| State |
Entry |
Exit |
Combat Forces |
Population |
Losses |
| Britain |
1839 |
1842 |
50000 |
23000000 |
10000 |
| China |
1839 |
1842 |
2000000 |
390000000 |
30000 |
The Opium Wars arose from China's attempts to suppress the opium trade. British traders had been illegally exporting opium to China, and the resulting widespread addiction was causing serious social and economic disruption in the country. In 1839 the Chinese government confiscated all opium warehoused at Canton by British merchants. The antagonism between the two sides increased a few days later when some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government, which did not trust the Chinese legal system, refused to turn the accused men over to the Chinese courts.
Hostilities broke out, and the small British forces were quickly victorious. The Treaty of
Nanking, signed Aug. 29, 1842, and the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, signed Oct. 8, 1843, provided for the payment of a large indemnity by China, cession of five ports for British trade and residence, and the right of British citizens to be tried by British courts. Other Western countries quickly demanded and were given similar privileges.
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