For much of modern history, China’s punishing environment condemned it to conflict and hardship. From the first Opium War in 1839 until the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the country was torn apart by foreign powers, wracked by internal rebellion, and plagued by poverty and famine. China was forced to fight more than a dozen wars on its home soil during this “Century of Humiliation,” resulting in devastation and territorial dismemberment. China also suffered two of the deadliest civil wars in history: the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864, 20–30 million dead) and the Chinese Civil War
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