Chinese were so addicted and they wanted more, while the Chinese government wanted to stop the trading due to the effects that caused a lot of people to be high. And since the Chinese were buying more, it caused their country to pay 34 million Mexican silver dollars (the common international currency of the day) to purchase opium in the 1830s. Although the rich were the majority of the Chinese addicts. And many poor Chinese became addicted as well, and all suffered from the economic effects of the loss of silver. This events forced the Chinese emperor to speak to the British to stop the trading. But the British refused, and this lead to the Opium Wars.
The Chinese was known to lost both wars because the Chinese had less technological advances in their country at that time. And the Europeans was rich in technology, which they used their steam ships and dominated the wooden ships of China. And when this happened the Chinese soon realized that they were forced into the world of global trade and international relations with other countries, while the Europeans gained a lot of resources and territory in China.
The Chinese was known to lost both wars because the Chinese had less technological advances in their country at that time. And the Europeans was rich in technology, which they used their steam ships and dominated the wooden ships of China. And when this happened the Chinese soon realized that they were forced into the world of global trade and international relations with other countries, while the Europeans gained a lot of resources and territory in China.
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