How Did The Opium War Cause The Taiping Rebellion

The Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Indian Rebellion all had many issues with government, society, economy, and the citizens. Also, all three had leaders that wanted a change. The three wars and rebellions had a very large amount of deaths, damage to citizens, lack of money, and a forever memory of these horrible events. Leaders like Lin Zexu, Hong Xiuquan, and Guofan all demanded a change, whether it failed or not. The Chinese had many problems leading in the government, society, and the economy. These three categories of problems led the Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion. First, the economic and social disorder took place from 1800-1839. Then, the Opium War and the aftermath took place from 1839-1850. The Opium War was focused
“In late March 1857 a sepoy named Mangal Pandey shot a British officer in the back while working at a marketplace. He was arrested and then executed by the British in early April. Later in April sepoy troopers at Meerut refused the Enfield cartridges, and, as punishment, they were given long prison terms, fettered, and put in jail. ” During punishment time, soldiers who were very angered shot their British officers. Another group that rebelled went by the name of Zafar and the mutineers/civilized mob. They separated because they were frustrated the British officer was shot. The rebellion spread east towards Bengal. The Zafar who is also known as the Mughal Emperor, lived on a British pension and did not really care about any political meanings or what went on with politics. “In June, in the town of Cawnpore, also in Bengal, rebels laid siege to a British army encampment. With no food, water, or ammunition left, the commanding officer surrendered to the sepoy rebels. ” During this horrific time, about 200 children and women were murdered because they were forced to stay back. While leaving the city of Cawnpore, mutineers attacked the innocent Britain prisoners. “I was never more horrified! The place was one of mass blood. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the soles of my boots were more than covered with the blood of these poor wretched creatures. 3” The massacre was very gory. Also,
First, Xiuquan had changed over the course of the rebellion because he began following the Christian religion and people saw his location peaceful and safe. He began breaking the traditional Qing Empire rules. They were seen as the underdogs. Hong Xiuquan’s group took many losses during battles and had a very little amount of people. They did have one victory though, when he took over Nanjing in 1853. When they took on Nanjing, Taiping’s began killing many men and women because that was Hong’s dream. I think this is when he really began to change because he was very faithful to his people. After this, the Taiping’s yet again, banned opium, along with dancing, drinking alcohol, prostitution, and binding of women’s feet. China began to get really poor and he encouraged the people to start eating weeds. He took his own words of encouragement, ate the weeds, and died. The Chinese were ecstatic. They dug up his body and burnt it. During the rebellion, Zeng Guofan, the Chinese leader, joined it because he declared the Taiping’s to basically be crooks. They stole money and would not get in trouble for it. Guofan did not see any problems with this. Taiping’s lived the best life they could. Taiping’s would decapitate citizens if they refused any orders from them. The Taiping Rebellion failed because there was a massive amount of deaths, the Chinese surrendered, the