in the wild we find nature's rare gift the curiosity stream found nesting inside are thousands of documentaries all enjoyed for 26 off using the link curiositystream.com feature history and if we wait just to the end of the video we may yet find out more hello and welcome to feature history featuring the 19th century prequel to the war on drugs the war for drugs this is actually the second time on feature history we'll be going over the opium wars but given the fact that these wars were pretty much the beginning of modern china and far east asia as a whole i thought it deserved better than a crappy video made by a 15 year old so instead i have a crappy video made by a 19 year old in this video we'll be going over the first opium war covering the incidents and impotence that opened the middle kingdom to the west and a century of humiliation then if you'd believe it the next video will be going over the second opium war beginning our story in the 18th century the manchu ching dynasty had been ruling for over a hundred years mostly unchallenged and enjoying ultimate regional power with the largest population in the world the qing's wealth and production dwarfed that of any other nation and that means yes even the europeans the qing emperors looked almost exclusively inward on their kingdom it was totally self-reliant and trade with westerners was heavily limited traders could only enter the port of canton in southern china the rules were strict and favored the qing and diplomatic liaison with the emperor was non-existent trade with the west was not essential for the dynasty and britain's first envoy to the qing emperor would reveal that they saw no need for the inventions made possible by the industrial revolution they were expensive and needless trinkets the west's demands for chinese good however was immense the british obsession with tea created a trade deficit between the two nations the east india company who held a monopoly on british trade in china were unable to import anything of wanton to canton and would have to pay for goods and silver this drained the precious silver reserves of the british government and frustrated traders who were unable to profit on both ways of the long voyage it became of great importance to the east india company and the british government that trade be equalized opium was a product that had existed in china throughout history largely as a powderized painkiller to be mixed with tea however smoking opium allowed for a much more pleasurable and instantly more addictive experience the east india company in the latter half of the 18th century landed on exporting cheap opium from their territory in bangal but given the fact that opium was illegal in the qing dynasty they would also enter the drug trafficking business smuggling opium into canton the ching's lack of any major navy and their corruptable officials in canton saw the opium flow into china unchecked the fad of opium smoking began in the upper classes and trickled down to all facets of qing society becoming an opium crisis it wasn't long before the trade deficit had turned in the favor of britain silva would begin leaving the qing reserves at an unsustainable rate the daogwong emperor's imperial court would debate legalization of opium as a tax would secure the economy but given opium's poisonous effects on the population there would be no consideration for legalization even despite the sustained van canton became a bed of opium smuggling and addiction corrupt officials and wealthy european traders dominated the port city a modification of the east india company's royal charter would remove their monopoly on the trade in 1834 opening the door to all westerners and worsening the crisis it would take until 1838 for effective action to be put in place the dal guang emperor appointed the incorruptible lindsashu as imperial commissioner his task was to simply eradicate the opium trade linzashu would make an open letter to queen victoria there is a class of evil foreigner that makes opium and brings it for sale tempting fools to betray themselves merely in order to reap profit the poisonous article is manufactured by certain devilish persons in places subject to your rule what is here forbidden to consume your dependencies must be forbidden to manufacture when that is done not only will the chinese be rid of this evil but your people too will be safe the letter would never be allowed to reach the queen lin would have opium supplies and cantons seized entering warehouses and even boarding british ships the superintendent of trade in china charles elliott attempted to prevent any escalation by convincing traders to hand over their stockpiles on the promise of eventual compensation lin would continue to have the opium publicly destroyed on the beaches and instruct that the penalty for officials and foreign traders caught smuggling opium to be made death though obviously foreign traders would not agree to these terms the high tensions only worsened when two british sailors would drunkenly and fatally bash a chinese villager in july of 1839 elliott quickly had the men arrested paid compensation to the family and would trial them by british law on his ship lynn would obviously be infuriated by the clear violation of chinese sovereignty and had any sale of food or supplies cut off to british ships this eventuated in a small skirmish between british and ching ships at kowloon in september two qing soldiers would die and the british would retrieve suppliers for their sailors officials however reported back a decisive victory to the emperor in what would be the first battle of the opium wars back in britain the parliament would be in heavy debate on going to war over the opium trade it was understood by the government and people that opium was illegal and destructive but merchants and nationalists would argue for intervention on the grounds of protecting british trade and product military action would pass by a vote of 271 to 262 in january of 1840 the order was made that the royal navy should secure compensation for the millions of pound sterlings of destroyed opium enforce