A Context of Interconnectedness: The First China War (1840–1842) and the British Empire in Asia

This paper examines the transregional thinking that conceptualized the British imperial interests and expansion in Asia from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the Opium War or “First China War” (1840–1842). It argues that to fully appreciate the nature of the First China War in the history of the British Empire in Asia, it is necessary to examines the ways in which China became integrated into the Indian subempire and its multiple frontiers. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, in terms of British geostrategic thinking and military deployment, China became increasingly connected to British India and its emerging frontiers—the Nepal frontier in the northeast, the Burma frontier in the east, the Malay maritime frontier in Southeast Asia, the Afghan frontier in the northwest, and a western maritime frontier reaching the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The expansion of the Royal Navy further linked the various regions in the East Indies subject to British rule, control, or influence. The First China War of 1840–1842 and its contemporaneous challenges and conflicts facing the British Indian subempire on its various frontiers intensified their transregional interconnectedness with China.