First Opium War
1839–1842
Britain went to war with Qing China after Commissioner Lin Zexu seized and destroyed the British merchants' opium at Canton. The Qing coast was defended by forts and wooden war junks that were no match for British ships of the line and frigates, and the East India Company's iron paddle steamer Nemesis, drawing only five feet of water, took the war up rivers no warship had reached. After the fall of the forts at the Bogue, Amoy, Chinhai and Woosung, a British fleet sailed up the Yangtze to Nanking, and China signed away Hong Kong and opened five ports to foreign trade.
How the fleets moved
Click a route to see which ships made it, or a battle for its summary. Routes are approximate.
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British movement
East India Company movement
Battle (size: ships engaged)
Routes are approximate.
Major battles
The 4 biggest of the 9 battles covered here, by ships engaged.
3 November 1839
First Battle of ChuenpiOff Chuenpi, at the mouth of the Pearl River
British victory
2
vs
29 (4 lost)
7 January 1841
Second Battle of ChuenpiChuenpi and Tycocktow forts, mouth of the Pearl River
British victory; Convention of Chuenpi
9
vs
15 (11 lost)
23–26 February 1841
Battle of the BogueThe Bogue (Humen) forts, Pearl River
British victory; the Bogue forts taken
13
Fleets
Each navy's ships in the war, from its biggest down.