Britain's Key Role In The First Opium War

The Opium Wars were a series of wars that took place between 1839 and 1860 although the fighting was not continuous and had brief times of non-fighting. The First war started in 1839 after a realized trade deficit on Britain's side with a high demand for Chinese goods including tea and silk with almost no demand for western good from China mainly because China was a self-sufficient nation and the fact that foreign trade was so tightly restricted. After a series of requests and demands from both the British and the Chinese were ignored by the other and some extreme aggression by the British the First Opium War started. Britain's demands were seemingly simple to those on the outside of China and unquestionably intrusive to those inside of …show more content…
The Chinese demands were seemingly simple but in direct contrast to what the British wanted and that was trade through one port using the Canton System. The disagreement that follows is what leads into the Opium Wars. The key player leading up to the First Opium War for the British was William Napier and his successor Charles Elliot. The reason that William Napier had such a key role in the First Opium War is that he was the first to try and go around the Canton system which lead to him eventually getting kicked out and dying shortly after. Charles Elliot carried on William Napier's mission and took over almost immediately after his death. Elliot's main victory was the cession of Hong Kong to Britain. Lu Kun was a key player leading up the Opium Wars on the side of the Chinese, he was who William Napier encountered when he attempted to go directly into Canton to get an audience with the Chinese government. Lu Kun under the direction of the Emperor sent William Napier away and halted all trade with the British …show more content…
The Chinese unwilling to give away sovereign land refused this request and the first talks were off, the second talks were quite successful in the sense that both representatives were happy with the outcome, the Chinese were to pay six million pounds in reparations and the British were to pay six million pounds for the island of Hong Kong, the British were also to give up all land captured during the war in exchange for trade in a free and open manner. Despite the agreement between the two representatives both of their superiors were unhappy in this conclusion, with the British not feeling they got enough and the Chinese feeling they gave too much, so this agreement too fell to the wayside. The final negotiations took place after the inevitable fall of Nanjing, knowing that if the British were to take Nanjing there would be no negotiations the Chinese conceded on almost every demand of the British, with the Chinese paying 21 million pounds, many new ports were to open, and tariff rates were to be equally agreed upon instead of set by the Chinese. The island of Hong Kong was also given to British with the Chinese having no jurisdiction on the island whatsoever. The one thing the British didn't get was the legalization of opium which inevitably