First Opium War
September 4, 1839 – August 29, 1842 · Canton (Guangzhou)
Result British victory
Series of military engagements of 1839-1842 between the British Empire and Qing China, triggered by China's enforcement of its opium ban through the seizure of British merchants' opium stocks at Guangzhou under Lin Zexu. The Royal Navy's technologically superior ships and weapons defeated China, which signed the Treaty of Nanking on 29 August 1842 - the first of the 'unequal treaties' - paying an indemnity, opening five treaty ports, granting extraterritoriality, and ceding Hong Kong Island. The war began what Chinese nationalists call the century of humiliation and started 156 years of British rule in Hong Kong.
United Kingdom
Qing China
Other
Battles and events 16
- Battle of Kowloon September 4, 1839 · Stalemate
- Battle of Chuenpi November 3, 1839 · British victory
- Capture of Chusan July 5–6, 1840 · British victory
- Convention of Chuenpi 1841
- Second Battle of Chuenpi January 7, 1841
- Battle of the Bogue February 23–26, 1841 · British victory
- Battle of Canton (March 1841) March 18, 1841 · British victory
- Battle of Canton (May 1841) May 21–30, 1841 · British victory
- Battle of Amoy August 26, 1841 · British victory
- Capture of Chusan (1841) September 29 – October 1, 1841 · British victory
- Battle of Chinhai October 10, 1841 · British victory
- Battle of Ningpo March 10, 1842 · British victory
- Battle of Tzeki March 15, 1842 · British victory
- Battle of Chapu May 18, 1842 · British victory
- Battle of Woosung June 16, 1842 · British victory
- Battle of Chinkiang July 21, 1842 · British victory
Before and after
- Ended by
- Treaty of Nanking August 29, 1842
- Led to
- Second Opium War October 8, 1856 – October 24, 1860
Related events
1840
1842
1844
1846
1848
1850
1852
1854
1856
1858
1860
First Opium War
