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THE LAST IMPERIAL AMBASSADOR IN BRITAIN: RUSSIAN EMBASSY UNDER COUNT A.K.BENCKENDORFF (1903-1917) (Spine title: Russian Ambassador in Britain 1903-1917) (Thesis format: Monograph) by Marina E. Soroka Graduate Program in History A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Marina E. Soroka 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54340-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54340-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners Dr. Neville J. Thompson Dr. Charles A. Ruud Co-Supervisor Dr. Brock Millman Dr. Jonathan F.W. Vance Dr. Bruce Morrison Dr. Keith Neilson The thesis by Marina Soroka Entitled: The Last Imperial Ambassador in Britain: Russian Embassy Under Count A.K. Benckendorff(1903-1917) Is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date Chair of the Thesis Examination Board 11 Abstract Count A.K. Benckendorff represented Russia's interests in Great Britain at the time of the consolidation of two rival European blocs prior to the First World War. The defeat in the war with Japan and the revolution of 1905-7 forced the Russian Empire to embark on a program of modernization and political reform which required a prolonged period of external peace. Russia attempted to secure it through a policy of balancing between the principal rival powers, Britain and Germany, without committing itself irrevocably to either side. The attempt failed and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 fixed Russia's position alongside Great Britain and France. Count Benckendorff s efforts to bring about and strengthen the Anglo-Russian rapprochement contributed to the failure of the balancing policy adopted by the Russian government. He saw the Anglo-Russian rapprochement as a way to secure Russia's peaceful modernization and incorporation into the European community of nations. His admiration of the successful and prosperous British state made him side with the British government in all the bilateral issues. Using his considerable personal influence at St Petersburg Benckendorff improved Anglo-Russian relations but at the same time he contributed to the Russo-German antagonism and to the circumstances which led to the conflict of August 1914. The system which allowed him to rise to his high position, proved unable to impose discipline on him and his efforts undermined Russian foreign policy. This is the first work in western or Russian historiography on a Russian diplomatic mission in Europe. Keywords: World War I, Entente, Triple Alliance, Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, Russo-Japanese War, Eastern question, Franco-Russian alliance, Central Asia, Persia, Russo-German relations, old diplomacy, Foreign Office, Foreign Office, Russian Foreign ministry, Paul Cambon, Sir Edward Grey, Sir Charles Hardinge, A.P.Iswolsky, Lord Lansdowne, S.D. Sazonov, Edward VII, Nicholas II, Empress Maria Feodorovna. in Acknowledgements I have been fortunate in having three excellent supervisors: Professor Brock Millman, Dr. Neville Thompson and Dr. Charles Ruud. Their attention and encouragement made these five years an exceptionally happy time. Dr. Thompson with great patience and wisdom guided me through various labyrinths of graduate studies. Professor Millman's example taught me that it is possible to be efficient and at the same time humane and attentive to others' needs. Dr. Ruud reminded me of the need to be philosophical about the present of Russia and consistently encouraged my interest in its past. By doing all of this they taught me to love and respect all that the University of Western Ontario stands for. The historians at the Russian History Institute in Moscow, Dr. A.V.Ignat'iev, Dr. V.M. Khevrolina, Dr. E.G. Kostrikova and Dr. I.S. Rybachonok generously provided me with introductions to Russian archives and advice on working there and gave me their valuable books related to my subject. Dr. Irina Rybachonok kept my research interests in mind as she was reading archival materials for her monograph on Russian imperial foreign policy and spent hours of her scarce time discussing with me the flaws and merits of Russian diplomacy. I am most grateful to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her gracious permission to quote from papers in the Royal Archive at Windsor. I must thank A.V. Abramenkova and O.A. Popova of the Archives of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire in Moscow; Miss Pamela Clark of Royal Archives at Windsor; T.Chebotaryova of the Bakhmetev Archive at Columbia University, New York; Nina I. Abdullaeva at the State Archives of Russian Federation in Moscow and Elizabeth Mantz and David Murphy at Weldon Library of the University of Western Ontario, London. Without their assistance this dissertation would not have been written. I was able to travel to Moscow, Windsor and New York thanks to the generous support oftheSSHRC in 2006-9. IV Table of Contents Certificate of examination ii Abstract and keywords iii Acknowledgements iv Table of contents v Abbreviations vi Introduction 1 Chapter 1. The premises of an Anglo-Russian rapprochement 8 Chapter 2. Old diplomacy a la russe 1868-1902 37 Chapter 3. The new ambassador and his objectives 1902-1904 62 Chapter 4. The Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905 94 Chapter 5. The London embassy and the Anglo-Russian rapprochement 1905-1907... 131 Chapter 6. The school of compromise 1907-1908 168 Chapter 7. Balance abandoned 1908-1910 197 Chapter 8. Waiting for an August war 1910-1913 232 Chapter 9. The price of an alliance 1914-1917 267 Conclusion 309 Bibliography 314 Notable characters 328 VITA 332 v Abbreviations AVPRI Arkhiv Vneshnei Politiki Rossiiskoi Imperii [Archives of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire} BD British Documents on the Origins of the War. 1898-1914 BC2 Benckendorff Papers, Part 2 at Columbia University Bakhmetev Archive DDF Documents Diplomatiques Franqais. 1871- 1914. (2e Serie) FO Foreign Office. Private Collections. Various Ministers and Officials. Public Records Office GARF Gosudarstvennyy Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [State Archive of the Russian Federation] GP Die Grosse Politik der Europaischen Kabinette. 1877-1914 OP Papers of the Earls of Onslow of Clandon Park at Surrey History Centre, Woking OR Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi Gosudarstvennoi Biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], Moscow PA Parliamentary Archives, London RA Royal Archives, Windsor Notes The method of transliteration used in the text is that of the Library of Congress. The spelling of Russian names is, when possible, in the form which the owners used (e.g., Lamsdorff, rather than Lambsdorff or Lamzdorf). VI 1 Introduction ...I cannot agree with you when you equate K[apnist]'s success to the triumph of our dear motherland.... Is this outcome a true success? Only time will tell. In politics everything depends on whether things come out the way that favours us, and usually it takes years to tell whether an event favoured us or not... I do not believe that we are underestimating the importance of the issues which concern you. But once the enormous potential impact of these issues becomes obvious, it also becomes clear that no one can either forever block their development or direct it entirely according to one's own vision. Count V. N. Lamsdorff to A.S. Ionin (1895)1 A vast literature dedicated to the events and figures of British foreign policy before World War I contrasts with a very limited number of studies of Russian diplomatic service which is the last remaining element in the origins of the War to be investigated. Britain's unrivalled position in the pre-1914 period naturally attracted historians' attention to all aspects of the Pax Britannica, including its active and successful diplomacy. As for imperial Russian foreign policy, historians of Russia agreed as early as the 1920s that it was a study in failure and Nicholas IPs envoys, who carried out failed policies conceived at St Petersburg, have been of no interest to historians.