1st Edition
Britain's China Policy and the Opium Crisis Balancing Drugs, Violence and National Honour, 1833–1840
By Glenn Melancon
Copyright 2003
166 Pages
by
Routledge
166 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
The first Opium War (1840-42) was a defining moment in Anglo-Chinese relations, and since the 1840s the histories of its origins have tended to have been straightforward narratives, which suggest that the British Cabinet turned to its military to protect opium sales and to force open the China trade. Whilst the monetary aspects of the war cannot be ignored, this book argues that economic interests... Read more
Contents: Introduction; The Great Reform Act and deregulation of the China Trade; 'China belongs to Palmerston'; Internal dissension; Failure to take heed; Crisis of confidence; The decision to wage war; 'The opium and the China question'; Conclusions: historians and the opium war; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Glenn Melancon
'Melancon has put forward an interesting argument and successfully challenged previous interpretations that took little account of the political and wider international considerations of the British government.' The International History Review '... a fine example of empirical analysis and critical scholarship.' H-Net
