British Policy on the Margins and Centre of Iran in the Context of Great Power Rivalry 1908-1914 Li-Chiao Chen Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London PhD thesis 1 Declaration of Authorship I …… Li-Chiao Chen …… Hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: _________________________ Date: 7 February 2015 2 Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………….. 7 Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………….. 8 Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………. 9 Note on Transliteration …………………………………………………………. 10 Chapter I Introduction ………………………………………………………….. 11 Chapter II Oil: A New Facet in Anglo-Iranian Relations 1908-1914 …………... 53 Introduction ………………………………………………………………….. 53 1. The signing of the Oil Concession of 1901 ……………………………….. 56 2. Agreements between the British and the Bakhtiayri Khans ………………. 59 3. The relationship between the British and the Sheykh of Mohammerah ….. 71 4. Britain’s protection of oil interests in Iran: the interests of other powers and the central government ………………………………………………….. 81 a. Oil in the context of Anglo-Russian relations ………………………… 82 b. The issue of a loan to the central government ………………………… 86 c. The German factor in the South-West of Iran ………………………… 90 5. Oil and the British Admiralty ……………………………………………... 92 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… 98 Chapter III British Policy on the Constitutional Revolution in Iran and the Return of the Ex-Shah in 1911 ……………………………………………. 102 Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 102 1. Mohammad ‘Ali Shah and his unsettled constitutional government ……. 107 2. British policy towards Iran in Mohammad ‘Ali Shah’s reign and the role of 3 Russia ………………………………………………………... 114 3. The Protocol of 1909 and return of the ex-Shah ………………………… 127 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….. 133 Chapter IV British Policy and Railways in Iran 1903-1914 ………………….. 137 Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 137 1. Schemes for railways in Iran: 1903-1910 ……………………………….. 143 a. Iranian railways: discussions between Britain and Russia ……………. 143 b. Britain, Russia and Germany – cooperation and division to 1910 ……. 146 c. Expiry of the 1890 Agreement and Britain and Germany in 1910 ……. 150 2. The Potsdam Agreement of 1911 and British railway projects in south-western Iran ………………………………………………….. 153 a. The Potsdam Agreement of 1911 and its assessment …………………. 153 b. British railway projects in south-western Iran ………………………... 159 3. The period of railway competition in Iran: 1910-1914 ………………….. 163 a. The Trans-Persian Railway scheme and the Societé d’Études ……….. 163 b. The signing of British and Russian railway concessions with the Iranian government 1910-14 ………………………………………………….. 167 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….. 170 Chapter V Disputes over the Ottoman-Iranian Border and the Involvement of Britain 1905-1914 ……………………………………………… 174 Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 174 1. Ottoman occupation and negotiations in the early twentieth century …… 184 a. The Ottoman occupation of the border in 1905-1906 ………………… 184 b. The withdrawal of Ottoman troops in 1907 …………………………... 188 c. Disturbances and the Ottoman-Iranian commission: 1907-1908 ……... 191 4 d. The formation of the Anglo-Russian commission: 1908-1911 …...…... 195 2. Signing of protocols and transfer of territories ………………………… 199 a. The Protocol of Tehran in 1911 ……………………………………… 199 b. Disputes over Mohammerah and the involvement of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company …………………………………………………………….. 200 (a) Mohammerah …………………………………………………….. 201 (b) The Anglo-Persian Oil Company ………………………………… 205 c. The Protocol of Istanbul in 1913 …………………………………….. 208 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 211 Chapter VI The Employment of Foreign Advisors in Iran and British Policy 1911-1914 ……………………………………… 215 Introduction ………………………………………………………………... 215 1. Looking for foreign advisors ……………………………………………. 218 2. The Shuster mission and the Stokes incident ……………………………. 223 a. The employment of Shuster …………………………………………… 223 b. The Stokes incident …………………………………………………… 226 c. The dismissal of Shuster ………………………………………………. 231 3. The end of Majles in 1911 ……………………………………………….. 237 4. The establishment of Iran’s gendarmerie under Swedish officers ………. 243 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….. 251 Chapter VII Conclusion ………………………………………………………. 254 Map 1 ………………………………………………………………………… 269 Map 2 ………………………………………………………………………… 270 Map 3 …………………………………………………………………………. 271 5 Map 4 …………………………………………………………………………. 272 Map 5 …………………………………………………………………………. 273 Map 6 …………………………………………………………………………. 274 Map 7 …………………………………………………………………………. 275 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….. 