Kowloon War Prior to the Opium Wars, there was an incident that occurred in Kowloon, China.

This incident occurred on the 7th of July 1839, when the ships, Carnatic and Mangalore, arrived in Kowloon. The Chinese confiscated and destroyed 20,000 chests or Opium and Britain declared war demanding reparations for destroying British private property. Charles Elliot was put in charge of the war, although he was against the idea. On the 25th of August, Superintendent John Astell told Elliot to order all British ships to travel to Hong Kong. As ordered, over 2,000 people and 60 ships were sent to the Honk Kong Harbour. Opium Wars The Opium Wars were the climax of disputes in the relationship between China and the British Empire. Another name for them are the Anglo-Chinese Wars. The First Opium War was between 1839 and 1842 and the second from 1856 to 1860. During this time China was prospering as they held steady trade with Britain. Within China, opium is an infamous illegal drug that was carried by smugglers. Due to trading opium, Britain forced China the open ports for shipping, this caused the beginning of the First Anglo-Chinese War. These wars are considered one of the most shameful series of wars ever engaged by the British Empire, which were at the time extremely powerful. Prior before the Opium wars started, there was already a feud between British and China because of the poor trading terms between the two countries. At this point in time, Chinese looked down upon westerners because they thought they were rude and disrespectful, they were reluctant to trade with them. Also, during the mid to late 18th 19th century, opium was an illegal drug that gave China an extremely popular trade market because it was the only country with opium available. The second Opium War began over a trivial incident, it is often called the Arrow War. First Opium War After the Kowloon incident, the First Opium War began on the 22nd June, 1841. Britain sailed to the Chu San Island to negotiate trade for opium. By the 30th of August, a meeting was held between the Chinese minister and Charles Elliot, who was the commander of the British in war, nothing was agreed on. A second meeting was held with the same outcome, resulting in England taking two of China's ports. At this, the Chinese minister agreed on the trade seeing further consequences although the Chinese Emperor refused, he didn't sign the treaty. The war lasted three years and five months, until February 1842. After the Emperor's refusal, England stopped trying to negotiate with him and resorted to war, where it was an unfortunate end for China's armies, 15000 china men and 500 British men were killed. In August 1842, England sailed to Nanking for war and finally, the Emperor agreed to sign a treaty, knowing that China would be defeated. He signed the treaty - the Treaty of Nanking- and five ports within China were opened. Soon after this, America and France became allies with England. Second Opium War On the 8th of October, 1856, another war began - the Second Opium War, also often referred to as the 'Arrow War'. This was was caused by the specific demands in the Nanking treaty that were not met. War began when a Chinese ship called 'Arrow' was arriving in Hong Kong and was suspected of smuggling. At this, the British demanded that the boat fly a British flag, but by doing this it would insult China.

War proceeded to break out where British attacked Guangzhou in 1856 from the Pearl River. France allied with England and joined war against China and later on Americans and Russians were sent to join Britain. The British then took over the Taku Forts which guarded the capital of Peking. Instead of attacking Peking, the soldiers marched and destroyed one of the Emperors houses in order to show them the deadly consequences of defying them and then later on conquering over the Taku Forts. At the end of the war, China pleaded for the war to cease in order to save their people, this caused more ports to open for Britain and their allies. Britain demanded money to repair damages and were given special privelages. Opium trade was made legal. Battle of Taku Forts On the 25th of June 1859, eleven light draught gunboat arrived at the Taku Forts and tried to destroy the forts but did not succeed. Soon after, at 5p.m., an attempt of launching a land attack occurred. 600 marines landed under the captain Vansittart but the Chinese fought hard and drove them back to their boats with 68 killed British men and nearly 300 wounded. 6 of their gunboats were destroyed and the sailors on board suffered heavily. On the 21st of August 1860, a second attack was made on the Taku Forts where there were 11000 British men and 7000 French troops. The British bombed the fort and then 2500 British men and 400 French attacked the 500 soldiers that were guarding the Forts. 400 China men were either dead or injured whilst 21 British men died and 184 injured. Success was led by Sir Hope Grant. Battle of the Pearl River Forts In the same year on November 16th, Captain James Armstrong launched attack on Canto and Guangzhou and the Chinese attempted rebuttle - bombing them for two hours until thei batteries ran out. On the 20th, Armstrong ordered the ships to attack the Pearl Harbour forts. Bombing upon the Harbour lasted until British captured the Chinese fort Pearl River Forts. The Chinese proceeded to send 3000 Qing soldiers from Canton, this lasted until the 24th of November. Eventually, Britain captured the Pearl Harbour Forts and 500 China men were killed. Additional Facts Canton is Guangzhou now Lin Tse-hsu: Chinese man who negotiated with the British during the first opium war. Charles Eliot: British commander, who opposed the illegal opium trade, yet led British forces to victory in the First Opium War. 1858 England and France took over Tianjin after some war 1860 England and France took over Beijing 1842 August 29th Treaty of Nanking signed by Imperial China and England 1860 Another treaty signed at Beijing Convention 1898 another treaty was signed and that after 99 years the British would hand over Hong Kong to the Chinese 1997 the British finally left Hong Kong and Hong Kong became Special Administrative Region of China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Pearl_River_Forts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War http://www.heritage-history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=wars&FileName=wars_opium.php