The Opium Wars (In Our Time)
1839 · Resource
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Opium Wars, a series of conflicts in the 19th Century which had a profound effect on British Chinese relations for generations. Thomas De Quincey describes the pleasures of opium like this: “Thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle and mighty opium”. The Chinese had banned opium in its various forms several times, citing conc
On these timelines: In Our Time (BBC podcast), Resources: Combined
Around 1839
- Great Famine of Ireland (1845)
- Industrial Revolution ends (1840)
- Communist Manifesto (1848)
- Victorian era (1837)
- Reign of Victoria (1837)
- First public demonstration of surgical anaesthesia (1846)
- Abolition of slavery in British Empire (1833)
- Irish Potato Famine (1845)
- Revolutions of 1848 in Germany (1848)
- Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)