Second Opium War
The Second Opium War, also called the Arrow War, arose from two incidents that British and French diplomats deliberately escalated into pretexts for a renewed military campaign to extract deeper concessions from the Qing Empire. In October 1856, Chinese authorities boarded the Arrow, a vessel flying a British flag, and arrested its crew. France joined the coalition on the thinner pretext that a French missionary had been executed in Guangxi province. Both powers sought what the first war had not delivered: permanent diplomatic missions in Beijing, the opening of the interior to trade and Christian missions, and the legalization of the opium trade itself. Anglo-French forces took Canton in 1857, then moved north, forcing the Treaties of Tientsin in 1858. When the Qing court delayed ratification and ambushed British envoys attempting to travel to Beijing, the allies resumed operations. The decisive and most symbolically charged act of the war came in October 1860, when the British and French commanders ordered the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan — the Old Summer Palace — a vast complex of gardens, pavilions, and treasure houses with no military significance. Lord Elgin stated it was punishment aimed at the Emperor personally; French writer Victor Hugo condemned it as a war crime and act of cultural barbarism. The Convention of Beijing (1860) forced cession of the Kowloon peninsula to Britain, legalized the opium trade, and permitted Chinese emigration. The war occurred simultaneously with the Taiping Rebellion, demonstrating the compounding catastrophe facing the Qing state: existential internal insurgency and inexorable external imperial pressure at once.
- Year: 1856 CE
- Category: Military
