The First Opium War – the beginning of the “century of humiliation”
That it is the Thomas Coates is certain, and that it made voyages to China is also certain. But it does not look like a brig!
It all started with a blockade. The fact is that in October 1839, the brig (?) "Thomas Coutts" under the command of Captain Warner arrived in Canton from Singapore. Warner traded cotton, did not consider himself a drug dealer, and therefore considered Elliott's ban on entering Canton to be of no concern to him. Lin Zixu passed a letter to Queen Victoria with the captain, in which he explained in plain English that drug trafficking was not good and that good girls did not behave like that (the queen was not yet 20 years old at that time). Upon arrival in London, Warner went to the British Foreign Office to deliver the letter, but he was refused a meeting with Palmerston. Then the captain published the letter in the Times... In fact, it was after this that Elliott began the blockade of the Chinese coast from the mouth of the Yangtze to the Imperial Canal - to prevent anyone from getting to Canton.
The battle of the Hyacinth and the Voelija with the Chinese junks at Chuenpi
The sloop Hyacinth (18 guns) and the frigate Volage (28 guns) were assigned to carry out the blockade; they were assigned a position 1,6 km from the Chinese battery Chuenpi. On November 3, 1839, the merchant ship Royal Saxon tried to break through the blockade. Volage fired a warning salvo along the hull of the merchant, and 29 military junks of Admiral Guan Tianpei rushed to its defense. Elliot ordered the frigates to attack the Chinese. The commander of the detachment, Henry Smith, later wrote:
"I did not think it consistent with the dignity of our flag, the safety of merchant shipping, or my own character, to retreat before so formidable a force, sent at that moment, evidently with the object of intimidating us."
Admiral Guang Tianpei is a heroic figure, no nonsense!
The more maneuverable English frigates approached the junks and fired a salvo at them with their starboard side from a distance of 55 yards. The Chinese politician Wei Yuan later wrote that the reason for the attack was that the English mistook the Chinese red flags for a declaration of war, but when did enlightened sailors ever get confused by other people's flags? In short, the English soon sank a Chinese fire ship and a military junk, on which the powder chamber exploded, and turned to port, repeating the salvos, which sent three more junks to the bottom and blew up one (Chinese sources indicate that the English sank three more fire ships).
In general, soon only Guan Tianpei's flagship continued to put up active resistance to the British, but its guns were so poorly positioned that Elliott ordered a ceasefire. The result of the First Battle of Chuenpi for the British frigates was the damage to the mast of the British flagship and the wounding of one sailor, for the Chinese - the death of five ships and fifteen crew members, another 30 sailors were wounded (I doubt the round numbers of losses - most likely, one of the mandarins who wrote the report "conjured" them). Guan Tianpei himself was also wounded in the left arm.
Lin Zixu
Then something magnificent happened: on November 4, 8 and 10, according to Chinese sources, Lin Zixu reported six battles, all of which were won by the Chinese! The English did not notice this, and according to their records, there were no clashes during these days. The islanders did not take any active actions at all until the arrival of the Indian squadron; at most, one of the overly proactive captains of the ships patrolling the coast could fire a few volleys at the Chinese fortifications and land troops to collect trophies. The Chinese, on the other hand, concentrated on defending the coastal fortifications and blocking the river channels with sunken junks, although they could sometimes send fire ships to the English ships.
George Eliot, sailor, shipbuilder, colonizer
In June 1840, a British squadron under the command of George Elliot, a cousin of the Superintendent of British Trade Charles Elliot, arrived off the Chinese coast. The British ships blocked the mouth of the Pearl River and captured the Zhoushan Archipelago at its mouth. This made Qing officials realize the seriousness of the threat and the need to take measures to protect the Celestial Empire.
The English, although not immediately, began to act decisively. Elliott led the squadron to the Yellow Sea, where he blockaded Chinese ports one by one. In August, the squadron passed through the Bohai Gulf and entered the mouth of the Baihe River, where it stopped at the Dagu forts.
