Why did the British Attack China Again? - The Second Opium War

Why did the British Attack China Again? - The Second Opium War

By the 1850s, Britain had been attempting to gain even more influence and privileges within China and aimed to take full advantage of its possession of Hong Kong. As part of this strategy, the British began to grant registration for some of the Chinese-operated ships in Hong Kong, with one of those vessels being the Arrow.

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#History #Documentary #unitedkingdom

[thehistoryvideogameandgame]

Also keep in mind that the Qing Dynasty was in the midst of the Taiping Rebellion at this time, One of the deadliest wars in history.

[fogwar]

British Empire: "Take the drugs"
Qing China: "No, this is ruining our society"
British Empire: "Take. The. Drugs"

[TetsuShima]

British Empire: *Invades China again*
Chinese man: "Damn, looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking..." *Proceeds to light a pipe*

[LeonidasArg]

Summary of the video:

Britain: Do you want drugs?
China: No, I don't.
Britain: Then you WILL want :)
China: :(

[mikersey]

The US was an active participant in the Second Opium war during the Battle of the Barrier Forts and the Second Battle of the Taku forts, killing up to 500 Chinese troops. So while the US could claim "neutrality, " its Naval Commanders, far out of contact with Washington, could pretty much get away with anything.
And did repeatedly, in Sumatra, Vietnam, Korea, throughout Central and South America.
Western Navies roamed the globe, desperately in search of pretenses, an insult, a bar-fight, not allowing "wahines" to swim out to your ship, etc., and the troops would start landing, the cannons blazing.
For example, US troops invaded Canton under the oft used "pretense" of protecting American lives, used dozens of times on several continents. Invited to leave, during the withdrawal, the Taku Forts fired a couple of warning shots at the rowboats being used to evacuate the US forces.
Firing warning shots at suspicious, potentially hostile craft was SOP during the 19th Century...presumeably the four forts could've sank a few rowboats if they'd intended to.
This gave the US Naval forces the pretense they needed to attack and destroy the forts.
And of course, the US benefited from the infamous unequal treaties. Not until 1949, did the US finally withdraw its ships and men from China.
An aside. Watch the outstanding movie Sand Pebbles with Steve Mcqueen about this era.

[acmusic]

Great video as always man! Keep up the good work!

PS: You should do the Battle of Tapae next. The Dacian Roman wars are incredible. I think they are the most fascinating ones.

[michaelh]

The world need to understand these recent history to understand our world today. (HKer here, thanks for the Vid!)

[simonbackwash]

This channel is a Gem in a middle of garbage reels. 🙏👏
It's also put nowadays geopolitical issues in perspective...

[martintinajero]

I love World War II movies, but it would be more interesting if they make movies about different wars just like this one.

[dragosstanciu]

It is surprising that Britain and France did not manage to take full control of China like they did in India and Indochina.

[KHK]

Was wondering when you'll drop part2 thanks Knowledgia

[drunkenlancer]

Wtf, they’re bringing envoys, and the admiral just decides to attack the fort??? Like can he just do that? That’s crazy

[greggweber]

8:38 Was that imbalance caused by another imbalance because Britain imported China Tea and needed something to sell in China because they didn't want to continue paying in Gold?

[robbabcock_]

Great video! It's hard to understand China's society and policies towards the West without understand the brutal savagery of colonization.

[ricoingles]

Back in the mid 60s an American religious guy who was allowed to enter China during the Maoist regime when China was completely locked down to foreigners, was invited to speak to our school about what he saw. The thing I remember as a disinterested teenager, is when he said he was talking to an elderly Chinese man as he crossed a river in a boat and the old man said to him; "Come back in 1000 years and lets see who is still going to be here". Don't know why, but that stuck with me all these years.

[sophiahayes]

very interesting .. I love the speaker's voice

[theawesomeman]

Losing several port cities is bad but at least its not as bad as being fully conquered like India.

[MCorpReview]

Basically Britain was so powerful they didn’t see the point of peace without some outsize gains. The power balance between Russia and western backed Ukraine is more balanced. I wonder how this all ends

[harrylime]

The first time was Opium, the second time was for Fentanyl! Can't get enough of that body candy!!

[rkfngwidkqpdll]

How do you create such maps
Which programm do you use?