We are all familiar with the story of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the agreement between Britain and France for carving up and dividing large portions of the Ottoman Empire after the war. There is one Entente power not formally included in this common narrative, despite being involved in some of the heaviest and most successful military campaigns in Anatolia, Persia, and Mesopotamia.
Let’s rectify this…
The Russian Origins of the First World War, by Sean McMeekin
On 4 March 1915, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov delivered to his ambassadors in Paris and London a message that came directly from Tsar Nicholas II: a formal sovereign demand for postwar control of Constantinople and the Straits. That the Russian’s had their eyes on this prize was no surprise – this had long been an objective for the Russians. Despite this…
Sazonov’s historic aide-mémoire does, however, seem to have offended French and British sensibilities in its deeply inappropriate timing.
It was delivered right in the middle of the bloody Dardanelles campaign, a campaign for which Russia was contributing, as of yet, nothing. Despite this lack of contribution, the British Cabinet formally endorsed Russia’s claim on 12 March.
The Russian Origins of…
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The author, McMeekin, is surprised by this approval – it is one of many examples he offers through which he concludes that the British diplomats were dupes and the Russians were brilliant. As I have mentioned, this seems unlikely to me – and even in this case there is a reasonable alternative interpretation.
As Peter Frankopan offered, Britain wanted Russia focused on Europe so it…