How Did The Opium War Cause The Taiping Rebellion

The Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Indian Rebellion all had many issues with government, society, economy, and the citizens. Also, all three had leaders that wanted a change. The three wars and rebellions had a very large amount of deaths, damage to citizens, lack of money, and a forever memory of these horrible events. Leaders like Lin Zexu, Hong Xiuquan, and Guofan all demanded a change, whether it failed or not. The Chinese had many problems leading in the government, society, and the economy. These three categories of problems led the Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion. First, the economic and social disorder took place from 1800-1839. Then, the Opium War and the aftermath took place from 1839-1850. The Opium War was focused
on the British and the Qing Empire. It was mainly focused Britain. The British took the win in the war. Shortly after the first Opium War took place, a second one was soon the focus from 1856-1860. Then, the Taiping Rebellion took place from 1850-1864. During the economic and social disorder, population took a giant leap in the Qing Empire. The population increased by at least 100 million. Even though population was at an all-time high, it caused a lot of damage to the environment. A lot of farmers, laborers, and merchants fled and migrated to less crowded areas. Natural disasters and adoption of American crops by peasants also took place during the economic and social disorder. In other parts of China, the Qing was not liked because they were seen as foreign conqueror’s and were suspected they were connected to the Europeans. Opium was produced in India and Java. In the ninth century, it was common for opium to be used as medicine, but that quickly came to an end in the 18th century. Opium was first mixed with tobacco. China prohibited the use and the delivery of the drug in 1729. In the lecture notes, it states, “by 1830s, estimated that 25 percent of Chinese men were consuming opium.” I found this surprising because I didn’t realize that opium was so popular and so in demand in the 1800s. Typically, like any other drug, it was eventually smuggled from India to China in 1781. The smugglers were very rich and made a lot of money as well as the dealers. Many countries were upset about the trade not being even. Although smuggling and opium was both not allowed, there was a positive to it. It included: supply being increased, prices being reduced, and the demand being extremely high. The Chinese then found out about the smuggling and the popularity and were not too happy about it. In 1838, the Chinese made the increase of opium come to a stop. The next year, in 1839, the Chinese emperor sent Lin Zexu to immediately stop the opium usage. Zexu took and burnt up a very large number of chests with opium in them from both the British and the Americans. The emperors plan worked, and the stoppage was a success. Today, there is now a statue of Lin Zexu in New York City’s Chinatown to represent the outstanding deed he completed. Lin was very respected and very scholarly. He wrote a letter to Queen Victoria to let her know that she needed to also stop the sale of opium. After Zexu successfully stopped the British and Americans, the British got into a fight and killed a Chinese man. Lin Zexu retaliated by stopping the sale of food and water to the British. He also made the boats drive away from the harbor, so no communication or smuggling of or about opium was made. These problems started the first Opium war. Another problem that led to the first war was that the population of the opium was increasing so much, it was really affecting the social and economic part of China. The Taiping Rebellion had many problems that led to the actual war. First, the Opium War was still occurring during the rebellion. Next, Hong Xiuquan had many problems with himself. He failed his exams four times to become an official, became delirious, and started preaching to large crowds about his religion, Christian. Quangxi, in China, was beginning to get dangerous, so a lot of people fled to Hong Xiuquan’s location. The Chinese began to get angry and worried. Hong’s group started breaking rules from the Qing Empire. Hair was worn down and men and women were separated. Money was also a problem because campaigns were expensive. In the social aspect of problems, men and women were forced to work or complete military duty. During this rebellion, the British decided to start a second Opium War. Eventually opium was legalized in 1858. The Indian Rebellion took place in 1857. The Indian Rebellion goes by several names due to disagreements like: The Sepoy Rebellion, The Sepoy Mutiny, and the Indian Mutiny. The sepoys, who were Indian soldiers, were an important part of the Indian Rebellion because they had to protect warehouses. Also, mutiny was a huge detail involved in the Indian Rebellion because the sepoys refused to complete a task by the British officers. The Indian Rebellion was a very violent and gory fight with a very large amount of deaths. First, groups that rebelled were obviously India and the British. The rebellion was based around India and Britain. There were three major divisions during this rebellion. They were: Bombay, Madras, and Bengal. The Bombay army belonged to the EIC. The EIC is known as the East India Company. They were not involved in the Indian Rebellion as much as Madras and Bengal. “The Madras Army soldiers showed exceptional discipline and loyalty throughout the Indian Mutiny, and unlike the other two presidency armies, no Madras Army units mutinied. ” Eventually, all three armies combined and worked as one. Another group that divided was the Muslims and Hindus. In the beginning of the rebellion, they were already separated, but was not as noticeable. As the rebellion moved on, the Muslims and Hindus became more noticeable and visible with their lack of communication. The British offended both the Muslims and the Hindus religious beliefs, and they did not civilize with them. This made Muslims and Hindus very worried because of the Christian religion coming into their region and trying to convert. Next, to get into more detail, the British authorities caused the Indian Rebellion.
