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Sir Arthur Nicolson and Russia: the Case of the Baghdad Railway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Stuart A. Cohen
Stuart A. Cohen
Affiliation:
Bar-llan University
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Type
Communications
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 1975 , pp. 863 - 872
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

1 Kazemzadeh, F., Russia and Britain in Persia 1864–1914 (Yale, 1968), pp. 482–3.Google Scholar

2 27 Apr. 1914, Nicolson to Sir M. de Bunsen (Vienna) pte., Gooch, G. P. and Temperley, H. (eds.), British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898–1914 (hereafter BD), vol. x, pt. ii (London, 1935), no. 540, p. 786.Google Scholar

3 He once ‘emphatically declared’ to Lady Hester Wemyss that ‘as long as he was at the head of the Foreign Office, England should never, never be friends with Germany’. Marder, A. J., From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, i (Oxford, 1961), 221–2.Google Scholar

4 SirNicolson, H., Sir Arthur Nicolson, Bart: First Lord Carnock (London, 1930), p. 354.Google Scholar

5 Williamson, S. R. jnr, The Politics of Grand Strategy (Harvard, 1969), p. 278.Google Scholar

6 Steiner, Z., The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy, 1898–1914 (Cambridge, 1969), pp. 121–40.Google Scholar

7 31 May 1907 Cabinet memorandum, Foreign Office records (Public Record Office, London), FO 371/340/12/17743. This spoke of control ‘from a point north of Baghdad to the Persian Gulf’.

8 20 Apr. 1910, Sir E. Grey (secretary of state for foreign affairs, 1905–16) to SirLowther, G. (ambassador at Constantinople, 1908–1913) 107 secret, BD vol. vi, no. 352, pp. 468–72.Google Scholar

9 A comprehensive list in 22 Aug. 1910, Lowther to Grey 603, BD vol. x (2), no. 1, pp. 1–6.

10 Kazemzadeh, , op. cit. pp. 367–9; BD vol. x (i), chap, LXXXIX.Google Scholar

11 22 Mar. 1911, Lowther to Grey 183 conf., BD vol. x (ii), no. 23, pp. 34–5.Google Scholar

12 1 Mar. 1911, Lowther to Grey tel. 52, BD vol. x(ii), no. 14, p. 24.Google Scholar

13 30 Mar. 1911, memorandum by A. Parker (F.O. clerk), point ‘b’, FO 371/1233/21/12280.

14 10 Apr. 1911, Grey to SirBuchanan, G. (ambassador to Russia, 1910–1917) 105,Google Scholar BD vol. x (1), no. 717, pp. 693–4.Google Scholar On tne origins of this proposal see 6 Apr. 1911, Grey to Sir F. Bertie (ambassador to France, 1905–18), ibid. no. 716, pp. 692–3 and 10 Apr. 1911, Benckendorff, to Neratow, , in Siebert, B. von (ed.), Graf Benckendorff's Diplomatische Schrijtwechshel (Berlin, 1928), no. 390, pp. 79–82.Google Scholar

15 6 Apr. 1911, Nicolson to Grey pte., Grey MSS (PRO), vol. LIV, FO 800/93.

16 12 Apr. 1911, Nicolson to Sir W. Goschen (ambassador to Germany, 1908–14) pte., Nicolson MSS (PRO) vol. 1911 (i), FO 800/347, p. 456 and 19 Apr. 1911, Nicolson to Sir C. Hardinge (viceroy of India, 1910–16) pte., ibid. vol. 1911 (ii), FO 800/348, p. 477.

17 15 Apr. 1912, Turkish aide–mémoire, BD vol. x (ii), no. 47, p. 59.Google Scholar

18 18 July 1912, British memorandum point 5, BD vol. x (ii), no. 55, p. 78.Google Scholar

19 7 Apr. 1911, Bd. of Trade to F.O., FO 371/1233/21/12979.

20 4 Mar. 1911, Llewellyn Smith to Sir S. Buxton (president of the Board, 1910–14) pte., Board of Trade Records (PRO), BT 11/4 no. 7.

