Second Opium War
1856–1860
Britain and France against Qing China, which was also fighting the Taiping rebellion. The war began after Chinese officials seized the crew of the Arrow, a Chinese ship with a lapsed British registration, at Canton. Shallow-draught steam gunboats, built for the Crimean War, fought it on the rivers: they destroyed the junk fleet at Fatshan Creek and took the Taku Forts at the mouth of the Peiho, forcing the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. When the allies came back to ratify it in 1859 the rebuilt forts beat off their gunboats with heavy losses, the worst British naval defeat of the century. An Anglo-French army landed in 1860, took the forts from behind and marched on Peking, where it burned the Summer Palace.
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
American movement
Battle (size: ships engaged)
Routes are approximate.
Major battles
The 4 biggest of the 5 battles covered here, by ships engaged.
16–24 November 1856
Battle of the Barrier FortsThe Barrier Forts, Pearl River below Canton
American victory; the forts destroyed
3
1 June 1857
Battle of Fatshan CreekFatshan Creek, between Canton and Foshan
Decisive British victory
2
vs
70
20 May 1858
First Battle of the Taku FortsTaku Forts, mouth of the Peiho
Anglo-French victory; Treaty of Tientsin
8
25 June 1859
Second Battle of the Taku FortsTaku Forts, mouth of the Peiho
Chinese victory; allied attack repulsed
9 (4 lost)
Fleets
Each navy's ships in the war, from its biggest down.