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Britain and China both saw the opium crisis clearly enough to know it would end in disaster. Each believed it understood the situation, and the other, well enough to keep events from spinning out of control. And yet... it happened anyway.
Time Period Covered:
Late 1839 – April 1840

Major Historical Figures:

The Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Lin Zexu, Imperial Commissioner and Governor-General of Huguang [1785–1850]

The British Empire:
Queen Victoria [r. 1837–1901]
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary [1784–1865]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1801–1875]
William Gladstone, Member of Parliament [1789–1898]
Sir James Graham, Member of Parliament [1792–1861]

Major Sources Cited:
Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China
Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast
Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 1840

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