Opium Wars: Second Clash (1856-1860)

The number of casualties in the Opium Wars was minor compared to wars like World Wars I and II. One estimate is that about 48,000 Chinese and about 3,000 British were killed or wounded. This figure does not, however, include the large number of Chinese who died because of opium drug addiction. That number over the course of the 19th century may have been astronomical.

The relationship between the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion, a war from 1850-64 in which 25 million Chinese died, is another subject beyond the scope of this article. The Opium Wars were about opium trade, trade relations generally, and sovereign control of a few places along the south coast like Hong Kong. The Taiping Rebellion was a much broader war between the Qing dynasty and a rebel Christian group led by Hong Xiuquan that fought against Confucianism and Buddhism. British, French and American soldiers were involved in the Taiping conflict, too.

The Second Opium War began over a dispute in 1856 between the Chinese government and some British naval merchants. A ship flying a British flag was searched by the Chinese government, and war eventually began. This time, French and British forces would eventually fight in Peking, far north of the First Opium War around Hong Kong and Canton.

In 1858, a British Embassy was established by treaty in Peking. Subsequently, a peace treaty was negotiated in 1860 that established ten port cities, paid the British and French for their losses, and opened China to foreign travelers. The treaty also allowed the opium trade to continue, but the East India Company had been hammered in India at the same time, and that would eventually lead to the company's dissolution. The Chinese agreed to allow Chinese indentured servants to be sent to the United States, and many of them worked on the American railroads.

Some authors treat the Opium Wars as part of an era that continued until near the end of the century. Paul Henry Clements, author of "The Boxer Rebellion: A Political and Diplomatic Review" (1915), wrote, "The Opium war begins a new epoch in the relations of China with the (Western) Powers, a period which may roughly be estimated as extending from 1840 to 1895, marked on one side by the unreasoning hostility of China to everything foreign and on the other side by constant aggressions of Europe, these aggressions, however, still tempered by a belief in and respect for China's latent military power and the prestige naturally accorded to so vast an empire... But it was not to be expected that, through the defeats of a single war, China would or even could have reversed the policy and habits of centuries."

The opium trade continued. Given the 25 million dead from the Taiping Rebellion fought during the same era, it is understandable why so many traditional Chinese loathed foreign influences.