Editing Opium Wars (section)

{{Short description|19th-century conflicts between China and European powers}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof            = the [[century of humiliation]]
| conflict          = Opium Wars
| place             = [[China]]
| combatant1        = [[First Opium War]]:{{ubl|{{flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]|{{ubl|{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg}} [[East India Company]]}}}}
[[Second Opium War]]:{{ubli|{{flag|British Empire}}|{{flag|Second French Empire}}}}
| combatant2        = [[File:Flag of China (1889–1912).svg|23 px]] [[Qing China]]
| image             = {{multiple image
 | border = infobox
 | total_width = 300
 | image1 = Destroying Chinese war junks, by E. Duncan (1843).jpg
 | image2 = La bataille de Palikiao.jpg
 }}Naval battle in the [[First Opium War]] (left), [[Battle of Palikao]] (right)
| result            = {{ubli
  | First Opium War:{{ubli|British victory, [[Treaty of Nanking]]}}
  | Second Opium War:{{ubli
    | Anglo-French victory
    | [[Treaty of Tientsin]]
    | [[Convention of Peking]]}}}}
| date              = {{ubli
  | [[First Opium War]]: {{nwr|4 September 1839&nbsp;– 29 August 1842}}
  | [[Second Opium War]]: {{nwr|8 October 1856&nbsp;– 24 October 1860}}
}}
| territory         = {{ubli
  | First Opium War:{{ubli
    | [[Hong Kong Island|Hong Kong]] ceded to Britain}}
  |Second Opium War:{{ubli
    | [[Kowloon Peninsula]] and [[Stonecutters Island]] ceded to [[British Hong Kong]]
    | [[Outer Manchuria]] ceded to Russia}}
  }}
}}
<!-- PLEASE DO NOT ADD MATERIAL HERE THAT BETTER BELONGS TO FIRST OPIUM WAR OR SECOND OPIUM WAR -- SEE DISCUSSION ON TALK PAGE ON MERGE AND CONTENT FORK -->

The '''Opium Wars''' ({{zh|s=鸦片战争|t=鴉片戰爭|p=Yāpiàn zhànzhēng}}) were two conflicts waged between [[Qing dynasty|China]] and [[Western world|Western powers]] during the mid-19th century.

The [[First Opium War]] was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. It was triggered by the [[Government of the Qing Dynasty|Chinese government]]'s campaign to enforce its prohibition of [[opium]], which included destroying opium stocks owned by British merchants and the [[East India Company|British East India Company]]. The British government responded by sending a naval expedition to force the Chinese government to pay reparations and allow the opium trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Song-Chuan |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001 |title=Merchants of War and Peace |date=2017-05-01 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |doi=10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001 |isbn=978-988-8390-56-4}}</ref> The [[Second Opium War]] was waged by Britain and [[Second French Empire|France]] against China from 1856 to 1860, and consequently resulted in China being forced to legalise opium.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feige|first1=Miron |last2=Chris1|first2=Jeffrey  |year=2008 |title=The opium wars, opium legalization and opium consumption in China |journal=Applied Economics Letters |volume=15 |issue=12 |pages=911–913 |doi=10.1080/13504850600972295 |url=http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11355.pdf |via=Scopus}}</ref>

In each war, the superior military advantages enjoyed by European forces led to several easy victories over the [[Military of the Qing dynasty|Chinese military]], with the consequence that China was compelled to sign the [[unequal treaties]] to grant favourable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to Western powers. The two conflicts, along with the various treaties imposed during the [[century of humiliation]], weakened the Chinese government's authority and forced China to open specified [[treaty ports]] (including [[Shanghai]]) to Western merchants.<ref name="short">{{cite web |url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opiwar1.htm |title=A Short History of the Opium Wars |work=Civilizations Past And Present |at=Chapter 29: "South And East Asia, 1815–1914" |via=Schaffer Library of Drug Policy |author1=Taylor Wallbank |author2=Bailkey |author3=Jewsbury |author4=Lewis |author5=Hackett |year=1992}}</ref><ref name="eb">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars |title=Chinese history: Opium Wars |author=Kenneth Pletcher |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]|date=16 April 2024 }}</ref> In addition, China ceded sovereignty over [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] to the [[British Empire]], which maintained control over the region [[Handover of Hong Kong|until 1997]].