Fort Dagu, modern model
Emperor Daoguang figured that the Dagu forts and Beijing were not that far away, and negotiated with the British. Among Palmerston's demands, conveyed by Elliot to the Qing government, were compensation for the cost of the destroyed opium, the repayment of the Guanghan Company's debts to English merchants, an apology to Cousin Charlie, compensation for military expenses, and the transfer of a couple of islands off the coast to Great Britain. The governor of the capital province, Zhili Qishan, who was entrusted with conducting the negotiations, assured Elliot that most of the demands would be accepted if the negotiations were moved to Guangdong, away from the capital. The British commander believed this rhetoric and took the ships south.
His Manchu Majesty Daoguang
In general, Lin Zixu was made the scapegoat in China, removed from all posts and sent into exile. Accordingly, trade resumed, including opium, and in December 1840, negotiations were resumed in Guangzhou. Qishan, appointed to replace the overly principled Lin Zixu, agreed to all the demands of the British, except for the transfer of Hong Kong Island. But while the negotiations were underway, Daoguang remembered that he was the Emperor of the Celestial Empire, and again bit the bullet - no islands and no compensation! The Son of Heaven had reasons for such steps: he had managed to pull troops to the south and now, it seemed, could compete with the impudent laowai.
Second Battle of Chuenpi
In general, in response to the Emperor's outburst, the British took these very same Chuenpi forts, which covered the river route to Guangzhou (to resist the English naval artillery obsolete Chinese guns could not), and went to the fort of Humen. Daoguang immediately declared war on Great Britain and moved troops to Guangdong province. But Qishan, who was negotiating with Elliot, decided to sit on two chairs: on the one hand, he signed the "Chuanbi Convention", in which he agreed to all the demands of the British (including the transfer of Hong Kong, over which the enlightened sailors immediately raised their flag), on the other hand, the cunning official lied to the emperor, saying nothing about paying money and transferring the island. When the truth came out, Daoguang ordered Qishan to be arrested, and the convention lost its force.
Fort Humen, current state
Meanwhile, the British took the Humen fort, opening the road to Beijing. The brave Guan Tianpei died in the battle, receiving the most flattering words from the enemy:
"Among the Chinese officers the most distinguished was poor old Admiral Kwan (Guang), whose death excited great sympathy throughout the army. He fell from a bayonet wound in the chest as he was advancing to meet the enemy at the gates of Anunghoy, voluntarily giving up his brave soul to a soldier's death, when his life could only have been saved by humiliation. Altogether he was a fine example of a gallant soldier who was unwilling to surrender, because that would have meant treason...".
"Nemesis" lands troops on North Wantong Island
It must be said that the admiration for the courage of the Chinese admiral was sincere: the British rarely saw such examples from Chinese officers. But the opposite - often: during the storming of the island of Northern Wantong, when the British ships began bombardment, 4-5 boats cast off from the shore, at which the Chinese soldiers conducted a barrage of rifle fire - these were the commanders fleeing from the island, abandoning their troops (1500 people) to the mercy of fate...
"What does the signing of the Aigun Peace Treaty have to do with this?" you ask? Well, that Chinese guy sitting with his back to the city in a hat with a peacock feather is that same Yishan. He not only gave Hong Kong to the British, but also the Amur and Primorye regions to the Russians...
To stop the invaders, the Emperor sent his nephew Yishan from the Aisingyoro clan, who replaced the traitor Qishan as "General-Pacifier of Rebels". Yishan served in the guards and even had some combat experience: he took part in a military campaign in Kashgar for a year. Yishan did not trust the southerners and first of all began to strengthen the defense not from the British, but from the residents of Guangdong - he dismissed all the experienced soldiers recruited from this province, and recruited new recruits from neighboring Fujian. At the same time, the cunning Manchu declared that trade should continue, and that this was precisely why he had withdrawn his troops. With the money earned from the resumption of trade, he repaired the dilapidated fortifications of Guangzhou. Soon a freshly recruited army of 50 thousand people arrived (although there are also figures of 5-6 thousand people), camouflaged batteries were built along the river, and hundreds of boats and small river vessels were requisitioned from the local population and hastily armed.
Daoguang issued a bulletin ordering the Imperial forces to clear the Zhujiang River (Pearl River in English sources) of all "rebels" and then retake Hong Kong and completely clear the Celestial Empire of long-nosed barbarians. Europeans began fleeing Canton, and on May 20, Yishang declared: "All Cantonese and all foreign merchants who are respectfully obedient are not to tremble with alarm or be frightened to death at the sight of the host that is gathering around, since there is no likelihood of hostilities." In contrast, Elliot ordered all British merchants to leave the city by sunset.
