opium wars

During the opium wars England, and other European countries wanted to get the Tea from the Chinese. The Chinese did not want to trade with them because they were isolated from the rest of the world.China was a self-sufficient country and the Chinese did not want or need anything from Great Britain or any other foreign countries.When the British couldn't find any other products to trade with China they decide to mix opium with tobbaco to promote opium smoking.The British were sucsesssul, and sold nearly 2 million pound of opium in to China each year.Because of Opium large amount of Chinese population weakened. Almost 10% of Chinese people were smoking opium.When the government discovered the opium trade they set laws and illegalized the sell of opium in terms of smoking. However, it can be used for treatments. The punishment for selling opium would be banishment, or execution. However that did not stop the British from selling the highly addictive drug, because the government addiction were corrupted, and accepted bribes from the British.The war was called the Opium war because the British wanted to keep selling opium to China.The Opium War was the very first drug war. The war was from 1839 to 1842. it was a very intense war leading to the humilating defeat of china. the was was mainly about Great Britan and China. it all started when china introduced Tea to Great britain. Great Britain wanted to trade china for tea. china didnt want to, but they wanted to