The Opium Wars

The opium war was an important war. It showed that the europeans got what they wanted when they wanted it. It was also the worlds first drug wars. The British would trade opium with the Chinese for tea. As you know, any drug can be addictive and opium sure was. At first opium used to be a drug used to cure diarihha but then they mixed it with tobacco so they could smoke it. Tea was in high demand and the chinese had it. The chinese were self sufficient and didnt want anything from the Europeans or Americans.

When the British ran out of things to trade, they started to trade opium mixed with tobacco so they could promote smoking. They would bring in nearly 2 million pounds of opium a year. This weakend the chinese population. It even weakend the economy because they were giving away pounds of silver to pay for opium. They tried to ban opium but it didnt work. All the government officials were corrupt and accepted bribes. the Chinese tried everything to stop the british from smuggling opium into the country but nothing worked. The chinese were fed up with this so the opiums wars began.

China was easily defeated because they lacked the technology. Europe was too advanced for them. They made the chinese sign a treaty that was "unequal" and it exploited the chinese resources. The Americans and Fench also made an "unequal" treaty.