21 28 Aug. 1913, Bd. of Trade to F.O., FO 371/1817/20107/39832.

22 29 Mar. 1911 (sent on 31st), I.O. to F.O., India Office Records (Commonwealth Relations Office, London), L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 516.

23 29 Apr. 1911, Viceroy to Sec. of State for India pte., ibid.

24 Minutes by Sir A. Hirtzel, 28 Apr. 1911 and 12 July 1911, ibid. nos. 3429 and 3912; and 6 Apr. 1911, I.O. toF.O., FO 371/1236/29/12765.

25 16 Mar. 1911, F.O. to I.O., FO 371/1233/21/7880.

26 15 Feb. 1911, Lowther to Nicolson pte., Nicolson MSS vol. 1911 (ii), FO 800/347, P. 182.

27 8 Apr. 1911, minute by Sir L. Mallet (assistant under–sccretary), FO 371/1233/21/12979; and 24 Apr. 1911, minute by H. Norman, FO 371/1234/21/15141.

28 24 Jan. 1912, minute by A. Parker (clerk), FO 371/1484/264/3244.

29 Despite Grey's suggestion that another such conference was necessary; 4 Apr. 1911, minute, FO 371/1233/21/12463.

30 4 Mar. 1911, minute by Parker, FO 371/1233/21/10716.

31 19 June 1912, minute by Parker, FO 371/1485/264/26379.

32 24 Nov. 1910, minute by Hirtzel, L/P /3 vol. CCLXXV, no. 4252. In July 1912, the Government of India's opinion was not asked ‘for reasons of haste’. 6 July 1912, F.O. to I.O., FO 371/1485/264/27623.

33 30 May 1912, minute by Hirtzel, L/P & S/10, LIX, no. 2065. The conversation was interrupted by another caller.

34 19 July 1911, Buxton to Grey pte., FO 371/1234/21/28300 and 26 July 1912, minute by Parker, ibid.

35 15 July 1911, Hirtzel to Ritchie pte., L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 3912.

36 2 Aug. 1911, Hardinge to Nicolson pte., Nicolson MSS vol. 1911 (iii), FO 800/349, p. 205.

37 29 Mar. 1911, Hardinge to Nicolson pte., BD vol. x (ii), no. 25, p. 38.Google Scholar Hardinge was later to claim that ‘provided we can keep a good hold on the Persian Gulf, I do not very much care what goes on north of Basrah’. 24 Aug. 1911, Hardinge to Nicolson pte., Nicolson MSS vol. 1911 (iv), FO 800/350, p. 190.

38 On Curzon's ‘bond’ with Sheik Mubarak (1899) and the Government's acquisition of a lease on the Kuwait foreshore (1907), see Busch, B. C., Britain and the Persian Gulf, 1894–1914 (Berkeley, 1967), pp. 108–10 and 308–10.Google Scholar

39 23 Apr. 1911, Slade to Gvnt. of India tel., I.O. files 73/7 L, no. d. 19. The full document did not arrive in London until May (17 May 1911, Admiralty to F.O., FO 371/1247/15282/18952).

40 As explained in 10 July 1911, Nicolson to Babington Smith (British financier at Constan tinople) pte., Constantinople Embassy Archives (PRO), FO 195/2380, folio 116.

41 Report of the CID Standing Committee on the Persian Gulf, 14 July; 1911, Records of the Committee of Imperial Defence (PRO), CAB 16/15.

42 e.g. 26 Jan. 1905, paper by Sir G. Clarke, CAB 38/8/5; 2 May 1906, J. Morley (sec. of state for India, 1905–10) to Earl of Minto (viceroy of India, 1905–10) pte., Morley MSS (CRO), viii, 35; 23 Jan. 1907, Newmarch evidence before Baghdad Railway Committee, FO 371/340/12/9865; 20 July 1910, Babington Smith to Cassel, Babington Smith MSS (St Antony's College, Oxford), vol. iii; 27 Feb. 1911, I.O. to F.O., FO 371/1232/21/7401; 16 Mar. 1911, Crow (consul, Basra) to Lowther tel. 50, FO 195/2367.

