X-Nico

10 unusual facts about Second Opium War


Battle of Taku Forts

Battle of Taku Forts (1860) - A successful Franco-British attack against the forts during the Second Opium War

Battle of Taku Forts (1858) - A successful Franco-British attack against the forts during the Second Opium War

Battle of Taku Forts (1859) - A repulsed Franco-British attack against the forts during the Second Opium War

Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao

He was appointed in 1858 to a command at home, and at the close of 1859 was selected to lead the French troops in the joint French and British expedition to China.

His conduct of the operations did not escape criticism, but in 1862 he received from Napoleon III, the title of comte de Palikao (from the Battle of Palikao in Peking); he had already been made a senator.

Chinatown, Sacramento

Throughout the early 1840s and 1850s, China was at war with Great Britain and France in the First and Second Opium Wars.

Second Opium War

Following the election and an increased majority for Palmerston, the voices within the Whig faction who were in support of China were hushed, and the new parliament decided to seek redress from China based on the report about the Arrow Incident submitted by Harry Parkes, British Consul to Guangzhou.

The Anglo-French forces clashed with Sengge Rinchen's Mongolian cavalry on 18 September near Zhangjiawan before proceeding toward the outskirts of Beijing for a decisive battle in Tongzhou District, Beijing.

Sigh of His Highness

In 1860, during the Second Opium War, as the allied armies of Britain and France closed in on Beijing, the Xianfeng Emperor flees and orders Prince Gong to stay behind for the peace negotiations.

United Kingdom general election, 1857

The election had been provoked by a vote of censure in Palmerston's government over his approach to the Arrow affair which led to the Second Opium War.


2009 auction of Old Summer Palace bronze heads

Two bronze sculptures looted from the Old Summer Palace during the Second Opium War in 1860 were auctioned by international auction house Christie's.

Battle of Zhangjiawan

Battle of Zhangjiawan was fought at the village of Zhangjiawan (to the east of Tongzhou) by British and French forces during the Second Opium War on the morning of 18 September 1860.

Cruizer-class sloop

Renamed Cruiser in 1856, she served on the China station during the Second Opium War, including the taking of Canton and the attack on the Taku Forts on the Peiho river in 1859.

Eulenburg Expedition

This was not at a very good time for China, since Britain and France had just invaded Beijing in the Second Opium War and the Xianfeng Emperor was still exiled in Chengde.

Henry Frederick Stephenson

From September 1856 to April 1857 Stephenson served under Keppel as a cadet in HMS Raleigh, serving in the East Indies and China during the Second Anglo-Chinese War, until his ship wrecked near Macau when it struck an uncharted rock.

John Michel

He then commanded the 1st Division at the Battle of Taku Forts in August 1860 during the Second Opium War and took part in the burning of the Old Summer Palace at Peking in October 1860 as a reprisal for the torture and murder of British prisoners before being appointed Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong in 1861.

Pierre Bergé

The art collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Bergé was put up for sale by the latter in February 2009, with two of twelve bronze statue heads looted from the Old Summer Palace in China during the Second Opium War among them.

Rifled breech loader

The Imperial Japanese Army used Armstrong cannon during the Boshin War to devastate the Aizu castle town and force its inhabitants to surrender quickly, and British Armstrong light field guns proved deadly against Chinese forces in the Second Opium War.

Thomas Francis Wade

On the declaration of the Second Opium War in 1857, he was attached to Lord Elgin's staff as Chinese secretary, and with the assistance of Horatio Nelson Lay he conducted the negotiations which led up to the Treaty of Tientsin (1858).

Wenxiang

As foreign troops invaded Beijing during the Second Opium War and the Xianfeng emperor fled to Chengde, Wenxiang remained in the capital and took part in negotiating with the British and French.