Anglo-Russian Convention

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Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907
Map of southwest Asia, showing British and Russian areas of rule or influence.
Signed31 August [O.S. 18 August] 1907
LocationSaint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Signatories
Full text
Anglo-Russian Convention at Wikisource

The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 (Russian: Англо-Русская Конвенция 1907 г., romanized: Anglo-Russkaya Konventsiya 1907 g.), or Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet (Конвенция между Соединенным Королевством и Россией относительно Персии, Афганистана, и Тибета; Konventsiya mezhdu Soyedinennym Korolevstvom i Rossiyey otnositel'no Persii, Afghanistana, i Tibeta),[1] was signed on August 31, 1907, in Saint Petersburg. It ended the longstanding rivalry in Central Asia and enabled the two countries to outflank the Germans, who were threatening to connect Berlin to Baghdad with a new railroad that could potentially align the Ottoman Empire with Imperial Germany.

The Convention ended the long dispute over Persia. Great Britain promised to stay out of northern Persia, and Russia recognized southern Persia as part of the British sphere of influence. Russia also promised to stay out of Tibet and Afghanistan. In exchange, London extended loans and some political support.[2][3] The convention brought shaky British–Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in Persia,[4][5] Afghanistan, and Tibet. This agreement would eventually lead to the formation of the Triple Entente.[6]

Background

Further information:
International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919) § The Eastern Question

During the last third of the nineteenth century, the

Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey thought entente with Russia a good idea. On 20 October 1905, during the election, he said:[9]

...if Russia accepts, cordially and whole-heartedly, our intention to preserve the peaceable possession of our Asiatic possessions, then I am quite sure that in this country no government will make it its business to thwart or obstruct Russia's policy in Europe. On the contrary, it is urgently desirable that Russia's position and influence be re-established in the councils of Europe.

and later, writing to his ambassador to Russia Sir Arthur Nicolson:[8]

It is not for us to propose changes with regard to the treaty conditions of the Dardanelles. I think some change in the direction desired by Russia would be admissible and we should be prepared to discuss the question if Russia introduces it.

In early 1907,

Count Alexander Benckendorff. Little is known but the "suggestion appears to have been made that Russia should have free egress from the Black Sea through the Straits, while other powers should have the right to send their vessels of war into the Straits without going into the Black Sea" together with some talk of "Russia's occupying the Bosphorus and England the Dardanelles, after which the Straits might be opened to other warships as well." In the event nothing came of the discussions at the time.[8]

Rise of Germany

Main article: History of German foreign policy § 1871–1919
Events leading to World War I
Sarajevo

On May 20, 1882, Germany entered into the Triple Alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary, complementing its industrial and socio-political ascendance in the world arena. Furthermore, Germany dramatically increased its military output from the early 1900s up to the outbreak of the First World War. Under the unified German state, Otto von Bismarck worked to increase the nation's global influence and reach what was then the zenith of German power. While Britain and Russia were hostile to German designs in the region, members of the Triple Alliance were in turn opposed to Anglo-Russian influence in Asia. Thus, military and territorial expansion was Germany's key to making itself a major player in the international arena of power. Germany's interest in the Middle East took a secondary position, one subordinate to Germany's primary policy toward Europe, throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While of secondary importance, it was a tool that was used to manipulate the Middle Eastern attempt to play off the Western powers against each other. Berlin peacefully made inroads into the Ottoman Empire and had few colonial aspirations in the region.[10]

Trouble in Persia

See also:
Russian Empire involvement in the Persian Constitutional Revolution

In 1905, revolutionary activity spread throughout

puppet government, which allowed foreign concessions and supported their designs in the region.[11]

To facilitate their goals in Persia, the British and the Russian governments discussed splitting it into three zones. The agreement stipulated that it would "allocate the north, including

Baluchistan to Britain; and demarcate the remaining land between the two powers as a neutral zone". The division of Persia would reinforce the control of Britain and Russia over their respective territorial and economic interests in the country as well as allowed for continued interference in Persia's political system. With foreign help, the revolutionaries became outflanked by a combination of European and monarchist activities. The Persian government quickly came to realise that an Anglo-Russian alliance posed a larger threat to Iranian sovereignty than the two powers being hostile.[12]
Consequently, in 1907, Britain and Russia signed an agreement to regulate their economic and political interests.

Terms

The Anglo-Russian Convention formalized the spheres of influence of the Russian Empire and the British Empire in Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet.[13]

Persia

The agreement recognized the country's sovereignty but also divided it into three separate zones. The agreement designated all of northern Iran, which bordered Russia's possessions in

Kerman in the south central and Bandar Abbas in the south. The area separating these two spheres, including part of central Iran and the entire southwest, was designated a neutral zone in which both countries and their respective private citizens could compete for influence and commercial privileges.[14][page needed][15][page needed][16][page needed
]

For Britain and Russia, the agreement was important in establishing a diplomatic alignment that endured until the

Soviet Russia.[17][page needed][18][page needed][19][page needed
]

Afghanistan

See also: Third Anglo-Afghan War

With the Anglo-Russian Convention Russia acknowledged that Afghanistan was in the British

Emir of Afghanistan felt humiliated and outraged when he read the terms of the Convention, partly because the United Kingdom had not bothered to notify him about the negotiations or their conclusions. Like the terms relating to Persia, the agreement resulted in the growth of anti-British sentiments in Afghanistan.[13]

