Sam Kelly explains how Queen Victoria became a huge fan of drugs—and how she brought China to its knees because of it.

Love for the motherland, or patriotism, is the third element in China’s World War II narrative, alongside hatred of Japanese ...

The causes, events and consequences of the First Opium War (1838-1842) are explored. This short film is relevant for teaching history at Key Stage 3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and at ...

The current rulers of China are engaged in a Third Opium War, a long-overdue revenge for the First and Second Opium Wars (1839 and 1860), in which British warships attacked Chinese ports and ...

The Opium War was "a brilliantly snappy name that sneakily prejudges the issue in very simple form: While China had done Britain no harm, the British gratuitously invaded China," reported Gelber.

The Opium Wars In the first half of the 19th century, the British government faced an economic problem. Imports of tea, porcelain and silk from China had created a large trade imbalance.

The opium trade Since the 18th century, foreign traders (primarily British) had been illegally exporting opium, mainly from India to China.

During the 19th century, opium was British India's most valued export and China its most lucrative market. So much so that in 1858 Britain went to war not to prevent drug trafficking, but to ...

Twenty years later, China lost the Second Opium War, in which French, Russian and a few American forces participated alongside the British.

Further hostilities broke out in the Second Opium War of 1856-58 when combined British and French forces again inflicted military defeats on China and demanded further concessions on trade. Opium and ...

Further hostilities broke out in the Second Opium War of 1856-58 when combined British and French forces again inflicted military defeats on China and demanded further concessions on trade.