equal diplomatic relations with the qing imperial court and that an island trading post be acquired so in june a fleet would arrive to reinforce elliots and they would make their way north to joshan in the yellow sea there they captured dinghai with relatively little opposition and took no casualties the advanced military technology of the british could make easy work of outdated chinese defenses their rifles and artillery were leagues ahead of the qing's swords spears old baskets and ancient cannons and their drilled professional soldiers made effective use of them elliott would use the capture of dinghai to enter negotiations with the linzashu's replacement they moved negotiations to the pearl river the gateway of canton and withdrew from the yellow sea the negotiations between the two men would last until january of 1841 where they had broken down the royal navy in that time welcomed the arrival of further reinforcements including the hms nemesis a steam-powered iron warship the first of its kind it was used to capture two forts in the pearl river killing hundreds of chinese sinking a dozen junkers and taking no casualties these defeats would force xan back into negotiation both elliot and xishan would agree on one million pounds in compensation a direct diplomatic link between their two countries and the session of hong kong to great britain when sisan returned to the emperor with the terms he was put to death and elliot would find himself dismissed given the lackluster compensation and the insignificance of hong kong and so fighting would resume once again in february with the british fleet working its way up through the pearl river once the river was cleared of defenses the navy would move on canton in march capturing the port and reopening it for trade the qing would gather soldiers outside of the city until they numbered 50 000 against the brits 6 000 men they would attack and for 10 days battle raged between the british the qing and even the cantonese villagers it would subside on the 30th of may with a decisive british victory and the full occupation of canton in the end the qing would actually pay a ransom for the british to withdraw from canton reports to the emperor stated the battle had been a success and the imperial court began to draw up plans to recapture hong kong from the station british garrison meanwhile the royal navy decided they would travel north up the coast to place pressure on the capital of beijing the navy worked its way up in a series of battles and blockades even once again capturing joshua on the 14th of june 1842 the fleet made its way into the yangtze river the lifeblood of commerce in the empire there they would capture the city of shanghai and create an opening into nan king the center of china's south the qing's military system was not equipped to deal with a threat from their shores they had never faced an enemy so technologically advanced to make it feasible and they had put little resources into a navy the brits were able to make their final maneuver in the war on the stronghold of shenzhong outnumbering and easily outgunning the defenders the british took another decisive victory making nan king vulnerable and completely severing china's north from its south it was at this point the daogwong emperor became aware of the inaccuracy of his officials reports and how dire the situation truly was it was evident while china had been able to defend itself from threats for centuries they were wholly unequipped for such a technologically superior enemy the court would however instead blame the organization of the army and the failings of their navy and military technology was downplayed negotiations made after the capture of qianjong would lead to the treaty of nan king in august of 1842 the brits would have several ports open to their trade and their illegal opium and the qing would be made to pay for the destroyed opium and the war equaling to half of the government's total yearly revenue the territorial integrity of the qing dynasty was also broken as hong kong was officially ceded to the british empire the qing were proven weak on an international stage and american and french imperial vultures quickly descended to force the qing into further unequal treaties the west's imports and religion was able to flow into china opening the kingdom to influences beyond its control and there would be few attempts to write the failings of the qing as the daogong emperor passed and the mandate of heaven moved to his 19 year old successor instability broke out across the celestial empire and where there was weakness the west would only continue to demand more and if this video has left you demanding more 19th century chinese history well one that's a very specific thing to request but also that's great because i have a documentary about tea and espionage and british people and china and it's all in the 19th century and it is all on curiosity stream in fact there are thousands of documentaries on curiosity stream about history science nature technology society and otters because why not and if you want me to stop telling you about how great curiosity stream is then you should get it because i support nebula where me and a bunch of other educational channels put up our content ad free and also offer extended and exclusive content when you get a subscription to one you get them to both its bananas for a limited time curiosity stream is offering 26 off an annual plan for you yes you when you use the link curiositystream.com feature history you support me you support other edu channels you support documentaries and you support yourself emotionally with hundreds of hours of content now don't keep me waiting click the link just come on go click it click it for me please just just click thanks to the patrons and the sponsor for making this video financially feasible and you can expect the next video to be on the second opium war i'm actually saying this time i'll do a follow-up so that way i actually have to do it beyond that there's not a whole lot to say i don't imagine you care what i had for lunch so you know bye-bye and all that