Salisbury vs Curzon: The Struggle for Persia

Between 1899 and 1902, the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, and the Viceroy of India Lord Curzon, battled over how best to address Russian expansion into Persia, a buffer state with immense strategic importance to the Indian Empire.

This video aims to be a short documentary looking at the debate between Simla and Whitehall over how best to confront St Petersburg and Tehran

#History, #BritishEmpire, #RussianEmpire

[OldBritannia]

I hope you enjoy this short video on an interesting squabble between British policy makers, over the fate of Persia at the turn of the twentieth century. Sorry for the short delay, it turned out to be a lot harder to translate this script to video than expected, thus I wont claim this a magnum opus, but hopefully the short length means it wont be terribly dull. Other than that, any feedback is welcomed, thank you for watching.

[Centristlol]

You should do a series on the Great Game! Like with the Anglo-American Conflict. The Great Game has always been a fixation of mine and it is a truly fascinating bit of colonial history

[nice]

Cool video! A few things for people who want to know about Persia. Persia and England used to be allied since the time of the Safavids. This grew during Abbas the Great in which British advisors co-ordinates with Persia on an invasion of Ottoman Turkey with the other great powers. The alliance also included support for manufacturing of weopen and support by the British navy against the Portuguese empire which had land in the Persian gulf.

Another interesting fact is that one major reason that Britain even could take over India was the invasion of the Iranian emperor Nader Shah against the Mughals which practically destroyed them.

During the Qajar, which is the dynasty talked in this video, Iran and Britain were yet again allied in the start. Abbas Mirza, which was for great modernisation, got support from Britain against their wars against the Russians. This includes advisors and help to manufacturer weopen, specially cannons. The Persian army at this point became a strong force and scored victories early against the Russians. Yet not go over this in detail, the plan of Iran was that Napoleon (this war was during the Napoleonic wars) would had defeated Russia. The Iranian army, which had well trained soldiers and had in fact won a war against stronger Ottomans, lacked cannons and had problems with organisation lost the war eventually. At this point the Persians and British practically broke their alliance as the British did not see the Persians as worth helping.

Some other wars happened between Britain and Persia, which went pretty good for Iran all things considered. Iran also had one its greatest advisors in its history, Amir Kabir, which nearly modernised Iran, yet was killed as he tried to removed corruption.

But because of mismanagement of Iran, revolt started out (Iranian constitutional revolution), which saw Iran get a constitutional monarchy, yet was quickly destroyed by the Russian army that crippled Iranian economy. After that under WW1Iran declared neutrality, was invaded by Russia and Britain either way. Two government were formed (pro-entente and pro-central powers). Iran as also invaded by the Ottomans. Persian resistance fighters fought and at some point won against all three powers. Russian civil war, Lenin did not like imperialism in Iran so he signed friendship deal with Persia. After WW1 Britain retreated, tried for the last time to make Iran a colony, was actually signed but broken by the new dynasty called Pahlavi dynasty lead by former cossack leader Reza Shah.

This is just a few things that i feel could give more information on this. Good video still and what I have said had taken away a lot of the details.

[garrettallen]

This is fascinating work! Seeing how the British Raj was treated almost as an independent country, one’s who’s aims could go against Britain, do you know if this played into the Partition of India or its foreign policy once it achieved independence?

[nightdragonx]

I think youre one of my favorite history channels out there. You've inspired me to go back to school to study more about history and I hope my classmates appreciate the knowledge you have taught me 👍

[setare]

Im persian, its interesting to know the story from British perspective. Persian perspective id that our politicians played both hands, russia and Britain, to avoid loosing complete independence and control over our weakened homeland.

[HerrHamzus]

Fantastic video as always. Britain in the 19th century was just something we will probably never see again

[alessiocolella]

Just an appreciation comment, one I usually never write to YouTubers: I have been watching and enjoying your content for months, and I must say that your channel is by far the one I admire the most. Your graphic skills, the authoritative sources you use and the fact that you sometimes focus on smaller events that are usually forgotten truly make this channel a little jewel I will keep following. I am grateful for the effort you keep putting in your videos, as the results are never disappointing. Keep working like this!
I would be even more grateful if you could read or answer to this comment too, of course. :)

[LukaMLS]

Love what you are doing men, keep up the good work.

[thItem]

Another awesome video. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite history/geopolitical channels on YouTube. I do have to ask though, what happened to the videos on the history of the British Empire? I loved those videos and none of the other videos on YouTube on this subject have the excellent attention to detail and geopolitics that those videos had. I hope you'll put those videos up once more. Cheers from across the pond!

[jackhenderson]

Hands down the best history channel on YouTube

[gustavvanderwesthuizen]

I can't believe how underrated this channel is, keep going you are worth a million subs!

[danielross]

Absolutely love the subjects and era of history you do videos on. I haven’t seen visual or audible media done to anywhere near this standard. The research you put into each video is much appreciated, as it your focus on facts and details, not sensationalism or generalisation of topics for ‘entertainment’ or popularism for ‘clicks & views’

[El_Slugo]

The rapid pace and quality of your videos astounds, keep up the great work,

[unusualhistorian]

An excellent documentary on an overlooked subject!

[alansmithee]

Fascinating. Two powerful British officials with such a Gulf between them.
I keep recommending this channel in comments elsewhere.

[bcvetkov]

The fascinating tidbit that isn't mentioned is how Witte and the Tsar each thought about expansion into Persia. Witte had a logistical way of thinking unseen in Russia since Tsar Alexander's I's time. He absolutely abhorred the thought of Russia expanding into Persia when it could de facto get what it wanted from Persia diplomatically so long as it did not step on London's shoes. The Tsar at the time (I believe also named Alexander. Correct me if I'm mistaken comments section) agreed with his sentiments since conquering most of Central Asia (seriously it's bigger than we think) and keeping it governed somehow was the first priority. Building roads and railways throughout the new provinces had to be thought of first before any expedition into Persia could take place.
Just my two cents on the topic folks. Have a great day.

[memofromessex]

Fantastic stuff!

If I can make a suggestion: Can you create a video on British and French rivalry and cooperation in the long nineteenth century?

I know at times France believed it could rival the UK, but knew it could not because of the British Navy

[sleepygrumpy]

Outstanding -- your research and fluency with the material is amazing -- instant sub

[forsakenvoidz]

You are honestly the most underrated creator on youtube, It’s crazy to me that you only have 50k subs, I hope you reach 1 mil someday