Tibet

Further information: Tibet under Qing rule

The Anglo-Russian Convention acknowledged the "Chinese suzerainty" over Tibet, and the United Kingdom pledged not to deal with Tibet unilaterally without the approval of the Chinese government. The United Kingdom thought that this convention would put a stop to Russia's expansionist efforts, which were threatening India, and with the development of Anglo-Russian ties in the early 1900s, both the United Kingdom and Russia acknowledged Tibet's role as a buffer in the Anglo-Russian Convention that also recognized the suzerainty of China over Tibet, although China did not accept the term "suzerainty" and instead used the term "sovereignty" to describe its status in Tibet since 1905.[20] The conclusion of the Anglo-Russian Convention followed the British expedition to Tibet of 1903-1904, the Convention of Lhasa of 1904, and the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906 which essentially reestablished China's role as Tibet's controlling power.[21]

See also

References

  1. G. P. Gooch and H Temperley. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1929. pp 618–621. Appendix I – Full Text of Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, and Tibet, Signed At St Petersburgh, August 31, 1907 (in French)
  2. ^ Barbara Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow: Tsarist And Soviet Foreign Policy, 1814–1974 (1974), pp 247–49, 254–56.
  3. ^ Ewen W. Edwards, "The Far Eastern Agreements of 1907." Journal of Modern History 26.4 (1954): 340–355. Online
  4. ^ British Documents on the Origins of the War 1898–1914, Volume IV, The Anglo-Russian Rapprochement 1903-7. Edited by G.P. Gooch and H Temperley. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1929. p618-621. Appendix IV – Revised Draft of Agreement Concerning Persia, Sent to Sir A. Nicholson by Sir Edward Grey on June 6, 1907
  5. ^ Yale Law School: "Agreement concerning Persia" (in English)
  6. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Anglo-Russian Entente
  7. ISBN 978-1-85043-371-2
    .
  8. ^ a b c Langer 1929, p. 68.
  9. ^ Langer 1929, p. 67.
  10. ^ Erich Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire (1963) pp 261–297. online.
  11. Morgan Shuster. "The Strangling of Persia: A Story of European Diplomacy and Oriental Intrigue"
    . p. 283.
  12. ^ Beryl J. Williams, "The Strategic Background to the Anglo-Russian Entente of August 1907." Historical Journal 9#3 (1966): 360–73. online.
  13. ^
    ISBN 9781789140194
    .
  14. ^ Kazemzadeh, Firuz. Russia and Britain in Persia, 1864–1914: A Study in Imperialism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968.[page needed]
  15. ^ Siegel, Jennifer. Endgame: Britain, Russia, and the Final Struggle for Central Asia. London and New York: Tauris, 2002.[page needed]
  16. ^ White, John Albert. Transition to Global Rivalry: Alliance Diplomacy and the Quadruple Entente, 1895–1907. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  17. ^ Kazemzadeh, Firuz. Russia and Britain in Persia, 1864–1914: A Study in Imperialism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968.[page needed]
  18. ^ Siegel, Jennifer. Endgame: Britain, Russia, and the Final Struggle for Central Asia. London and New York: Tauris, 2002.[page needed]
  19. ^ White, John Albert. Transition to Global Rivalry: Alliance Diplomacy and the Quadruple Entente, 1895–1907. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.[page needed]
  20. ^ Dolma, Tenzin (2020). Reviews on Tibetan Political History: A Compilation of Tibet Journal Articles. Library of Tibetan Works & Archives. p. 76.
  21. ^ Ray, Jayanta (2007). Aspects of India's International Relations, 1700 to 2000: South Asia and the World. Pearson Education. p. 197.

Further reading

  • "The Recent Anglo-Russian Convention" The American Journal of International Law (1907) pp 979–984 online
  • Abrahamiam, Ervand, A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
  • Adelson, Roger, London and the Invention of the Middle East: Money, Power, and War, 1902–1922 (St. Edmundsbury Press, 1995)
  • Churchill, Platt Rogers. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 (1939).
  • Habberton, William. Anglo-Russian Relations Concerning Afghanistan, 1837–1907 (U. of Illinois, 1937).
  • Klein, Ira (1971), "The Anglo-Russian Convention and the Problem of Central Asia, 1907–1914", Journal of British Studies, 11 (1): 126–147,
    S2CID 145507675
  • Langer, William L. (1929). "Russia, the Straits Question, and the European Powers, 1904–8". The English Historical Review. 44 (173): 59–85.
    JSTOR 552495
    .
  • Mahajan, Sneh. British foreign policy 1874–1914: The role of India (Routledge, 2003).[ISBN missing]
  • Palmer, A. W. "The Anglo-Russian Entente" History Today (Nov 1957) 7#11 pp 748–754.
  • Sicker, Martin. The Bear and the Lion: Soviet Imperialism and Iran (Praeger Publishers, 1988).
  • Siegel, Jennifer, Endgame: Britain, Russia and the Final Struggle for Central Asia (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2002)
  • Soroka, Marina. Britain, Russia and the Road to the First World War: The Fateful Embassy of Count Aleksandr Benckendorff (1903–16) (Routledge, 2016).
  • Tomaszewski, Fiona K. A Great Russia: Russia and the Triple Entente (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002)
  • Williams, Beryl J. "The Strategic Background to the Anglo-Russian Entente of August 1907." Historical Journal 9#3 (1966): 360–73. online.

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