The Opium Wars

The Opium wars are a series of wars between Europe and China for a drug, opium, that of which took place from 1839 to 1842. Opium is a drug found in middle eastern countries from poppy flowers. The cause of this war is a little strange in that the cause was that China wanted to be isolated while the Europeans, particularly the British, wanted to trade their opium to private buyers who used it recreationally. The drug's original use was to cure such sicknesses as diarrhea. When the Chinese saw what the opium addiction was doing to their citizens they banned it from China, from then on all Opium found was confiscated and destroyed. Europe didn't stop sending the drug because they were becoming rich off this drug so in turn China stopped selling their Tea causing the explosive reaction, war. In truth the war was fought over more than just the drug, the Chinese were fighting to keep their culture and morals pure while the British fought for wealth. The war ended with the British as the definite victors due to their overpowering military and technological advantage over the Chinese. With their victory the Europeans gained 5 ports and two treaties which allowed them to legally sell their opium.