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'Historical Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907-1928' [‎7v] (21/188)

The record is made up of 1 volume (90 folios). It was created in 1928. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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12
equally against Great Britain and her nationals. This and the disturbed condition
of the country had seriously militated against British trade, which was still further
prejudiced by the hostile attitude of liussian officials, who lost no opportunity of
placing obstacles in its way. Various protests and remonstrances made by His
Majesty's Government to St. Petersburg produced little effect.
In May 1914 there were signs that unless Kussian policy and action in Persia
underwent a change, British public opinion would presently be demanding revision
of the convention. In the following June, Sir E. Grey handed the Russian
Ambassador a vigorous protest against the action of Russian officials in North-West
Persia. The protest was supported by the French Government, who caused
representations to be made in St. Petersburg. The Tsar and his loreign Minister
thereupon declared themselves resolved that Persian questions should not be allowed
to prejudice the maintenance of good relations between Great Britain and Russia.
But no change of spirit on the part of Russian officials concerned became
apparent; and on the Brd August, 1914, in a despatch to the Foreign Office,
Sir W. Townley, the British Minister at Tehran, suggested that the convention
should be abrogated. He argued that experience had demonstrated that the British
hope and expectation of creating a Persia strong enough to act as a buffer State
between Great Britain and Russia could not be realised under the convention. Half
the country w T as already directly under Russian influence; a portion was undecided;
and the insignificant remainder was regarded by Tehran as owning British
allegiance. Meanwhile, the Central Government had no authority, and could have
none while hampered by the need of considering the wishes of one Power or the other,
or of both.
But by this time matters of greater importance had thrust the convention and
British and Russian differences regarding it into the background. That instrument
had, in fact, already performed the part it had been destined to fill. The war for
which, in the deepest sense, it had been a measure of preparation had now involved
the Powers of the Triple Entente. And although in theory the actual covenants
of the convention were not invalidated, yet in practice they did not survive the
rough adjustments that the war eventually applied to the aims and ambitions of the
belligerent Powers.
Though taking no national part in the struggle, Persia now underwent the
sufferings and humiliations inseparable from a war conducted on Persian soil by the
forces of warring foreign Pow T ers. Turkish and Russian armies contended for
possession of her provinces. German agents endeavoured to inflame her people
against the enemies of Germany, and to use her territory for movements directed
against British India. And Great Britain, to safeguard her vital supply of Persian
oil, first sent an expedition to Lower Mesopotamia, and then found it necessary to
introduce British troops into neutral Persia to oppose German and Turkish designs.
Chapter (3).—Arabia (Nejd, 1891-1914).
It has been seen that in Turkey and Persia the strivings of a newly-found
nationalism played an important part in shaping the course of events during the
seven or eight years immediately preceding the war. In Arabia, or the part of
Arabia with which we are chiefly concerned, this potent influence was absent.
Instead were the rivalry of the two leading ruling families; the emergence from one
of these families of a leader called, with some reason, the greatest Arab ruler since
Mahomet; and a Wahabi revival of militant religious zeal, astutely fostered and
used by this ruler to prosecute his far-reaching political ambitions.
As the history of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. during the last 150 years shows, communities
living on the Arabian littoral of the Gulf have, from time to time, been liable to
the impact of militant Wahabism coming from the Emirate of Nejd in Central
Arabia.
This creed or teaching had its origin in Nejd in the middle of the 18th century,
and ever since has received the fanatical support of the inhabitants of that region.
In theory and practice it stands for the simplest and earliest form of the Mahometan
religion. But it also calls for the reform of Islam by a return to the severe
austerities of conduct and faith as taught by Mahomet, and regards those who
reject its teachings as worse than infidels. It has always sought to impose its
reforms by the choice between acceptance and practice of its creed or the sword.
Although at first a spiritual force, directed to spiritual ends, Wahabism was
soon made to subserve the political and personal aims of the Emirs of Nejd. Indeed,

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Content

The volume is entitled Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , 1907-1928 (printed by the Committee of Imperial Defence, October 1928).

Includes sections on The Ottoman Empire, Persia, Arabia (Nejd [Najd]), Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], Muscat, and Bahrein [Bahrain].

Extent and format
1 volume (90 folios)
Arrangement

There is a table of contents at the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the front cover and terminates at 90 on the back cover. These numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio. Foliation anomalies: ff. 1, 1A; ff. 86, 86A. Two folios, f. 3 and f. 4 have been reattached in the wrong order, so that f. 4 precedes f. 3. The following map folios need to be folded out to be examined: f. 87, f. 88.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Historical Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907-1928' [‎7v] (21/188), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/730, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100022744604.0x000016> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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