On the night of May 21, Qing troops launched a coordinated attack on British ships and positions. Camouflaged batteries along the river banks opened fire, and a whole army of fleet of 200 fire ships: boats loaded with flammable material and connected by chains of 2-3 pieces. At the same time, Chinese soldiers with rifles weapons attacked British ships from junks and fishing boats. However, the Chinese were very unlucky in this war! The English ships were able to evade the fleet of fire ships (some were diverted from the ships by lowered boats), but one of them set fire to the wooden embankment in Guangzhou, the fire of which illuminated the battlefield and disrupted the night attack. In response to the attack on May 25, reinforcements arrived from Hong Kong to the English, which allowed the "red coats" to take the last two forts before Guangzhou.
British soldiers on the heights before Canton
When Her Majesty's troops occupied the heights dominating Guangzhou on May 25, Yishan's army fled the city. At the same time, the local proletariat began to plunder foreign trading posts, which forced the British to take the city without delay. Under cover of fire from the flat-bottomed Nemesis and the survey ships Sulphur and Starling, a British force of about 1500 men landed in the vicinity of Guangzhou (there were slightly more in total, but one and a half thousand took part in the battles). The presence of ships was far from superfluous: the terrain turned out to be very rugged, so the landing force had to leave its artillery in the rear. The assault began in the evening, when the artillery arrived. The English brigades (in this case, not permanent formations, but 4 detachments into which the landing force was divided) attacked in columns, in stages from the left flank. However, the plan was thwarted by the Chinese, who fled from the forts before the British columns arrived.
Arrows with a gunpowder accelerator - Chinese wunderwaffe. Didn't work...
True, the Qing troops attempted a sortie: about 650 Chinese soldiers attacked the landing area of the English landing force. They were repulsed by the ship crews brought ashore: 7 officers and 60 sailors, and Lieutenant Grant's detachment that set out to meet the Chinese - 3 officers and 74 soldiers. The Chinese commander sent about 250 people to the chain, leaving 400 fighters in reserve. Approaching the enemy chain, Grant's detachment opened rapid fire, forcing the chain to retreat to the reserve. At that moment, sailors arrived from the ships, and both detachments attacked the Chinese under cover of fire from the Nemesis.
The Qing troops met the attack with indiscriminate fire - grapeshot from cannons and special long-range arrows - with accelerators made of gunpowder missiles. Oddly enough, such a miracle weapon even wounded a couple of sailors. But the city's defenders were unable to hold back the attack and retreated. The Chinese lost about 30 people in this sortie. By the morning of May 27, Gough was ready to send troops to storm, but negotiations began, which became salvation for the British: the British commander had no more than 2200 people at his disposal, and there was a 20-strong garrison in the city, fighting with which in the narrow streets would have cost the British a lot of blood...
Hugh Gough, already a field marshal and a sir. In the First Opium War he was still a general.
The British decided to pursue the retreating troops, but their success in the countryside was much more tenuous, moreover, on May 29, a crowd of 20 thousand Chinese peasants with knives and homemade pikes surrounded a detachment of 60 sepoys, drove them into rice paddies and besieged them there for two hours, killing four and wounding about 20 people. When reinforcements came to the aid of the sepoys, the soldiers were able to retreat to the fort captured the day before, which was also besieged by peasants (Chinese sources claim that one of the soldiers raped the wife of a local resident, Wei Shaoguang, which is why the peasants went crazy). General Hugh Gough, the commander-in-chief of the British troops in China, sent a message to the governor of Guangzhou, Yu Baochun, that if the crowd did not disperse, he would raze Canton to the ground, and he called on the peasants to disperse. A minor episode, but in modern China it has been inflated into a full-fledged national myth: popular resistance to the invaders and a cowardly Qing official calling on the heroic peasants to disperse...
