Opium Wars

The Opium Wars were two conflicts waged between the Qing dynasty of China and Western powers during the mid-19th century. The First Opium War (4 September 1839 - 29 August 1842) pitted the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British East India Company against the Qing dynasty and ended in a British victory sealed by the Treaty of Nanking, which ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain. The Second Opium War (8 October 1856 - 24 October 1860) pitted the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing dynasty and ended in an Anglo-French victory sealed by the Treaty of Tientsin and the Convention of Peking, under which the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island were ceded to British Hong Kong and Outer Manchuria was ceded to Russia.