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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [151v] (305/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
ALLIED MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN MIDDLE EAST 155
in May, 1919, but were prevented from doing so by events at home.
The operations in Kars and Nakhitchevan provinces undertaken in
April, 1919, were, in point of fact, a preliminary to British evacua
tion. M. Poidebard sees in them some sinister scheme for increas
ing our hold.
It is on such premises as these that the author builds up an edifice
which is to us as surprising in its immensity as for the insecurity
of its foundations.
It is declared that after the armistice England had a Pan-Islamic
policy in which the King of the Hedjaz was to be Khalifa, dancing
to the piping of London. To carry this out England must be alone
in control in Constantinople and to rule Syria, Cilicia, Turkey in
Asia and Mosul. Turkey must become a British dependency. All
this at a time when we were loosening our hold both in India and
in Egypt—under duress, so our critics do not fail to assert. In the
name of common sense, would we be likely to simultaneously expand
our control and responsibilities in countries in no way vital to us?
In the light of these statements it becomes clear that French and
British policies in the past five years could not be otherwise than
divergent. M. Poidebard concludes his book by forecasting that
Russia and Turkey must resume their hostility in the Caucasusthat
indeed seems most probable. Russia will never tolerate Turkey in
possession of Kars, the great fortress of the southern approach;
Turkey will never forget that Caucasia is predominantly Mussulman
and the focus of Turki-speaking peoples. So far we agree. M.
Poidebard says France and Turkey must in the future be friends.
Again we agree. But when he asserts that the Pan-Islam move
ment, in alliance with the Bolshevists, is essentially directed against
Great Britain, we cannot follow him. It takes two to make a
quarrel, and what have we to fall out with Turkey or Persia or
Afghanistan about? On the contrary, there is every reason why
Islam should draw away from Russia and be friendly with Britain
and with France at the same time. Surely it is not inevitable that
we and our Allies should always be peeping mistrustfully through
the opposite ends of the telescope.
A generation ago France and England worked against each other
all over the African continent; rivalry in Egypt, the Nile valley, and
Abyssinia culminated in the Eashoda crisis. No two men fought
more strenuously for their countries at that time than the late M.
Delcasse and Lord Cromer. Yet a few years later these same pro
tagonists were the first to realize that Africa was big enough for us
both and led the way to a rapprochement not only in African but in
world affairs. Is it not possible that if the present misunderstandings
in the Near and Middle East could be dissipated, history might repeat
itself and statesmen be forthcoming to grasp the opportunity?
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [151v] (305/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000070> [accessed 7 April 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 151r:157v
- Author
- Yate, Arthur Campbell
- Usage terms
- Public Domain