By May 30, Guangzhou was occupied. After which a treaty was concluded: Elliott signed it without prior consultation with representatives of the army and navy, which caused displeasure to Hugh Gough. The essence of the treaty was that the British troops would leave Guangzhou for money, so the treaty was called, without much respect, the "ransom for Canton". The Chinese committed to 6 million dollars within a week, with the first million to be paid before sunset on May 27. In the event of non-payment of the entire amount within a week, a fine of an additional million was imposed on the Chinese side. And so on for each week of delay. The Chinese paid the money on time, and on June 1, Elliott withdrew his troops from their positions and left for Hong Kong. The entire Canton epic cost the British 144 people killed (2 officers and 15 soldiers) and wounded (15 officers and 112 soldiers). However, the British captured 49 cannons just under the city walls, and in total, in the battles on the Pearl River, they captured 1200 barrels of various artillery, including rare guns from the XNUMXth century.
Sir Henry Pottinger
It would seem that the war is over! But no: neither Beijing nor London approved the terms of the treaty. On August 10, Sir Henry Pottinger, Queen Victoria's Minister Plenipotentiary and Manager of British Trade, and Rear Admiral Sir William Parker, the new commander of the squadron in Chinese waters, arrived in Hong Kong on the steamship Sesotris.
On August 21, it was decided to move north, dividing the squadron into three detachments: the center of Captain Herbert, the right of Captain Burschie and the left of Captain Smith. In total, 36 ships and vessels, old acquaintances, went to sea under the pennant of the new commander: the battleships Wellesley and Blenheim, the frigates Druid, Blonde, Modestus and Pylades, the sloops Columbine, Cruiser and Algerine. In addition to them, there were four steamships: Queen, Phlegethon, Sestoris and Nemesis, the map ship Bentinck, the troop transport Rattlesnake and 21 transports, including several with a displacement of over 1000 tons.
The ships carried the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, four companies of the 26th Cameron Regiment, the 49th and 55th Regiments, a company of the 36th Madras Native Regiment, two companies of Madras sappers and miners, sections of the Madras and Royal Artillery, field artillery, a rocket brigade - a total of about 2700 bayonets. Five or six small ships were left to observe the mouth of the Pearl River, and several companies of Madras reinforced the Hong Kong garrison. Pottinger announced that he would have no dealings with the Cantonese authorities and would only negotiate with an imperial commissioner of equal rank.
Battle of Amoy Island
Events then developed rapidly: on August 24, the squadron approached the port of Amoy on Gulangsu Island in Fujian Province. After conducting reconnaissance, Gough, Pottinger and Parker demanded that the arriving Chinese envoy surrender the city. On August 26, having received no response from the Chinese, the squadron opened fire, and a landing party landed on the shore, to which the Chinese garrison offered weak resistance. On August 27, Gough was informed that the residents were leaving the city. In general, the British occupied Amoy almost without a fight, destroyed the fortifications, and left a garrison of 550 people on the island itself. In general, the British had another base off the Chinese coast, but 450 km north of Hong Kong.
Recapture of Zhoushuan Island
On September 14, Nemesis landed troops that occupied Tatoushou Island, 5 miles from the city of Sipu. The next day, the city was also captured. From September 21 to 25, the squadron's ships gathered at On the Way Island in the Zhoushan Archipelago. At first, Pottinger and company decided to occupy the city of Ningbo, but not all of the squadron's ships were steamships yet, so the wind did not allow it. They had to limit themselves to re-occupying Zhoushuan Island and its main city, Dinghai. The Chinese managed to fortify the city by building several new coastal batteries and driving piles into the bottom in front of them - to prevent a landing. However, there was a weak point: the new batteries were not protected from the flanks. On October 1, an English landing party, landed from steamships, captured the batteries after a fierce battle. To the surprise of the British, the Chinese fought desperately, were not afraid to go hand-to-hand and lost a general and several officers in the battle. The capture of Dinghai cost the British 2 killed (including one officer) and 27 wounded.
The Capture of Zhenhai
By this time the wind had allowed the capture of the second most important city in Zhejiang Province, Ningbo. To begin with, on October 9, Gough and Parker decided to take the city of Zhenhai. The general and the admiral personally led an assault column: Gough was to defeat the Chinese forces on the northern bank of the river, and Parker was to take the city citadel. On October 10, a landing party was landed, which entered into battle with the Manchurian troops, many soldiers fought bravely, but the end was predictable: flight, accompanied by mass death in the waters of the deep river...
