Francisco Madero, born into one of Mexico's ten richest families, was educated in the US and France. He believed in democracy and announced his candidacy for president of Mexico in early 1910 but Diaz had him arrested. From exile in the US, Madero was still able to call for an armed revolution against Diaz and the Mexican Revolution began. Leaders arose in different parts of Mexico and formed their own armies. Francisco "Pancho" Villa grew notorious in the north and had a bold policy of taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor. Another notorious leader, Emiliano Zapata, had a powerful revolutionary army. He was determined to protect their land and rights, and "Land and Liberty" was his battle cry. Villa, Zapata, and other armed revolutionaries won important victories against Diaz's army. By the spring of 1911, Diaz agreed to step down and called for new elections.
In the 18th century, British merchants smuggled opium into China for non medical use, and by 1835 as many as 12 million Chinese were addicted to opium. The Qing emperor was angry about the situation and in 1839 sent a letter to Queen Victoria of England, stating that the British have no right to 'use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people' and since it is forbidden in their country it is even less acceptable to smuggle it into other countries. The letter was unanswered and Britain refused to stop trading opium. This sparked the Opium war, between the British and Chinese. The battles took place at sea but China's outdated ships did not stand a chance against Britain's steam powered gunboats. Later in 1842, they signed the Treaty of Nanjing; a peace treaty that gave Britain the island of Hong Kong.
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