Roads to Glory: Late Imperial Russia and the Turkish Straits

264 Pages·2006·1.201 MB·English

by  Ronald Bobroff

Roads to Glory

Roads to Glory
Late Imperial Russia and
the Turkish Straits

Ronald Park Bobroff
Published in 2006 by I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd
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175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and Canada distributed by
Palgrave Macmillan a division of St. Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © 2006 Ronald Park Bobroff
The right of Ronald Park Bobroff to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any
part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher.
ISBN 1 84511 142 7
EAN 978 1 84511 142 7
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author
Contents

List of tables vi
Note on usage vii
Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1
1. Stolypin and a policy of avoiding confrontation, 1908 to 13
March 1911
2. Policy drift and the Italo-Turkish War, March 1911 to 20
October 1912
3. The Balkan Wars: Choosing between the Balkan States 37
and the Straits, 1912-1913
4. Turkish naval expansion and the Liman von Sanders 76
Crisis, March 1912 to July 1914
5. War deferred: Diplomacy dominant during Turkish 96
neutrality, July 1914 to October 1914
6. War engaged: Allied and domestic disputes over the 116
fate of Constantinople and the Straits, November 1914
to July 1916
Conclusion: A Russian tragedy 149

Notes 157
Bibliography 203
Index 243
List of Tables

Table 1 Total trade of Turkey with France and Russia 161
1909-1914
Table 2 Dreadnoughts and Dreadnought Battlecruisers 183
1906-1914

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Note on Usage

When writing Russian history, a number of choices must be made
about the treatment of names and dates. My transliterations follow a
modified Library of Congress system. In the text and index, I generally
transliterated names from the Russian. In cases where last names were
not originally Russian, I used their original form; thus, Benckendorff
instead of Benkendorf, Hartwig instead of Gartvig, Giers instead of
Girs, Neidhardt instead of Neidgart, and so on. I left names that are
familiar in English in their western forms, especially those of the tsars.
In the notes, however, I based the presentation of the names on the
provenance of the source. When Benckendorff is quoted from a Russian
source, his name is given as Benkendorf (even if he is writing in French),
while if I cite a French-, German-, or English-language publication, it is
given as Benckendorff. The Russian alphabet also contains two
unpronounced letters, usually rendered with a single or double
quotation mark for the soft and hard signs, respectively. I have removed
the single quotation from names where it comes after an ‘l’ but left it in
other cases: Izvolskii instead of Izvol’skii but Anan’ich rather than
Ananich. Sazonov is always Sazonov, unless noted differently in the
quotation. Turkish personal and place names are rendered as they were
in early twentieth-century western literature: Djemal instead of Çemal
and Adrianople instead of Edirne.
Imperial Russian history also requires a choice about dates. Until
1918, Russia followed the Julian calendar, which was twelve days
behind the western, Gregorian equivalent in the nineteenth century
and thirteen days behind in the twentieth century. Many histories of
internal Russian subjects use Julian dates, but the dual systems and
resulting clutter on the page are inconvenient in a work on
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ROADS TO GLORY viii
international affairs. This work gives all dates in the Gregorian version
only.
In all cases, translations are mine. When versions of documents are
available in English and another language, I have cited the English
version unless otherwise specified. Furthermore, in giving quotations
from British sources, I have not changed spellings, grammar, or
capitalization unless it seemed necessary to make a passage read more
clearly. Such instances are indicated by brackets in the text.
The reader unfamiliar with the diplomatic history of the period
before the First World War should be aware of a change in the
terminology of diplomatic ranks. From the fifteenth until the middle of
the twentieth century, the diplomat at the head of a country’s foreign
mission could have one of several titles. Most important for our
purposes, these heads of mission were usually either ambassadors or
ministers, reflecting the rank and prestige of both the sending and
receiving states. In 1914, Russia had ambassadors in Great Britain,
France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and so on but had only ministers
in states such as Denmark, Switzerland, and Serbia. Heads of
governmental departments in most European states were also known as
ministers, such as the minister of war or the minister of finance.
Nonetheless, when the text refers to a minister, the diplomatic or
nondiplomatic nature of his work should always be clear from the
context. While the English and French languages share this ambiguity
over minister/ministre, Russian does not. An ambassador is a posol; his
colleague in a smaller capital is a poslannik; the minister of a
governmental department is a ministr.
Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to express my gratitude for the help and support that I
have received in bringing this project to fruition. Professor Martin A.
Miller, at first my advisor at Duke University and now, I’m glad to say,
a friend, has patiently seen me through the whole, extended project
with encouragement, advice, and good humor. He generously allowed
me to find my own path, while keeping me focused on the ultimate
goal.
I also wish to remember the late Professor William Evans Scott,
whose seminars on European diplomatic history brought my attention
to Sazonov and his troubled times. Bill Scott was a caring teacher and
kind man, and I am sorry that he could not see the project completed.
A number of other scholars have taken time from their own work
to read parts or all of some version of this text. Along with Professor
Miller, the other members of my dissertation committee—Tami D.
Biddle, Warren Lerner, Donald J. Raleigh, and William M. Reddy—
have provided me with useful input and support. Outside of the
committee, Professors encouraging support. Outside of the committee,
Professors Alex Roland and Orest Pelech went beyond the call of duty
to help me with this project and more.
Beyond Duke, I must recognize Professor David Stevenson, my
advisor at the London School of Economics, who has continued to
assist me since then. He not only helped me with the intricacies of the
pre-First World War period but also guided me through the
complexities of diplomatic archival work. His advice and example have
been invaluable. I must also thank Professors David M. McDonald,
Ben Eklof, and Eve Levin for their encouragement.
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