Meanwhile, reconnaissance showed that in their efforts to strengthen Zhenhai, the Chinese strategists had not thought about protecting Ningbo. In general, without wasting time, steamships with 750 naval fighters moved up the river on the morning of October 13. By 15:00, the squadron with the landing force was in Ningbo. To begin with, the British captured the floating bridge between the city and its suburbs, and then Ningbo itself. The residents were informed that from now on they were under the protection of British troops. Here Pottinger received a contribution of 4 million dollars from the city authorities and stopped with the troops for the winter.
Here the local authorities made a mistake: realizing that the Eight-Banner Troops were of little use, they called on the residents of the coastal villages to create self-defense units. Well, they did... The units immediately began plundering the surrounding area - after all, they weren't going to fight the English! In Ningbo itself, the English organized a Chinese police force and even paid them a salary. The police took their salary, which was the extent of their service. And it was strictly forbidden for soldiers to go outside the city alone.
Meanwhile, in Guangzhou, the Chinese were preparing for revenge. Modern weapons were purchased from the Portuguese in Macau, and 30 volunteers were recruited. Chinese troops were also spotted in cities neighboring Ningbo. An enemy assembly point was discovered on Daishan Island. Gough made several raids on neighboring cities, but the English general did not have the strength to occupy them. True, reinforcements arrived in January 1842 - the 26th Regiment, but for the occupied territory this was a drop in the ocean. On the night of March 10, the Chinese struck. At 3 a.m., four fire ships were spotted sailing down the river to Ningbo. The fire ships were towed by boats to a safe place, where they exploded, causing no harm to Queen Victoria's subjects. All this time, the ships were under heavy (albeit ineffective) gunfire from the shore.
Battle of Ningbo
But the attack from the river was only a diversionary maneuver: simultaneously, attacks began on the southern and western gates of the city. The southern gate was captured by an attack from outside and inside Ningbo: apparently, the Chinese soldiers got into the city in disguise. Nevertheless, the gate was returned by an attack by a company of the 26th regiment, but the Chinese soldiers, having put on civilian jackets, hid in the streets of the city. The British found 4-5 dollars in the pockets of the dead - apparently a bonus for participating in a dangerous operation, and many of the prisoners were drugged with opium. The attack on the western gate was repelled by companies of the 49th and 18th regiments, which were given two howitzers. The British losses in the night battle amounted to 1 killed and 6 wounded, about 600 Chinese were found killed, in addition, 39 enemy soldiers were taken prisoner.
At the same time as Ningbo, the Chinese also attacked Zhenhai. Here, 10 fire ships attacked the frigates Blonde and Hyacinth, while a detachment of 5000 soldiers attacked from the western gate. The land attack was repelled by a company of the 55th regiment, and after reinforcements arrived, the British launched a counterattack and drove the Chinese to a temple located 1,5 km from the city walls.
The winter of 1841-42 was spent in constant skirmishes, Gough occupied several cities, Parker - several islands. The Chinese did not undertake any more organized attacks, but announced a reward for the head of each English prisoner, which the locals often bought: it became dangerous for the English to leave the occupied quarters alone - the Chinese treated prisoners ... In general, they are masters of execution. Nevertheless, reinforcements arrived to the English commander, and the veterans improved their health over the winter (in the summer, the British were constantly ill in China). As a result, Gough already had 9-10 thousand men under arms. After which he decided ... to leave Ningbo.
The fact is that it was time to end the war, and holding Ningbo was of no help. It was necessary to stop the supply of food to Beijing via the Imperial Canal. And for this it was worth occupying Nanjing... On May 13, the squadron with troops on board left the island "On the way" (it really lies on the way from the city of Zhenghai to the island of Zhoushan) in the direction of the port of Zhapu. The city was fortified: several batteries were located on the heights next to it, and 6300 Chinese troops and 1700 Manchus were sitting on its slopes. True, the Chinese traditionally did not pay attention to their flanks.
