The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war of the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China from 1856–1860.

Names

"Second Opium War" and "Arrow War" are both used in the literature. "Second Opium War" refers to one of the British's strategic objectives: legalizing the opium trade, expanding coolie trade, opening all of China to British merchants, and exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties. The "Arrow War" refers to the name of a vessel which became the starting point of the conflict. The importance of the opium factor in the war is in debate among historians.

Background

The 1850s saw the rapid growth of...