The greatness of Great Britain from 1750 to 1915 has been debated for generations, but it’s important to define greatness, the main themes are political, Imperial and Economic. I will explore the positives and negatives of the British empire, and will end with a rounded conclusion. I think Britain was a great during this period because they helped many people get used to the modern world. One of the benefits of the British Empire, was that it made certain countries very rich. In Africa, the world’s poorest continent, the British Empire colonized 5 of the top 10 richest countries: Egypt, Sudan, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria. In fact they even managed to colonize 7 of the top 10 richest countries in the world: Brunei, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait, …show more content…
Britain had found a drug that the Chinese would buy, opium. Opium was legally grown in British India and then smuggled into China, but after a while, its use and sale became illegal due to the damaging effects on the Chinese people. This made Britain angry, and as they had control over the seas, the British easily shut down some of China’s key ports and forced the Chinese to negotiate. However, the British were not satisfied with the agreement, and sent a second, much larger, force to take over more coastal cities. This shows that Britain wasn’t that great during this period as they killed many Chinese People, and ruined many of their …show more content…
However, the British Empire tried to help out, but sent the wrong person, Charles Trevelyan, to oversee relief work. He was a proud Christian, and believed that God wanted to punish the ‘lazy’ Irish, and refused to hand out any food to the starving population. Instead, he set up a public works programme, that the Irish had to work at to get fed. But then Trevelyan rapidly increased the prices, so the Irish couldn’t afford to buy any food. Britain was not great during this period due to the fact they killed thousands of Irish people by letting Charles Trevelyan keep his
The Opium Wars emerged from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade, enforced by foreign imperialism. During the late 1700s, foreign merchants traded opium grown in India for Chinese tea, making big profits. China had accepted the trade for brief period until it became addictive and disruptive to the Chinese economy, to which the Chinese government outlawed opium and executed drug dealers. They demanded the trade to stop but by the right of free trade, refused to halt. Infuriated, Chinese warships were sent and clashed with the British fleet, triggering the Opium War. Due to advances in weaponry, the Chinese were easily defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which stated that Britain will receive indemnities from China, the
The Opium Wars between Great Britain and China in 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 with the French joining forces with Great Britain led to social, economic and political changes in China, specifically the Qing Dynasty. The Opium Wars documented by Lieutenant John Ouchterlony, an Indian Army Officer of Madras Engineers, in “The Chinese Wars: an account of all the operations of the British Forces” gives a first-hand look into many of the events he witnessed before, during and after the wars. The action in the book ranges from Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, and later in Nanking where the Chinese are compelled to sign a treaty to end the First Opium War. From an unbiased perspective, which criticizes, yet praises both sides, Ouchterlony is able to portray the events that transpired in vivid detail through his words along with illustrations throughout the book. The details portrayed by Ouchterlony prior to the first war, explains how China could have easily prevented such disaster and embarrassment from occurring and tarnishing their image.
Britain played a huge role in the potato famine, not so much in finding a cure for the potatoes but trying to help the Irish from starvation. Some people have argued that the British deliberately let the Irish starve to death, but others argue that they were unaware of the situation at hand. After the Napoleonic War ended Britain set “corn laws” to keep agriculture a healthy business. These laws set high tariffs on imported foods. (Stork) These laws were good and bad for Ireland, because they were able to sell their crops for a good amount of money, but it distracted them from the industrial side of things that would’ve given jobs to the poor during the famine. (Stork) Once Sir Robert Peel received the information about the hunger, he sent 100,000 pounds of Indian Corn to America, which was cheap enough to not effect Britain’s economy, but fed the Irish. The problem never was supply as much as demand, because most Irish had no corn to sell which left them with no money to buy the corn or other food imported. Once Prime minister Lord John Russell was elected, who was a conservative who believed that things should be left and nature will do its thing. He immediately stopped the importing of cheap corn and other grains (the only thing most Irish could afford) which left many families with no food...
Melancon, Glenn. "Honour in Opium? The British Declaration of War on China, 1839-1840." The International History Review 21.4 (1999): 855-74. JSTOR. Web. .
