#319 - Opium War 4: Peddling the Drug Peddlers' War

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

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 AgeLovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of ChinaFairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China CoastHansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 1840 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:46.9	Hello and welcome to the history of China.
0:53.9	Episode 319, Peddling the Drug Peddler's War.
1:01.9	The government writers are laboring strenuously to give a respectable colors to the war with China.
1:09.8	It is washing the black, more white. Do what they can. Gloss it over as they may. The Opium War is the name by which history will hand it down.
1:13.7	The Opium War, in The Spectator, March 28, 1840.
1:19.0	We may deceive ourselves for the moment, but we shall not deceive our contemporaries, nor the next
1:24.3	generation. The Opium War shall stand out in history as the blackest stain on the character of Britain,
1:30.7	being an outrage on justice, on public principle, and on the independent rights of nations.
1:36.5	The Opium Trade and War, in The Eclectic Review, Volume 7, June 1840.
	...

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