Opium Wars

plural noun

1. two wars (1839–42; 1856–60) between China and Britain resulting from the Chinese refusal to allow the importation of opium from India. China ceded Hong Kong after the British victory in 1842. The British and French victory in the second war established free trade in Chinese ports and the legalization of the opium trade

Example Sentences

And almost no event plays a larger role in that identity as a victim than the Opium Wars.

From The Daily Beast

In this manner, first by large smuggling, then by two opium wars, was China drugged with opium.

From Project Gutenberg