Anglo-Russian Convention

During the last third of the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire's advances into Central Asia and the consolidation of Great Britain's domination of South Asia led to intense rivalry between the two European powers. The conflicting interests centered on Afghanistan, Iran, and Tibet, three states that constituted buffers between the two powers. The emergence of the German Empire as a world power and the defeat in 1905 of Russia by a nascent Asian power, the Empire of Japan, in the Russo-Japanese War, helped to persuade some British and Russian officials of a need to resolve their respective differences in Asia.[8] There was talk of an entente during the 1880s and 1890s, especially after Britain's occupation of Egypt in 1882. However stiff resistance in Britain to a deal with Russia.[9] In the leadup to the convention, there were discussions on the Straits question.

[[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs}Foreign Minister]] Sir Edward Grey, thought entente with Russia a good idea. On 20 October 1905, during the election, he said:[10]

...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:[9]

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, Alexander Izvolsky, the Russian ambassador at Paris, raised the question. and talks were carried on in London with Russian Ambassador 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.[9]

Rise of Germany

Main article: History of German foreign policy § 1871–1919

Events leading to World War I
Congress of Berlin 1878 Triple Alliance 1882 Franco-Russian Alliance 1894 Anglo-German naval arms race 1898–1912 Entente Cordiale 1904 Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905 First Moroccan Crisis 1905–1906 Anglo-Russian Entente 1907 Bosnian Crisis 1908–1909 Agadir Crisis 1911 Italo-Turkish War 1911–1912 Balkan Wars 1912–1913 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand 1914 July Crisis 1914

On May 20, 1882, Germany entered into the Triple Alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary, complementing its industrial and socio-political climb in the world arena. Furthermore, Germany dramatically increased its military output from the early 1900s up to the outbreak of World War I. Under the new German empire, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck worked to increase the nation's wealth and reach what was then the zenith of German power. While Britain and Russia were hostile to Germany's imperialistic motives, members of the Triple Alliance were in turn somewhat threatened by Britain's and Russia's aggressive foreign policy tactics and wealth derived from their colonies. 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 penetrated the Ottoman Empire and had few colonial aspirations in the region.[11]

With respect to Iran, the agreement recognized the country's strict independence and integrity but then divided it into three separate zones. The agreement designated all of northern Iran, which bordered Russia's possessions in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, as an exclusive sphere of influence for Russian interests. The northern zone was defined as beginning at Qasr-e Shirin in the west, on the border with the Ottoman Empire, and running through Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd to the eastern border, where the frontiers of Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia intersected.

A smaller zone in southeastern Iran, which bordered British India, was recognized as an exclusive sphere for Britain. The British zone extended west as far as 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.

For Britain and Russia, the agreement was important in establishing a diplomatic alignment that endured until World War I. The government of Iran, however, had not been consulted about the agreement but was informed after the fact. Although not in a position to prevent Britain and Russia from implementing the agreement, the Iranian government refused to recognize the accord's legitimacy since it threatened the country's integrity and independence.

Iranian nationalists, in particular, felt aggravated by Britain, a country that they had considered as a democratic beacon during the Constitutional Revolution. Thus, an important legacy of the agreement was the growth of anti-British sentiment and other anti-Western attitudes as strong components of Iranian nationalism.

The agreement did not eliminate all competition between the two powers with respect to their policies in Iran, but after 1907, broad co-operation was fostered, often to the detriment of Iranian interests. In particular, Britain and Russia intervened in Iran's domestic politics by supporting the royalists in their contest with the constitutionalists.

The agreement lapsed in 1918, after it was renounced by the new revolutionary Soviet Russia.[12][13][14]

• Dogger Bank Incident
• Entente Cordiale
• Franco-Russian Alliance
• The Great Game
• Persian Campaign

• "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. "The Anglo-Russian Convention and the Problem of Central Asia, 1907-1914," Journal of British Studies (1971) 11#1 pp. 126–147 in JSTOR
• Langer, William L. (January 1929). "Russia, the Straits Question, and the European Powers, 1904-8". The English Historical Review. 44 (173): 59–85. JSTOR 552495.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mahajan, Sneh. British foreign policy 1874-1914: The role of India (Routledge, 2003).
• 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)

• Brigham Young University library website. The Anglo-Russian Entente