Opium War Research Paper
Jeffrey Koala
Revolutionary China
Professor Lu
6/12/07
THE INEVITABILITY OF THE OPIUM WAR BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA
The Opium War, which began in 1839, pitted two of history's most independently industrious strongholds against each other. It was not only hugely detrimental to China's potential of progress, but was as well equally as unavoidably inevitable. The War also had major consequences to the later relations between China and Britain. The brutal fighting that ensued between the two countries served as the conclusion of several fundamental disparities that transmitted each onto separate, vastly divided platforms of culture, governmental ideals, as well as trade systems. Trade restrictions placed into effect by the …show more content…
Government officials viewed the allowance of opium importation with similarity to a physician's malpractice. This would be "an error which may be compared to that of a physician, who, which treating a mere external disease, should drive it inwards to the heart", he claimed. They noted that, as it was their god-given obligation to shield their country from such evils, they were forced not to neglect the blatant violation of the people by the drug, and hence act in a way to force its extrication.
The government of China- ordained through the noble granting of heaven to oversee, protect, and operate the country- saw it their duty to stagger and thus end foreign opium's reign over those civilians it had been so nobly deemed responsible for. Great Britain, on the other hand, saw it their destiny to obtain economic and military control and influence over all out-laying lands- at whatever the cost. These far differing governmental ideals played a large impact on the future outbreak of the Opium …show more content…
China, mainly the protagonist in this saga, was felled by Britain's might. When China attempted to ban the evil, vile entry of opium into the bloodstream of its population, Great Britain, just as a child will tantrum when unappeased, reacted severely with a fleet of ships hell-bent on reclaiming its position as opium supplier to one of the largest countries in the world in terms of demand for the
Revolutionary China
Professor Lu
6/12/07
THE INEVITABILITY OF THE OPIUM WAR BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA
The Opium War, which began in 1839, pitted two of history's most independently industrious strongholds against each other. It was not only hugely detrimental to China's potential of progress, but was as well equally as unavoidably inevitable. The War also had major consequences to the later relations between China and Britain. The brutal fighting that ensued between the two countries served as the conclusion of several fundamental disparities that transmitted each onto separate, vastly divided platforms of culture, governmental ideals, as well as trade systems. Trade restrictions placed into effect by the …show more content…
Government officials viewed the allowance of opium importation with similarity to a physician's malpractice. This would be "an error which may be compared to that of a physician, who, which treating a mere external disease, should drive it inwards to the heart", he claimed. They noted that, as it was their god-given obligation to shield their country from such evils, they were forced not to neglect the blatant violation of the people by the drug, and hence act in a way to force its extrication.
The government of China- ordained through the noble granting of heaven to oversee, protect, and operate the country- saw it their duty to stagger and thus end foreign opium's reign over those civilians it had been so nobly deemed responsible for. Great Britain, on the other hand, saw it their destiny to obtain economic and military control and influence over all out-laying lands- at whatever the cost. These far differing governmental ideals played a large impact on the future outbreak of the Opium …show more content…
China, mainly the protagonist in this saga, was felled by Britain's might. When China attempted to ban the evil, vile entry of opium into the bloodstream of its population, Great Britain, just as a child will tantrum when unappeased, reacted severely with a fleet of ships hell-bent on reclaiming its position as opium supplier to one of the largest countries in the world in terms of demand for the