In 1840, the First Opium War broke out, unveiling a century of humiliation in modern China. According to the historical process at that time, the occurrence of this war was inevitable, and even if Britain was not the first to make a move, other Western powers would knock on China's door with cannons.
Since ancient times, as the hegemon of East Asia, China has always regarded itself as the best country in the world, believing that its own civilization is the best in the world, and other countries are barbarians, and it is true, looking at the whole world, only China has passed on the civilization that has lasted for thousands of years.
In the eyes of the imperial court, all barbarians could only pay tribute to China. After a long time, the concept of diplomacy has become extremely narrow, and there are only two options: suppression or appeasement, and it does not recognize the equal status of other countries, equal exchanges and exchangesDon't even think about it!Either you come to pay tribute, ** will never be treated badly to you;Either you don't come, ** Shangguo doesn't want to be friends with you.
From the imperial court to the common people, there was a very strong sense of national pride, especially after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Manchu court was very aware of the power of artillery.
But I also know that the Manchus are just a minority for the entire country, once the Han people are allowed to continue to develop gunpowder technology, the Eight Banners that fight the world with bows and horses are powerless to deter the country, so they simply closed the country in the name of harassing the Haijiang by the Zheng family in the southeast, prohibiting the people from going to sea**, and not allowing foreigners to enter the interior of China, completely closing the door to Sino-foreign exchanges. Only a few coastal ports, such as Guangzhou, Zhangzhou, and Ningbo, were opened to carry out limited trade activities.
During this time, Western countries have undergone a series of changes and progress.
Since the end of the 15th century, Europe's navigation technology has become increasingly developed, and under the urging of huge economic interests, explorers and merchants from various countries have gone to sea to find new routes and colonies, opening the era of geographical discoveries.
Within a short time, the colonies had spread all over the world, acquiring a large number of resources and markets, greatly increasing the strength and influence of Western countries, and capitalism began to officially enter the stage of history. After defeating Spain, Britain was far ahead of the Industrial Revolution, becoming the most powerful and aggressive country in the world at the time.
And China is also under the national policy of closing the country to the outside world, being pulled further and further away by the West, but at this time, China is still that unshakable giant existence in the eyes of Europeans, but a small incident in the Qianlong era laid the groundwork for Britain to launch a war in the future.
At that time, the British king sent an envoy to China to trade with China, and the delegation was also received by Qianlong, but there was a mistake in how to salute. In Qianlong's eyes, I am rich all over the world, and you and other barbarian states should bow down to the monarch and ministers, this request is simply unreasonable in the eyes of the British envoys, this is an insult to themselves, and they will never obey.
Qianlong saw that these foreigners were so unreasonable, and suddenly lost interest, and ordered people to send them away, in order to show the demeanor of a great country, Qianlong specially asked to accompany the British delegation through the Grand Canal all the way south, which is considered to be a tour of China. This tour vividly shows the current situation of China and the United States in front of the eyes of foreigners.
Speaking of opium, it was first introduced to China by the Arabs, initially only as a medicine, and later gradually smoked by some people as entertainment. At the end of the 18th century, Britain discovered the opium producing area of India and began to smuggle opium in large quantities to China in exchange for Chinese tea, silk and other goods.
The opium of Britain became a scourge, causing a large outflow of the country, leading to a financial crisis in China. Xianfeng was quite tough at first, and directly sent Lin Zexu to Guangdong to ban opium and destroy it in Humen, which was a major victory for the Chinese people against opium.
Cutting off people's financial routes is like killing their parents, the British crossed the ocean to East Asia in order to make money, this critical blow directly hit the British breathlessly, since China is a silver-like wax spearhead, then go to war!
Since you don't want to do good business with me, then I'll take your territory and make China my vassal and colony.
In 1840, the British sent a fleet of 19 warships and 27 merchant ships to attack China, the beginning of the war was actually a trial, did not expect that the entire Qing Dynasty's border defense force was too weak, instead of taking effective resistance measures, but retreated, the British fleet successively captured Guangzhou, Xiamen, Dinghai, Dagu and other places, coastal north, threatening Beijing.
In the eyes of the British, this gamble was the right one!
In 1842, the British fleet fought all the way to Nanjing, forcing the Qing to sue for peace. The Qing Dynasty sent Heshen's nephew Qi Shan to sign the Treaty of Nanjing with the British Chin Cha Ebu, unveiling the history of China's humiliation in modern times.
Now it seems that it is really a wretch. After the First Opium War, China's history began to turn from the lion of the East to the object of partition by the great powers. However, on the other hand, the war also revealed the huge gap between China and the West, and also inspired the awakening and resistance of the Chinese people.