'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎28r] (60/386)

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Chapter IV.
THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
<( I should regard the concession of a port upon the
“ Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to Russia by any power as a deliberate insult
*« to Great Britain, as a wanton rupture of the s/at/is quo, and
*< a s an intentional provocation to war ; and I should impeach
(t the British minister, who w r as guilty of ^acquiescing in sue i
“ a surrender, as a traitor to his country/’
—Extract from Lord Curzon's
“ Persia and the Persian
Question”) Volume lit
page 465,
la the viceroyalty of Lord Carzon the question of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. attain
ed a prominence greater than. at any
Unparalleled prominence of the Per* time since the beginning, of British rule
sian Gulf question. i n( iia, and the position of Great
Britain in that region was assailed with much energy by other European
powers, especially by Russia and Prance. The chance by which the con
flict was timed was in one respect singularly fortunate, for Lord Curzo
had at an earlier period made a close study of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. problem and
was deeply impressed with its importance. Several years before, he had even
foreshadowed the policy which it would hehove the British Goyeroment o
adont in case of the appearance of European rivalry m the Gulf, and in the
execution of that very policy he was now, as head of the Government of India,
himself to take a leading part.
The principal objects of Russia were the creation of a naval base in the
11 J Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and the construction of a
Russian designs. Russian railw ay across Persia by which
the resources of the Russian Empire could be brought to bear for its support;
these objects she set herself to compass partly by direct and partly by indirect
means. In 1899 it was reported from Tehran that the Russians had acquired
from Persia certain rights in a Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. port, and two months later tic
statement was confirmed by the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs at Con
stantinople, while almost simultaneously the St. Petersburg \ ledomosti
advocated the acquisition of Bunder Abbas together with the islands of Kishm,
Heniam, Larak and Hormuz in order to provide a terminus for a Russian rail
way across Persia. The existence of a Russo-Persian agreement regar ing a
poit in the Gulf was denied by the Persian Government, but the proceedings
of Russian ships and railway surveyors soon furnished corroboration of the
prevailin'' rumours. We shall consider first the direct means used by Russia
to promote her schemes for a naval base and a strategic rai way.
The attention of Russia was at first attracted by the harbour of Koweit.
ine aiwmv Iq lg98 a Russ i aD) Count Kapmst, had
Russian quest of a naval base. obtained from the Porte a concession for
a rail wav to run from Tripoli in Syria to Koweit, and early in 1890 a party
of Russo-Armenian spies were set at work in Koweit by the Russian Consul-
General in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ; the designs of Russia in this direction were
frustrated however, by an engagement with the British Government into
which the Sheikh of Koweit entered at the beginning of 1899 and by which
he hound himself not to alienate any ponionof '-ternory fo foreigners.
Koweit was visited by Russian war-vessels in 1900, an( ^ . ’ . ,
1899 onwards it was clear that Russia had abandoned her inteiest in that
JS in favour of schemes better adapted to P ro ”ote her polmy m Pepsxa
The first point on the Persian side threatened with a Russian occupa
tion was Bunder Abbas, to which the warnings received from lehian and
Constantinople probably referred, and which had been specifically mentioned