Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1907)

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The Treaty of Saint Petersburg was founded on 31 August 1907 , Sir by the British Ambassador Arthur Nicolson , and the foreign minister of Tsarist Russia , Count Alexander Izvolsky , in Saint Petersburg signed. In it the two powers agreed on the delimitation of their spheres of interest in Central Asia . Furthermore, the treaty formed the basis for the British-Russian war alliance of 1914 and the expansion of the Entente cordiale to the Triple Entente . At the same time, the Anglo-Russian Convention (1907) was negotiated, which regulated the Tibet region.

Starting position

Official negotiations began in June 1906. There were a number of factors that led to the conclusion of this contract. One factor was Germany, which, with the expansion of the Imperial Navy, questioned the English supremacy at sea (see German-British naval competition ). The British also perceived the construction of the Baghdad Railway , the construction of which was awarded to Germany by Turkey in 1902 and which, when completed, was to extend to the Persian Gulf, as a threat. Britain's longstanding economic interests in India ( British India since 1858 ) and the Persian Gulf played a crucial role in the conclusion of the agreement. Imports and exports that were handled via the Persian ports of the Persian Gulf (e.g. Bandar Abbas ) were almost entirely in British hands.

Russia's interests consisted in safeguarding its economic interests in Persia. After the Russo-Japanese War lost in 1905, Russia did not want to risk a military conflict with Great Britain in Persia. For this reason, the treaty provided for a de facto partition of Persia. The Constitutional Revolution broke out in Persia in 1905 . The new center of political power was no longer the Shah, but Parliament. Russia had given a loan of £ 4 million to Mozaffar al-Din Shah . In addition, much of the political elite in Persia was indebted through low-interest loans from the Russian Banque d'Escompte et des Prets de Perse . With the generous granting of loans, Russia had secured a lasting influence on the political and economic decisions of Persia. This influence now threatened to wane as a result of the revolutionary events in Persia.

Britain had supported the constitutional movement until the agreement with Russia was concluded by allowing protesters and political activists to use the British embassy grounds as a refuge from persecution by the Shah's security forces. Tents were set up in the garden of the British embassy. Over 13,000 people had gathered on the grounds of the British embassy in early August 1906. In the discussions on the embassy grounds, the demands for a constitution and civil liberties were voiced for the first time. On the birthday of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah on August 5, 1906 (13th Amordad 1285), a huge festival in honor of the Shah was organized by the demonstrators in front of the British embassy. Mozaffar al-Din Shah had signed a decree promising the establishment of an elected consultative assembly.

content

Map of the division of Persia into Russian and British zones of influence by the Treaty of St. Petersburg

In the contract the two powers put their future behavior towards the nominally independent, but taken by civil unrest Persia , which since the Second Anglo-Afghan War heavily British-influenced Afghanistan firmly.

  • Persia was divided into a Russian, a British and a neutral zone; the Russian zone comprised the area north of the (rough) line Kermanshah - Yazd - Sarakhs , the British the southeastern part of the country (present-day Iranian-Balochistan ).
  • Russia recognized that Afghanistan should be treated like a British protectorate. Russia's efforts to establish official relations with Afghanistan have ceased.

The treaty negotiations took place without representatives of the states concerned. The Persian government was informed of the content of the contract on September 16, 1907.

In the preamble to the text of the treaty, which refers to Persia, it says:

“The sole aim of this agreement is to avoid any misunderstanding between the parties on matters relating to Persia. The Shah's government will be convinced that this treaty will ... most effectively promote prosperity, security and internal development of Persia. "

The following articles then regulate in detail that all Persian customs duties in the Russian zone are to be paid to the " Banque d'Escompte et des Prets de Perse ", which was previously established as a branch of the Russian state bank in Tehran, to service the loans granted to the Shah by Russia. In return, all tariffs of the province of Fars and the Persian Gulf provinces as well as all income from fishing in the Persian Gulf and in the Caspian Sea and the income from the postal and telegraph systems are transferred to the British Imperial Bank of Persia, which was previously founded in Tehran to serve the British Loans granted to Shah paid off. Should there be irregularities in the payments, both powers had agreed to agree on what measures are to be taken.

Effects

The announcement of the agreement in Iran in September 1907 led to demonstrations and riots across the country. The population quickly realized that their land had been divided into economic zones by foreign powers without their consent and that the income flowing into the state would not benefit them, but would be used for interest payments and debt repayment of the loans taken out by the Qajareshahs.

As a direct consequence of the agreement, the very basis of the constitutional movement in Persia, the parliament, was dissolved twice in four years by the intervention of Russia. Mohammed Ali Shah welcomed Russia's political support against the constitutional movement. After the death of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah came to the throne, his rights as a Shah were severely restricted by parliament. Russia granted Mohammed Ali Shah a personal loan, which he used to finance thugs that attacked individual parliamentarians. In 1908 the first elected Iranian parliament was dissolved after the parliament building was shelled and destroyed by Cossacks on August 23, 1908. Great Britain had stayed completely out of what was going on in the Russian zone.