276 6 Abstract This thesis explores British policy towards Iran in the context of great power rivalry between 1908 and 1914. In the said period, British policy experienced changes in responses to a collapsing Iran, in which foreign powers, namely Russia, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, also became involved. The thesis concentrates in particular on negotiations and incidents in the margins of Iran, such as the south-west region, which came to be seen as being as important as Tehran. The discovery of oil in 1908 as the authority of the central government collapsed led to increasing British involvement in the South-West by the signing of agreements with the local powers, in contravention of Britain’s long-standing policy of non-intervention. Neither the constitutionalists nor the vision of Mohammad ‘Ali Shah served the British need for order. On the other hand, Germany’s project for the Baghdad railway seemed to threaten British interests, which resulted in impediments to Iran’s plans for railway development. The British mediated in the dispute over the Ottoman-Iranian border, especially on Mohammerah, in order to secure their interests. In the employment of foreign advisors in the North and South of Iran, the British avoided irritating Russia rather than supporting Shuster in Tehran. In the South they favoured the Swedish Gendarmerie to protect their trade interests. 7 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Vanessa Martin for her patience and endurance in the writing of this thesis, and her advice and suggestions for my applications for research funding. During these years our fortnightly meetings, for me, were great journeys in Iranian history. Dr. Chi-Kwan Mark, who is my advisor, also provided valuable suggestions in my upgrade, and many thanks for his recommendations on my funding applications. The staff in the British Petroleum Archive, based in University of Warwick, Joanne Burman, Bethan Thomas, and Peter Housego, gave me warm hospitality during my visit to their archives. I am especially grateful to the Iran Heritage Foundation and the British Institute of Persian Studies for providing funding for my research in Iran. The secretary of BIPS, Mariam Emamy, always patiently replied to my questions on email. I am grateful to Mr. Awadzadeh and Mr. Fazeli at the Institute for Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies in Tehran for finding photos and documents. Miss Zabihi helped me to access the Archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iran, and her colleague, Mr. Chegini, completed the document request form on my behalf. Mr. Hadi Borhani, who is doing a PhD at the University of Exeter, much assisted me in buying books and translating when I was doing research in Iran. 8 Abbreviations ADHERI Asnadi Darbareh-ye Hojum-e Engelis va Rus beh Iran APOC Anglo-Persian Oil Company BP British Petroleum Archives, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Entente Entente Diplomacy and the World: Matrix of the History of Europe, 1909-1914 GASIO Gozideh Asnad-e Siyasi-ye Iran va ‘Osmani: Dowreyeh-e Qajariyeh FO Foreign Office, National Archives, Kew, UK IOR India Office Records, British Library, London, UK SAMI Sazman-e Asnad-e Melli-ye Iran, Tehran, Iran 9 Note on Transliteration The transliteration used in this thesis follows the Iranian Studies scheme. 10 Chapter I Introduction This study examines British policy in Iran from the discovery of oil in the South-West of Iran by Britain in 1908 to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. It is more particularly concerned with the impact of the discovery of oil in the years leading up to 1914, and its effect on British policy. This discovery proved a major turning point in British policy towards Iran, and as a result Britain paid increasing attention to the strengthening of power in the region. However, the extraction of oil took place against both long standing great power rivalries over Iran, and internal political developments which began to emerge at the end of the nineteenth century. There had been significant rivalry between Britain and Russia in the Middle East and Central Asia, with particular focus on Iran as a buffer state, from the early nineteenth century. Though other powers, notably France in the early nineteenth century, showed some interest in Iran, they had little impact as compared to unified Germany, the emergent power in Europe by the early twentieth century. Then its influence was particularly reflected in the Ottoman Empire, Iran’s neighbour, most notably through the construction of railways which reached into Mesopotamia. This in turn had implications for British control in the South-West of Iran, which forms a major theme in this study. Thus by 1914 not only had Britain’s commercial and strategic interests in Iran grown and changed, their security had become affected by more complex