Second Opium War also known as the Arrow War or the Second Anglo-Chinese War was a war that took place between one of the China’s dynasties known as Qing dynasty and the Britain Empire. This war took place for a period of fours beginning the year 1856 to the year 1860. One may wonder where these names (Opium and Arrow) came from. Back in the 1800s when this war took place Britain made legal the sale of Opium which was previously illegal. Arrow on the other hand refers to the vessel from which the conflict between Britain and China arose. This paper takes an in depth examination on the war how it all began, factors that largely or remotely contributed to the outbreak of the war and the consequences or the aftermath of the war. (Douglas, 17-23)
In the mid 1800 imperialism was on the rise. Every country especially those ion the West were looking for every possible opportunity to expand their territories. Some of the targeted goals by Western countries, Britain among them included expanding their markets in overseas countries and establishing new ports. France and Britain came to an agreement that after twelve years they would go back to the table and renegotiate. One of their target areas where Britain sought to establish new markets was China. In their negotiations with China, Britain made some demands which were altering the Nanjing treaty of 1842 and this did not go down well with Qing authorities who out rightly rejected these demands. Some of the demands made by Britain included making the whole of China open to merchants of British origin, to exempt from paying duties all imports from foreign countries, to suppress al forms of piracy at all levels to have a British ambassador residing in the capital city of China, Beijing. Yet another demand from the British quarters was that any treaty in English language should overtake all other of Chinese origin. These demands were rejected by the Chinese authorities and the conflict which later gave way to the Arrow War began (Jules, D.85-92).
In the year 1856 some officials from China boarded a ship owned by China known as The Arrow. This ship was under great suspicion that it was being used to carry out among other illegal activities, piracy and smuggling of goods. At least twelve people of Chinese nationality were arrested and detained. British on the other hand ordered that the sailors be released arguing that The Arrow having been previously registered in Hong Kong had since been registered in Britain and thus was under the protection of the Nanjing Treaty of 1842. (Leavenworth, 50-55) However this argument advanced by Britain was considered weak and it is then that Britain changed the argument and now claimed that the ship has been flying a British flag commonly known as ensign in marine language which they argued had been abused by the Chinese sailors. The feud between China and Britain had now heightened.
Britain sought assistance from France in order to be able to handle the resistance from Chinese authorities. Having formed a combined force of both French and British military, the British were determined to have their way despite opposition from China. One of the major incidents that took place in Hong Kong that demonstrated the heightened rivalry between Britain and China was when there was an attempt to poison the entire town of Europe. However this did not go through when those in charge of the inside deal of poisoning breads sabotaged the whole thing by putting in excess the poison such that it could be easily detected. This became a major issue in Britain with all those who seemed or appeared to support China getting heavy discouragements and blows (Jules, 96).
The then parliament was dissolved and the incoming parliament agreed on seeking redress for the Arrow Incident which angered Britain. The major incident that encouraged France to gang up against China was the murder of a French missionary Auguste Chapdelain in a small province known as Guangxi by the China authorities. United Stes of America also joined in support of Britain although they did not offer any kind of Military assistance to Britain. In the year 1857 both France and Britain attacked China at Guangzhou, the main leaders of China were captured and the governor also surrendered and conceded defeat (John, M. & Carroll. A.59-65).
The strife between China and Britain, which had support of other countries like France continued until sometime in the year 1858. It is then that the Tianjin treaties came to be wit Russia, United States of America and France being parties. Once again China declined to ratify. (Ziyu, 118-123) This was so because as far as China was concerned the treaties were highly unfair to them and China stood to lose a lot in terms of trade if they ratified the treaties. Some of the controversial issues in the treaties included; the fact that all members of the treaties which were Britain, Russia, France and U.S.A now had the right to introduce embassies in Peking a town in China that was not operational at the time. Additional ports in China were to be opened to foreign trade something that China opposed from the onset of the treaties.
The treaties also gave the right to foreign travelers to access the internal parts of China which the China authorities had previously banned. These among others were some of the contents of the Tianjin treaties which were heavily opposed by Chinese authorities. Later in the year 1858 China authorities reluctantly accepted to the terms of the treaties. However some of the ministers within the government of China put a lot of pressure on the then emperor to resist the terms of the treaties. Xianfeng who was the then emperor ordered some of his troops to take guard of the territory and to ensure that British troops did not get any access. In the year 1859, British troops forcefully entered the Chinese territories (John, M. & Carroll. A.72). A sever fight between the two troops (Britain’s and Chinese) broke out and after two days of fighting at least six boats were destroyed.
Later after this fight, the then Emperor Xianfeng sent a couple of his ministers to have peace talks with Britain’s authorities. However the talks did not yield about fruits as they broke down as soon as they had started. This was after one of the diplomatic envoys of Britain was arrested during the talks. Together with his entourage the diplomat underwent torture with some of those accompanying him being murdered in mysterious yet brutal circumstances. This led to the break down of the peace talks and the Britain were very bitter about the incident and vowed to revenge against China for this incident (Bartle, 77-81).
With the support of France, USA and Russia, Britain was determined to destroy China. The British troops getting back up from all other partners of the Tianjin treaties entered the territory of China and a very severe war broke between the Britain and China. Perhaps China was caught unawares or maybe the troops of Britain were way too powerful. Whichever the case, it did not take long fir the British troops to overpower the Chinese and after a few days of fighting the Emperor of China, perhaps realizing that they had lost to Britain fled leaving his troops behind (http://everything2.com).
Quite a large portion of China was destroyed and after Emperor Xianfeng had fled, his brother Yixin took over power and ratified all the treaties which Xianfeng had previously declined to ratify. The ratification of these treaties by Yixin brought to an end the Second Opium War also known as the Arrow War which lasted for a period of four years form 1856 to 1860. Britain, France and Russia now established Embassies in Beijing without any restrictions. The trade of Opium was also legalized and Christians were granted civil rights among them being the right to own property.
And that was the Second Opium War.
Work cited:
Bartle, G. Arrow War in China. John Rylands lib, 2003
David, Jules. The Arrow War. University of Michigan, London, 1973
Hurd, Douglas. The Arrow War: An Anglo Chinese Confusion. Collins, New York, 1967.
John, Mark. & Carroll. A. Concise History of Hong Kong. China: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Jules, Davids. The Arrow War. London: Scholarly Resources, 1973
Leavenworth, C. The Arrow War. S. Low, Marston & Co, California, 1901
Shi, Ziyu. The Chinese Use of Force. University of California, California, 1993
Wong, J. Deadly Dreams: Opium and the Arrow War in China, Cambridge University Press, London, 2003
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history. Retrieved on 13th of February 2009.
http://everything2.com. Retrieved on 12th of February 2009