43 4 Apr. 1911, minute, FO 371/1233/21/12463.

44 Report of the Committee, para. 1, CAB 16/15. Admittedly, Nicolson himself was not a member of this committee; but Grey and Parker were.

45 e.g. 19 June 1907, Nicolson to Hardinge pte., Nicolson MSS, vol. 1905–1910, FO 800/337, p. 183.

46 5 July 1911, Nicolson to Hardinge pte., Nicolson MSS, vol. 1911 (iii), FO 800/349, p. 309.

47 16 July 1911, Viceroy to Sec. of State, enclosed in FO 371/1234/21/28222.

48 See the joint memorandum on the Turkish reply by Parker, and Hirtzel, , dated 24 Apr. 1912,Google Scholar in BD vol. x (ii), no. 50, pp. 67–73.Google Scholar

49 According to Parker, 22 May 1912, minute, FO 371/1484/264/21766.

50 All these arguments in: 30 Apr. 1912, minute by Hirtzel, L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 1582; 21 May 1912, I.O. to F.O., FO 371/1484/264/21766; 25 May 1912, Crewe (sec. of state for India, 1910–15) to Hardinge tel. pte., L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 2065; 29 May 1912, Hardinge to Crewe tel. pte., ibid.; 31 May 1912, minute by Hirtzel, ibid.; 7 June 1912, memorandum (9 pp.) by Hirtzel, FO 371/1484/264/24342; 10 June 1912, I.O. toF.O. FO 371/1485/264/24955.

51 30 May 1912, F.O. to I.O., FO 371/1484/264/21766.

52 26 May 1912, Parker to Hardinge pte., Hardinge MSS (Cambridge University Library), vol. xcii (i), no. 241, p. 283.

53 27 Mar. 1912, departmental minutes, BD vol. x (ii), no. 44, pp. 57–8.

54 26 Mar. 1912, Nicolson to Buchanan pte., Nicolson MSS vol. 1912 (ii), FO 800/354, p, 242.

55 22 May 1912, minute, FO 371/1484/264/21766.

56 11 June 1912, minute, FO 371/1485/264/24955.

57 No official records of these conferences could be found in the Foreign Office files. The following account is taken from 11 June 1912, memorandum by Hirtzel, L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 2065; 11 June 1912, memorandum (unsigned) in Nicolson MSS vol. 1912 (v), FO 800/357, p. 246; and 12 June 1912, memorandum by P. Ashley (staff officer, Bd. of Trade), BT 11/4, no. 15.

58 14 June 1912, Benckendorff to Sazonov tel. 170, Siebert, , op. cit. no. 631, pp. 393–4;Google Scholar and 20 Sep. 1912, Grey to Bertie 463, BD vol. x (ii), no. 57, pp. 87–8.Google Scholar

59 27 June 1912, memorandum by Hirtzel, L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 2500; 27 June 1912, memorandum by G. Stanley (ast. sec. commercial dept., Bd. of Trade), BT 11/4, no. 15.

60 28 June 1912, minute, L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 2500.

61 8 July 1912,1.O. to F.O., FO 371/1485/264/29140.

62 28 June 1912, minute, L/P & S/10 vol. LIX, no. 2500

63 2 July 1912, minute, FO 371/1485/264/28093.

64 23 July 1912, F.O. to I.O., FO 371/1485/264/28093.

65 24 July 1912, minute, L/P & S/10 vol. LX, no. 2890. 20 Sep. 1912, Grey to Bertie 463, BD vol. x (ii), no. 57, pp. 87–8.Google Scholar

66 20 Mar. 1911, Nicolson to Lowther pte., Lowther MSS (PRO), FO 800/193, p. 319.

67 15 Apr. 1909, Morley to Minto pte., Morley MSS vol. iv, p. 79.

68 e.g. Edwards, E. W., ‘Great Britain and the Manchurian Railways Question, 1909–1910’, English Historical Review, LXXXIII (10 1968), 741.Google Scholar

69 31 Apr. 1912, minute, L/P & S/10 vol. Lix, no. 2065.