The Death of Colonel Tomlinson
On May 18, the British landed on the shore and, as usual, divided the landing force into 3 columns. The flanks of the attackers were covered by fire from steamships. The coordinated attack with shelling quickly produced the desired result - the Chinese fled. True, there was a hitch on the right flank: the fleeing Manchus (about 300 people) took refuge in a large house, and a small detachment of Indian sappers came out to attack them. A shootout ensued, but 300 Indians were unable to take the house with 39 Manchus locked in there, and reinforcements had to be sent for. When reinforcements arrived, it turned out that taking the house was not the easiest task: during the second attack, Colonel Tomlinson and many soldiers were killed, rocket fire on the house was unsuccessful, and shells from a 6-pounder gun could not penetrate the walls.
Finally, a detachment of volunteers led by Captain Hall of the Nemesis approached: they dragged a bag with 50 pounds of gunpowder to the wall of the house, making a breach with it. An attempt to penetrate it resulted in the death of another Englishman and the wounding of several. The second bag of gunpowder not only made a large breach, but also collapsed part of the roof, which made it possible to fire a volley at the Manchus, killing 15-16 defenders of the house. Finally, sappers set fire to the rubble of the roof, and the fire spread to the rest of the house: 50-60 people were saved from the fire and taken prisoner, the rest were burned... The losses in the battle for Zhapu amounted to an incredible 13 people killed and 52 wounded for the British, including two killed and six wounded officers. Most of them occurred during the siege of the house.
Zhapu was defended by elite Manchu units. The soldiers tried not to surrender, fearing that the enemy would subject them to a painful execution, as they themselves had repeatedly done. The Manchus cut their throats, first killing their wives and children, children killed their feeble parents so that they would not fall into the hands of the British alive. After this battle, there was a turning point in the attitude of the Chinese authorities to prisoners of war: the British treated all the wounded Chinese, and this caused great surprise among the locals. General Yi Libu, the governor of Zhapu, wrote a letter to Hugh Guofu with gratitude for this act. After this, the Chinese themselves stopped executing British prisoners. Well, almost stopped. For the most part. And when the British released the Chinese prisoners, giving each of them 3 dollars, the governor released the British prisoners (all 16 of them!), giving each of them 30 dollars.
Battle of Usun
On July 14, the British squadron began to sail up the Yangtze. Gough's target was Zhenjiang, an important logistics center for the delivery of food from the south of China to the north. The city was in a panic: most of the artillery was taken to Wusong, the local administration was frantically looking for traitors: more than a hundred people were executed in the city. In general, everything went according to the "classic scheme", which has already been described here many times: under fire from the ships, the Chinese retreated to the hills and allowed the landing force to land.
The battle on June 21 was terrible: there were 2155 Englishmen, 1583 Chinese soldiers of the Eight Banner Army and 2700 soldiers of the Green Banner Army (armed, for the most part, with swords and spears). It was the Green Banners who bore the brunt of the English brigade. At the most crucial moment, the commander of the Green Banners, seeing a fire in the city, decided that Zhenjiang was lost and gave the command: "Get ready!" After which the soldiers of the Eight Banner Army were left to fight alone. But not for long: soon a marine landing party was landed in the city, and the Qing commander-in-chief Hai Ling found nothing better to do than kill his family and commit suicide.
Battle of Zhenjiang
After the loss of Zhenjiang, the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion: food supplies via the Imperial Canal were interrupted. On August 29, the Treaty of Nanking was signed between Great Britain and the Qing Empire, the first in a series of unequal treaties imposed on China. According to it, in addition to Canton, four more Chinese ports were opened for trade with the West: Amoy (Xiamen), Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, and Great Britain had the opportunity to have its own consul in each of the ports. But these are trifles! What is important is that China was obliged to pay reparations in the amount of 21 million dollars, and Hong Kong was ceded? Yes, but something else is more important: the Treaty of Nanking marked the beginning of the "century of humiliation" for China, but other wars and treaties are a separate conversation...
The conclusion of the Treaty of Nanking
The First Opium War showed the British that they were dealing with a rather weak enemy. The Qing Empire army did not enjoy the support of the local population, the morale of the soldiers and officers was not high, the weapons were outdated, and the tactics were rather primitive. Nevertheless, the hopes that the Chinese population would perceive the British as liberators from the "bloody Qing regime" also did not come true: the Chinese may not have liked the Manchus, but in comparison with the "long-nosed laowai" they seemed, although invaders, close and understandable - almost their own. So there were new battles ahead...
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