![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎866r] (1748/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1778.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎866r] (1748/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [866r] (1748/1814)
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.
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BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA
593
of Meshed within three weeks of the commencement of hos
tilities.
It cannot be denied, therefore, that the military position of
Russia along the entire northern frontier of Persia from the Aras
Synopsis to t]ie Te j end 18 one of overwhelming superiority; she
Of Russian overlaps 1,000 miles of border, at every point of which
she is in a condition to threaten and to sustain her
threats by armed force. From her military stations at Tiflis and
Lii\ an she can easily overrun Azerbaijan. Her command of the
Caspian enables her to dictate to the capital. Her new railway
in Transcaspia, which, to a weaker power than herself would be a
source of danger from a stronger power than Persia, enables her
to do exactly what she pleases with Khorasan. The only Persian
tioops of any value in the capital are the so-called Cossack
regiments, under Russian officers; and in the event of political
convulsion it is doubtful whether they would not prefer the
country of their uniform to the country of their birth. Whenever
Russia desires to enforce with peculiar emphasis some diplomatic
demand at leheran, a mere enumeration of the Russian garrisons
within a few hundred miles of the Persian capital is enough to
set the Council of Ministers quaking, and to make the sovereign
himself think twice. When the Shah came to Europe in 1889
a similar policy was pursued. I asked a Persian Minister what
had struck him most in England, and what most in Europe. ‘ The
number of the industrial population in the great towns of the
interior,’ was his reply to the first question ; and 4 the number of
soldiers in Russia,’ to the second. Soldiers were displayed every
where—along the railway, at the stations, and in the streets—and
the Persians came away with the idea that along with the country
of Medea the Czar has inherited her secret of the dragon’s teeth,
and can sow inexhaustible crops of armed men.
What, then, are the designs which this commanding position,
and the power of bullying that it confers, are being utilised to
Aggressive promote? There is no concealment either as to their
designs character or their scope. Russia regards Persia as a
power that may temporarily be tolerated, that may even require
sometimes to be humoured or caressed, but that in the long run
is irretrievably doomed. She regards the future partition of Persia
as a prospect scarcely less certain of fulfilment than the achieved
partition of Poland ; and she has already clearly made up her own
VOL. II. Q Q
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 [866r] (1748/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000095> [accessed 6 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
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain