What advantage did britain have in its war with china

Up until the First Opium War, the foreign threats Han Chinese were used to dealing with were foreign nomadic invaders invading from the north. While Han Chinese were used to being occupied, even by foreign dynasties such as the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the foreign occupiers were always absorbed into the great ocean of Chinese culture and eventually disappeared.

superior technology and improved medical knowledge to foster imperialism. quinine enabled europeans

to survive tropical diseases and venture into the mosquito-infested interiors of africa and asia. the combination

of the steamboat and the telegraph enabled the western powers to increase their mobility and to quickly respond

to any situations that threatened their dominance. the rapid-fire machine gun also gave them a military advantage

and was in convincing africans and asians to accept western control. the following table summarizes the

causes of the new imperialism:

causes of new imperialism

economic military/political humanitarian/religious technological

need for markets need for military bases white man’s burden new medicine

raw materials national security spread of christianity new weapons

source of investments source of

pride—nationalism

social darwinism

(superiority of western

society)

transportation

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