The opium wars were fought during the years 1839-1842. China fought the opium wars against britain. Before the opium war, China did not have interest in the countries in the Western Hemisphere. The tea that was only avaliable in China was a very popular drink in Great Britain. So Great Britain would trade with China for the tea. In exchange, China did not want any of the ideas that the countries in the Western Hemisphere had. Great Britain felt like this trading system wasn't balanced. They felt that they needed to buy and sell from China not just buy. In order to balance this trading system, they decided to sell China Opium. There were different views of the effects of Opium. The Chinese thought that Opium was used to make herion and morphine. While Great Britain thought it was a medicene used to relieve pain reduce hunger and thirst.
So in the end, Great Britain ended up winning and China felt humiliated. China tried so hard to eliminate the drug from their country but Great Britain could not let that happen. So in 1841, Great Britain sent gunboats to destroy most of China's costals cities. China was left destroyed after this surprise attack because China was behind in modern weapons and technology. They were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjiing in 1842. It is called the opium wars because it was a war of the drug opium. Great Britain won becuase they were moire advanced in modern technology and weapons.
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