Second Opium War
The Second Opium War or Arrow War began in 1856 and ended in 1860.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Outbreak 3 Treaty of Tientsin 4 Continuation of the war 5 Convention of Peking 6 See also |
The 1850s saw the rapid growth of capitalism. Some shared goals of the capitalist powers were to expand their overseas markets and establish new colonies. France and the USA demanded revisions in the Treaty of Huangpu and Wangxia Treaty in an effort to expand their privileges in China. Britain made the same demand citing the "equal treaty" article in the most favored nation status.
The Qing court rejected the revision demands from Britain, France and the USA.
The war may be viewed as a continuation of the First Opium War (1839-1842), thus the name of Second Opium War.
On October 8, 1856, Chinese officials boarded the Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and of being engaged in the opium trade. They captured 12 men and imprisoned them. This was referred to as the "Arrow Incident".
The British quickly responded to the "Arrow Incident" and attacked Guangzhou from the Pearl River. Ye Mingshen, the then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces ordered a non-resistance command to all of the Chinese soldiers on the forts. After taking the fort near Guangzhou with no effort, the British Army attacked Guangzhou. American warships bombed Guangzhou on the pretext to "protect" its residents. The people in Guangzhou and soldiers launched a resistance against invaders and forced them to retreat from Humen.
Soon, the British Parliament decided to assault China based on the report about the "Arrow Incident" submitted by Harry Parkes, British Consul to Guangzhou. France, the USA and Russia received notice from Britain to form an alliance. France joined British action against China, using the execution by Chinese local authorities in Guangxi province of a French missionary, Father August Chapdelaine ("Father Chapdelaine Incident") as a pretext. The USA and Russia expected to be the third parties to benefit from the struggle. Although no army was dispatched, the USA and Russia sent envoys to Hong Kong to offer help to the British-French alliance in planning on assault on China.
The English and the French joined forces under Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, attacked and occupied Guangzhou in late 1857.
The British army led by Elgin, and the French army led by Gros formed an alliance in 1857. At the end of that year, Guangzhou fell into the hands of the aggressors. Ye Mingshen was captured, and Bo-gui, the governor of Guangdong surrendered. The British-French Alliance plundered the city. A joint committee of the Alliance was formed. Bo-gui remained at his original post to maintain order on behalf of the aggressors. This was China's earliest local puppet regime. The British-French Alliance maintained its colonial rule for nearly 4 years in Guangzhou.
The coalition then cruised north to briefly capture the Taku forts near Tientsin (Tianjin) in May 1858.
In June 1858 the first part of the war ended with the Treaty of Tientsin, to which France, Russia, and the United States were party. This treaty opened eleven more ports to Western trade. The Chinese initially refused to ratify the Treaties.
The major points of the treaties were:
In 1859, after China refused to allow the setting up of Foreign legations in Beijing, a naval force under the command of Admiral Sir James Hope attacked the forts guarding the mouth of the Peto river. It was severely mauled and forced to withdraw under the cover of fire from an American naval squadron commanded by Commodore Josiah Tattnall.
In 1860, an Anglo-French force gathered at Hong Kong and then carried out a landing at Pei Tang on August 1, and a successful assault on the Taku forts on August 21. On September 26, the force arrived at Bejing and had captured the city by October 6. Appointing his brother, Prince Gong Yixin, to be in charge of negotiations, Emperor Xianfeng fled to the Summer Palace in Chengde. British-French troops in Beijing set the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace on fire. The Old Summer Palace was totally destroyed. Beijing was occupied.
The June 1858 Treaty of Tientsin was finally ratified by the emperor Xianfeng in the Convention of Peking on October 18, 1860.
The opium trade was legalised. Christians were granted full civil rights that were previously denied to them on the grounds of religious belief, including the right to own property. They were also allowed to proselytize and spread their faith unhindered. The Second Opium War came to an end.
The content of the Convention of Peking includes:
Background
Outbreak
Treaty of Tientsin
Continuation of the war
Convention of Peking
See also