Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Battle for Beijing, 1858-1860: Franco-British Conflict in China

Battle for Beijing, 1858-1860: Franco-British Conflict in China

Gelber, Harry

Hardcover

Chinese HistoryFrench HistoryBritish History

ISBN10: 3319305832
ISBN13: 9783319305837
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: Sep 27 2016
Pages: 244
Weight: 0.95
Height: 0.77 Width: 6.07 Depth: 8.64
Language: English

The 'battle for Beijing' is universally - and quite wrongly - believed to have been about opium. This book argues that it was about freedom to trade, Britain's demands for diplomatic equality, and French demands for religious freedom in China. Both countries agreed that their armies, which repeatedly prevailed over Chinese ones that were numerically superior, would stay out of Beijing itself, but were infuriated by China's imprisonment, torture and death of British, French and Indian negotiators. At the same time, the British and French also helped the empire to battle rebels and to pocket port and harbour dues. They steered carefully between their political and trading demands, and navigated the danger that undue stress would make China's fragile government and empire fall apart. If it did, there would be no one to make any kind of agreement with; much of East Asia would be in chaos and Russian power would soon expand.

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