Opium War Dbq

Opium was primarily used for medicinal purposes, but later became too addictive and was banned. The usage of opium was very large.

Greater availability of Opium stimulated bigger international trade between China and British India. China had a lot of things to offer to the western civilizations such as: silk, tea, porculan, and others.

The first Opium War occurred in the year 1840. The Chinese government was made aware of the dangers of opium smoking among the Chinese people and banned it in 1839. But the Qing government did not allow reasonable time for it to fade away nor did they put forth enough effort to enforce the new law. The result was that opium traders were caught off guard but not scared enough to obey the law. The enforcement of the law, although weak, gave the British traders

The only choise they had is to ban imports in 1836.

The British administration's budget was hopelessly in deficit and there was no way that the parliament was going to issue compensation to the British traders. Also the news of the isolation of the British community in China stirred anger among the British people; they felt humiliated.

Britain, who didn't had this problem, did not accept that because China was blocking international trade.

The Chinese government banned opium for no other reason than it being a dangerous drug. Britain on the other hand, infuriated by the ban on opium and containment of its citizens, started an armed conflict with China to continue to sell drugs in China. This is hardly a justification for starting the war, but Britain's economic trouble forced the British to start the war.

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