1839. Trade is the stalwart of the British Empire. China threatens Britain’s Opium trade. Britain and China go to war.

When Britain sent troops to compel the Chinese to accept imports of opium, they opened what is argued to be one of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of the Empire.

How did the situation arise?

How did opium exports become so crucial to the British economy?

How did the British come to be as addicted to opium revenue as the Chinese were to the drug itself?

Shocking, shaming, but fascinating throughout. Brian Inglis gives the answers to these and other questions in this meticulously researched study of The Opium War.

Praise for The Opium War

‘Mr. Inglis has given us a brisk, lucid and detailed account.’ – Philip Mason, The Spectator

‘Scholarly and very readable.’ - The Listener

‘A searching examination of one incident in our chequered history which even dyed-in-the-wool Britons will find hard to defend.’ - Yorkshire Post

Brian Inglis, was an Irish journalist, historian and TV presenter. He popularly known in Britain as the presenter for All Our Yesterdays. His publications covered a range of topics, including biographies, medicine and the paranormal. Other books by Inglis include The Forbidden Game: A Social History of Drugs and The Story of Ireland, amongst many others.