The opium wars were two wars between China and Britain in the nineteenth century about the trade of opium and taxation of the Chinese by the British. Opium was used heavily by the Chinese during the seventeenth and eighteenth century recreationally. In 1799, the Chinese government outlawed opium trade. The Chinese people still used opium often, estimated at 5 million pounds in 1830. In 1839, large quantities of opium was found on British merchants who were going to market the drug to Chinese people. Britain did not feel that the ban on opium was legit and demanded that the opium be returned to its British owners. China refused and Britain shelled the area of Hong Kong. The war continued until 1842, when China accepted the Treaty of Nanking, which basically changed the framework of foreign trade. The trade also gave Hong Kong and five other cities British rule. In 1856, the second Opium War, or commonly referred to as the “Arrow War,” initiated due to the fact that Britain felt that there were treaty violations by the Chinese. The British ship Arrow was boarded by Chinese officials and its twelve crew members were arrested for the crime of opium smuggling. Britain raided inland to China with the help of France and led to a signing of the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. Chinese officials refused to accept the treaty and again Britain invaded China and eventually made China sign the treaty in
“The Famine 3: Peel’s Relief Programme to July 1846.” The Ireland Story. 16 March 1998. 1 October 2003 <http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/index.htm>
Allingham,, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 24 June 2006. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
Ultimately the reason why the Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain was circumstantial it merely had the right conditions at play at the right time, the relatively relaxed government, trade routes and investment in education is what ultimately made Britain very successful and the home of industrialization. Unfortunately for the Chinese who were great innovators for their time could not adapt quickly and didn’t have the conditions needed for such a revolution. The large population size and lack of education where the main contributing factors that killed any chance of a scientific and industrial revolution.
Soon after this soup kitchens began breaking out all over Ireland, but they were not run on government funding, instead they were run by Protestants seeking to take advantage of starving Catholics and convert them by offering them all the food they wanted if they would only convert. These Soupers, as they were called, even went so far as to serve meat on Fridays, a day that is forbidden for Catholics to eat meat on.(Bartoletti 78). Not all relief and charity work however was purposed to gain something in return, functions in the US were held to raise money and food for Ireland, and the Queen of England herself donated generous amounts of money.(Bartoletti 83). But even with all these donations form around the world it paled in comparison to
Sara Rose begins her story For All the Tea in China by saying, “There was a time when maps of the world were redrawn in the name of plants, when two empires, Britain and China, went to war over two flowers: the poppy and the camellia.”(Prologue). The purpose of this book is to explain the growing tensions between Britain and China and how that tension then shaped the world. Sarah Rose stresses the importance of the opium and tea trade to the British Empire in this story. When the Chinese began the process to stop the sale of the opium to its citizens and closed the port of Canton to the India Tea Company, the British reacted with anger. They then decided it might would be a smart business move to create a source
The year was 1842, and Britain had just finished a successful military campaign in China, a campaign that also signified a rather humiliating defeat for the Chinese army. The first Opium War reestablished Britain's profitable opium trade routes from India to China, and also established a new mode of British-Chinese relations, one that resulted in British control of the new colony of Hong Kong and semicolonial control over various treaty ports. The progressive optimism that this combined political and economic control seemed to herald for the British Empire was reflected in a piece in the newly established Illustrated London News:
That was one really bitter downfall for China. They basically had to pay for their own war for a total of $21 million and opium was still traded, not even stopped. I think Britain making those conditions was an act of karma for China’s part. Once the five new trading ports opened, China was confined to learning how to trade with the rest of the world. That was how China became what it is today, rich, powerful, and large.
Chinesse tried to explain how bad impact this drug had on their economy but also on their people (moral aspect), but Britain, and rest of the Western world did not understand this and in 1839. Britain proclamed war on China, called First Opium
During 1488-1914 the world witnessed the rise and fall of the British Empire. Many historians argue that the cause of the collapse of the British Empire was in fact due to the end of the Age of Imperialism and Colonialism. These were the foundations in which the British Empire was built.
The British Empire’s military prowess and economic fervor since the 1500’s has ultimately had a positive impact on its people. The military power it developed through its navy and technological advances drove it to the forefront of global superpowers, arguably the first superpower (perhaps only behind the Mongols). The industrial revolution that stemmed from the British colonies spurred economic growth never seen before in the world. While the height of its power may have passed since the 19th and early 20th century, it still plays a key component in today’s society. This indicates the British Empire has endured successfully, as no empire can stand so long while its people are weak.