With the help of the Persian Cossack Brigade , Mohammed Ali Shah had restored absolutist rule in Persia. An exception was the city of Tabriz, which was held by constitutionalists. Russia sent its own troops to provide military support to Mohammad Ali Shah, but could not achieve any resounding success. In the end, the constitutional movement triumphed and Mohammad Ali Shah fled to the Russian embassy in Tehran. After the promise of a pension and the assurance that Persia would recognize and pay all debts that existed with Russia, Mohammed Ali Shah was able to leave for Russia on September 10, 1909 with a Russian passport.

Regular Russian troops invaded Persia a second time in 1911 and dissolved the second elected parliament of Persia in 1912. In the spring of 1911, the Persian parliament appointed the American financial expert Morgan Shuster as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Shuster introduced tax legislation based on the western pattern in Persia and thus helped the still young Persian state to generate extensive income. In order to enforce the tax demands of the state against the large landowners, he founded his own tax police, which was under the direction of a former British officer. The big landowners who had Russian loans turned to Russia, which immediately demanded the removal of Shusters. Since parliament did not bow to this demand, Russian troops marched into Persia, shot at the mosque in Mashahd and dissolved parliament. Shuster resigned from office. The constitutional movement in Persia had been stopped for the second time by Russia in its plan to build a democratically legitimized parliamentary system in Persia. This time, too, Great Britain adhered to the 1907 agreement and did not intervene in the political disputes between Russia and Persia.

It would be June 1914 before elections could be held in Iran again. In August 1914 the First World War broke out and in October 1914 Russian and British troops invaded Persia.

Cancellation

The First World War would mean the end of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg. After the collapse of Tsarist Russia and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution of 1917, Article 7 of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty stated: “Based on the fact that Persia and Afghanistan are free and independent states, the parties to the treaty undertake to to respect the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of these states. ”Asad Bahadur, Chargé d'Affaires of the Persian Embassy in Saint Petersburg, on the instructions of the Persian government, contacted the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Leon Trotsky , in order to negotiate the withdrawal of the to lead Russian troops. On January 14, 1918, Trotsky proposed a five-step plan on the basis of which the withdrawal should take place. At the end of January 1918, the withdrawal of Russian troops began. Bahadur negotiated with Trotsky about the annulment of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg of 1907. Here too he was successful. On January 27, 1918, on behalf of the Council of People's Commissars, Trotsky declared the Treaty of Saint Petersburg and all agreements before and after that date between Iran and Tsarist Russia that impair the sovereign rights of the Persian people "null and void". This decision was to have far-reaching consequences for Persian foreign policy. On July 27, 1918, the Persian government declared void all treaties, agreements and concessions with Russia that had been forced upon the Persian people through threats or bribery.

Follow-up contracts

After the end of the First World War in 1919, Great Britain attempted with the Anglo-Persian Treaty of 1919 to reorganize relations with Iran based on its political interests. The recognition of this treaty would have effectively transformed Iran into a British protectorate . The contract had been signed by the then Persian government after substantial bribes had been paid, but was not confirmed by the Persian parliament . The Soviets wanted at all costs to avoid a similar fate of their intended treaty. In order to change the status of the contract between the two countries, negotiations began in 1920. The prerequisites for a successful conclusion of the negotiations appeared to be in place. Persia was among the first countries to recognize the new Soviet government on December 14, 1917. On February 26, 1921, the Soviet-Persian friendship treaty was signed .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rouholla K. Ramanzani: The foreign policy of Iran . University Press of Virginia, 1966, p. 89.
  2. ↑ Rouholla K. Ramanzani: The foreign policy of Iran . University Press of Virginia, 1966, p. 91.
  3. ↑ Firouzeh Nahavandi: Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan. The Historic Origins of Iranian Foreign Policy . 1996, VUB University Press.
  4. ^ Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah . IB Tauris 2000, p. 9.
  5. ^ W. Morgan Shuster: The strangling of Persia; a story of the European diplomacy and oriental intrigue that resulted in the denationalization of twelve million Mohammedans, a personal narrative. Illustrated with Photographs and Map. Publisher: The Century Co. New York, 1912, pp. Xxviii.
  6. ^ Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah . IB Tauris 2000, p. 9 f.
  7. ^ Treaty text of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty
  8. ^ Rouhollah K. Ramazani: The foreign policy of Iran . University Press of Virginia, 1966, p. 148.
  9. ↑ Cosroe Chaqueri: The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran 1920–1921 . University of Pittsburg Pess, 1995, p. 143.