Untitled - OUDL Home

against Western imperialism. The electric effect of thevictory of an Asiatic state over a European in the Russo-Japanese war and the repercussions of the 1905 Revolutionin Russia resulted in a revolution in Persia (1906)and a prolonged struggle of the newly created nationalassembly against the shah and reaction, backed by tsaristRussia. Great Britain and Russia still faced each other,but under fundamentally changed conditions.The Russo-Japanese war and the 1905 Revolutioncaused a radical reversal of Russian policy. In 1907 theentente with England was concluded.This rapid change in the long-continued hostilitybetween the two governments was due, on the Russianside, primarily to the reaction against absorption in Asiaand the feeling that it was essential to clear up differenceswith Great Britain in order to keep free for developmentsin Europe. Izvolsky, the new foreign minister (1906-10),whose gaze had always been westward, held strongly that"we must put our interests in Asia on a reasonablefooting, otherwise we shall simply become an Asiaticstate, which would be the greatest disaster,'' Hence hewas the prime mover in the agreement with England.He had a hard fight against his own subordinates inPersia and against the general staff, who got their wayon some points, but he had useful support from theminister of finance, Kokovtsev, upright and genuinelyconciliatory, though without any driving force (later,1911-14, prime minister).On the British side anxieties on the side of Germanyprobably had the most weight. The success of theentente with her old enemy France suggested a similaraccommodation with her other old enemy, and Frenchdiplomacy did what it could to smooth the path. Likethe agreement of 1904 with France, but unlike theFranco-Russian alliance or the Triple Alliance, the 1907agreement was public and took the form of a settlementof disputes in certain regions, not of an alliance or theproclamation of a joint policy. Unlike the entente withFrance, it was not followed, by any military or navalplans.The agreement covered Tibet, Afghanistan, and Persia440