This book questions the universal belief that England's 1840-42 war with China was an 'Opium War'. What really worried London was 'insults to the crown', the claim of a dilapidated and corrupt China to be superior to everyone, threats to British men and women and seizure of British property, plus the wish to expand and free trade everywhere. It was only much later that general Chinese resentment and Evangelical opinion at home - and in America - persuaded everyone that Britain had indeed been wicked and fought for opium.

Autorentext

HARRY G. GELBER is Professor of History and Political Science and Visiting Research Fellow at the Asian Research Centre, London School of Economics and Political Economy. His publications include Australia, Britain and the EEC, 1961-1963, National Power, Security and Economic Uncertainty, and Sovereignty Through Interdependence.

Zusammenfassung
For political London, the 1840-42 war with China was not an 'Opium War' but merely a little local difficulty. England fought against the intolerable claims to superiority of a dilapidated and deeply corrupt China, to uphold the status of the crown, to protect the security of threatened British men and women, and to seek compensation for the seizure of property. No-one in London, and no commander involved in the war, thought opium was the issue; if the Chinese wanted to control their own borders and coasts, that was their business, not Britain's. Militarily, it was not a difficult war, but the aftermath was. Only decades later did a combination of evangelical and missionary opinion at home, together with sympathy for the growing resentments and miseries of China, persuade British and American opinion that Britain had, indeed, been wicked and even tried to force opium on the Chinese.

Inhalt

Introduction Mission to Canton Palmerston's England, the World and China It's More Than Trade, Stupid! Canton 1835-38 The British and Commissioner Lin London Debates 1839-40 Fighting and Talking: Elliot 1840-41 The Yangzi Campaign: Pottinger 1841-42 Almost a Settlement Frictions Continue China: Resentment Congeals into Nationalism Britain: Evangelicals, Humanitarians and Guilt Index