Grytskykh D. The Qing Empire in the foreign policy of Great Britain, 1830 - 1842.

The writer of a thesis suggested and gave sufficient grounds for the scheme of the development of the British and Chinese relationships in 1830 - 1842. On this basis the conception was found that presents the Great Britain politics' history related to the Qing Empire in the first third of the XIXth century. In the thesis the writer tries to step aside from the simplified approach, according to which the war of 1839 - 1842 ("The First Opium War") was launched by the British ruling groups in order to defend the British smugglers and industrial interests. However, taking into the consideration the "opium factor", the foreign office, headed by John Palmerston, used it aiming to perform the more large-scale task: the recognition by Peking of the Great Britain as an equal partner. The writer of a thesis considers that being Liberal John Palmerston conducted policy that did not boil down only to defend the British entrepreneurs interests. The main aim was to overtake and surpass the Russian Empire that achieved more considerable results in building relationship with Peking at that time. Thus, among the great number of the factors that determined the Whitehall politics in China, the main role in 1830 - 1842 played the geopolitical rivalry with Saint Petersburg.