“In late March 1857 a sepoy named Mangal Pandey shot a British officer in the back while working at a marketplace. He was arrested and then executed by the British in early April. Later in April sepoy troopers at Meerut refused the Enfield cartridges, and, as punishment, they were given long prison terms, fettered, and put in jail. ” During punishment time, soldiers who were very angered shot their British officers. Another group that rebelled went by the name of Zafar and the mutineers/civilized mob. They separated because they were frustrated the British officer was shot. The rebellion spread east towards Bengal. The Zafar who is also known as the Mughal Emperor, lived on a British pension and did not really care about any political meanings or what went on with politics. “In June, in the town of Cawnpore, also in Bengal, rebels laid siege to a British army encampment. With no food, water, or ammunition left, the commanding officer surrendered to the sepoy rebels. ” During this horrific time, about 200 children and women were murdered because they were forced to stay back. While leaving the city of Cawnpore, mutineers attacked the innocent Britain prisoners. “I was never more horrified! The place was one of mass blood. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the soles of my boots were more than covered with the blood of these poor wretched creatures. 3” The massacre was very gory. Also,
another reason the rebellion started was because the sepoys were not very happy about the ammunition for the new guns used. In Chapter 23 of The Earth and its Peoples Brief, it states, “Then in 1857 the replacement of the standard muskets by the more accurate Enfield rifles sparked outrage because they required soldiers to use their teeth to tear open the ammunition cartridges, which were greased with animal fat. Fat from cattle offended Hindus; fat from pigs offended Muslims. ” The Hindus saw cows as a holy piece of their religion. The Muslims in general just did not eat pigs, so they were both very offended when this incident took place. Last, the British dealt with the rebellion by handling multiple activities. When the rebellion ended ten short months later in 1858, the aftermath was interesting. The Indian Rebellion was considered a failure. After the rebellion, recruiting sepoys was not an interest to the British. Many Britain’s were in shock, was afraid, and did not really trust each other after the rebellion. The British dealt with and prevented another rebellion in the future by having Queen Victoria guarantee all Indians protection and freedom to practice their religion. She also made sure Indians respected her and the British. Also, the EIC was removed and India got a new secretary of state, and a new governor-general in Delhi was hired. After the rebellion, modernization started coming along due more railroads being built, more food being delivered, and other public works being made. The Taiping Rebellion, the movement, and its leaders had begun to change over the course of the years it occurred.
First, Xiuquan had changed over the course of the rebellion because he began following the Christian religion and people saw his location peaceful and safe. He began breaking the traditional Qing Empire rules. They were seen as the underdogs. Hong Xiuquan’s group took many losses during battles and had a very little amount of people. They did have one victory though, when he took over Nanjing in 1853. When they took on Nanjing, Taiping’s began killing many men and women because that was Hong’s dream. I think this is when he really began to change because he was very faithful to his people. After this, the Taiping’s yet again, banned opium, along with dancing, drinking alcohol, prostitution, and binding of women’s feet. China began to get really poor and he encouraged the people to start eating weeds. He took his own words of encouragement, ate the weeds, and died. The Chinese were ecstatic. They dug up his body and burnt it. During the rebellion, Zeng Guofan, the Chinese leader, joined it because he declared the Taiping’s to basically be crooks. They stole money and would not get in trouble for it. Guofan did not see any problems with this. Taiping’s lived the best life they could. Taiping’s would decapitate citizens if they refused any orders from them. The Taiping Rebellion failed because there was a massive amount of deaths, the Chinese surrendered, the
British eventually started supporting the Qing Empire, the Chinese defeated the Taiping’s in short six weeks. Guofan took over as Chinese leader. The Chinese people had to face many consequences and problems during and after the rebellion. Some of these consequences and problems include: damage in the economy, lack of money, many deaths and suffering, and physical/mental damage to women, men, and the community. In conclusion, the Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Indian Rebellion changed history and our world forever. Leaders like Lin Zexu, Hong Xiuquan, and Guofan all benefitted and made changes to the regions and our world. I found it very interesting to learn about these three wars and rebellions. I did not realize how gory and violent these were, and I hope to continue more about these events.