'Historical Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907-1928' [‎6r] (18/188)

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the whole position of Great Britain as a World Power and inevitably lead to war.
In 1904 Great Britain and France composed their main differences and established
the Entente. Thereupon an extension of the Entente to include Russia, for which
the French were exceedingly anxious, came into view.
The chief manifestation of German policy directly affecting Anglo-Russian
relations was the thrust from Central Europe towards the Balkans and the East,
and the attempt to dominate the Ottoman Empire, economically and politically, in
order to establish a German corridor to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . If carried to success this
policy would, to mention nothing more, exclude Russia from Constantinople and the
Straits, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Even as a possibility this was
unacceptable to the Tsar's Government. The aims of German policy in the Middle
East endangered vital Russian interests no less than vital interests of Great Britain.
It was foreseen in St. Petersburg that when the conflict did come the Ottoman
Empire would almost certainly be found on the side of Germany, and that if the
alliance were overthrown by a Triple Entente, Russian prospects of acquiring
Constantinople and the Straits and a Mediterranean access would be excellent. But
a settlement of the wide issues between Russia and Great Britain in Asia was
necessary before the Triple Entente could come into being.
The Anglo-Russian Convention signed on the 31st x\iigust, 1907, provided this
settlement, and marked the creation of the Triple Entente. The convention defined
the interests of the two Powers respectively in Tibet, Afghanistan and Persia, and
thus, for Great Britain, dealt with the whole northern and western approaches to
India. The only part of the convention requiring notice here is that affecting Persia.
For Anglo-Russian purposes Persia was divided into three roughly parallel
spheres running east and west. The northern sphere, extending from the Afghan
to the Turkish frontier, and including Isfahan, Yezd and Khakh, and all the Persian
coastline of the Caspian Sea, w T as assigned to Russia as an area in which Great
Britain recognised the predominance of Russian interests, i he small south-eastern
sphere, with a northern boundary beginning at Gazik, on the Afghan frontier, and
passing thence to Bandar Abbas, on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , was similarly assigned to
Great Britain. Between these two areas, and completely separating them, lay the
neutral sphere, a broad belt of territory stretching from Afghanistan to Turkey and
embracing the Persian part of the coastline of the Gulf westward of Bandar Abbas.
The contracting parties undertook to refrain from seeking political or economic con
cessions in each other's sphere; the neutral area was to be open to the activities of
both.
Such in briefest outline were the provisions and aims of the Anglo-Russian
Convention of 1907, an instrument destined to be of only slight practical* utility in
the regions to which it applied, though of tremendous importance in world history.
Its vital work was accomplished when its ratifications were exchanged in September
1907, and Russia and Great Britain were enabled to combine against the German
danger.
In consequence of her long-standing opposition to Russian aggression in Asia,
Great Britain enjoyed a greater measure of confidence and goodwill in Persia than
any other Great Power. In the struggle between the Constitutionalists and the
Crown, it was supposed that the sympathies of His Majesty's Government were with
the former. The fact that in the great last of 1906 some 15,000 Constitutionalists
took refuge in the grounds of the British Legation at Tehran, with the approval
of the British Minister, had confirmed this idea and greatly enhanced British
popularity.
When, therefore, at the beginning of September 1907 the terms of the Anglo-
Russian Convention became known in Persia, they created general astonishment
and consternation. The conclusion of the convention was regarded as the first step
towards Anglo-Russian intervention, with the partition of Persia as the ultimate
purpose. The British Minister at Tehran endeavoured to allay popular apprehension
in a memorandum he sent to the Persian Foreign Minister on the 5th September, in
which he declared that reports of impending intervention and partition were entirely
baseless, and that the object of the agreement was "not to attack but rather to
assure for ever the independence of Persia." These assurances were reinforced by
a joint note addressed by the British and Russian representatives at Tehran to the
* The clauses relating- to Afghanistan never came iuto force, as the necessary consent to them by the
Amir was never received. The convention itself was declared null and void for ever by the Russian
Bolshevik Government in January 1918; was described by Lord Curzon, speaking for His Majesty's Govern
ment, on the 21st January, 1918, as " indeiinitely suspended," and was denounced by the Persian Government
in May of the same year.
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