Imperialist Diplomacy in the Middle East¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter, drawn from a 1908 article in Proletarii, dissects the diplomatic manoeuvres of the great powers in the Balkans, Turkey, and Persia, arguing that every action is governed by "cold and merciless imperialist calculation" rather than any professed principles. The core narrative thrust is that the rivalry between capitalist Germany and Britain over influence in the decaying Ottoman Empire is absolute and cynical. Germany, having "gritted its teeth" and stepped aside over recent Balkan events, is depicted as genuinely welcoming the potential downfall of the constitutional Young Turk regime, despite having hypocritically welcomed its victory. Britain, meanwhile, loudly demonstrates friendship toward the new Turkish order to weaken Germany’s Balkan position, yet the "sore point" of Egypt remains: Britain will never voluntarily evacuate the Suez Canal. The text argues that whether Britain would support Turkey militarily or instead "stab her in the back" by declaring Egypt her property depends entirely on circumstance, not on any "sentimental love for liberal Turkey."
The chapter then turns to Tsarist Russia’s diplomatic aims. Russian diplomacy, personified by Foreign Minister Izvolsky, seeks a "free exit" for its navy from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, which are fortified and held by Turkey under a European mandate. Britain opposes this unilateral lifting of the ban, accepting the straits’ disarmament only if it grants her own fleet access to the Sea of Marmara or Black Sea—a condition that would leave Russia, with its weak naval forces, at a net loss. The text polemicises against the hypocrisy of the Russian press, Novoe Vremya, which attacks Britain for denying Russia a "purely theoretical" right, while Russia simultaneously pressures the Shah’s government and seeks a private agreement with Turkey to break its own European mandate. This, the chapter warns, threatens not only Turkey’s peaceful development but the peace of all Europe.
The most damning polemic is reserved for the collaboration between Tsarism and "liberal" Britain in Persia. While Izvolsky ties diplomatic knots in Europe, Colonel Lyakhov prepares a "second offensive of the Cossack boot" against revolutionary Persia. The victory of Tabriz, the revolutionary centre, threatened to upset the plans of St. Petersburg and London, which had already pronounced sentence on Persia via the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907, carving the country into spheres of influence. The chapter concludes with a bitter, sarcastic note: on 11 October, six Russian infantry battalions crossed the Persian frontier to occupy Tabriz, while telegraph links were cut to spare "the humane peoples of Europe" from witnessing how Tsarism’s "brazen rabble" realises the "harmonious cooperation" of two Christian nations amid the smoking ruins.