British Reaction against German Entrepreneurship in Iran at the Beginning of 20th Century on the Foreign Office Documents

Year 2024, Volume: 13 Issue: 3, 1824 - 1844, 30.09.2024

Aykut Dalak

https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.1420082

Abstract

Throughout the 19th century, Great Britain widened her economic and commercial net all over the world thanks to her navy and trade agreements. Through that century, Iran policy of Great Britain was transformed considerably. Iran at first was a subheading of India policy of the Foreign Office. After the first half of the century, Iran, though not so much as India, became a region of competition in terms of not only political blocking, but of economic and commercial interests with Russia. Great Britain aimed specifically at gaining concessions in return of concluding loan agreements for Qajar governments because accumulation of capital in Great Britain owing to protective duties carried out against foreign goods needed to flow into the lands virgin with regard to capitalism. Following the crisis of 1873, British capital or capital supported by the Foreign Office was invested in Asia and Africa, which Iran was a significant example of. The only rival of hers in Iran was Russia during the century. Germany, however, rose as a third power at the beginning of the next century, which led Great Britain and Russia to agree on the spheres of influence. After that, Great Britain tried to keep Germany away from Iran. Germany struggled to do the same as Great Britain had been doing via banking, concessions, etc. In the light of the documents of the Foreign Office, this paper aims to shed light on the reaction of Great Britain against the entrepreneurship efforts of Germany to find new markets for her capital by employing the qualitative method on historical research design and document analysis has been utilised to collect data. Referring to classifications of the Foreign Office -Affairs of Persia and Arabia and Affairs of Persia in the National Archives, this paper tries to reveal how Great Britain and her representatives in the region reacted against Germany’s attempts to acquire economic and commercial interests in Iran.

Keywords

Great Britain, the Foreign Office, Iran, Germany, Loans, Concessions

İngiliz Dışişleri Belgelerinde 20. Yüzyılın Başında İran’da Alman Girişimine İngiliz Tepkisi

Abstract

İngiltere 19. yüzyıl boyunca donanması ve ticaret anlaşmaları sayesinde ekonomik ve ticarî ağını tüm dünyada genişletmiştir. Bu yüzyıl boyunca İngiliz Dışişleri Bakanlığı’nın İran politikası oldukça değişmiştir. Hindistan kadar olmasa da İran sadece Rusya’nın siyasî etkisi açısından değil, aynı zamanda ekonomik ve ticarî çıkarlarının önüne geçilmesi açısından bir rekabet sahasına dönüşmüştür. İngiltere, Kaçar hükümetleriyle karşılığında özellikle imtiyazlar elde etme amacıyla kredi anlaşmaları yapmıştır çünkü yabancı ürünlerine karşı uygulanan korumacı gümrük politikaları dolayısıyla İngiltere’de biriken sermayenin kapitalizm açısından bakir topraklara ihraç edilmesi gerekmiştir. Özellikle 1873 Krizi’nin ardında İngiliz sermayesi ya da İngiltere tarafından desteklenen sermaye Asya ve Afrika’da yatırım olarak kullanılmaya başlamıştır. İran bu ihracın belirgin bir örneğini sunmaktadır. Bu yüzyıl boyunca İngiltere’nin İran’daki tek rakibi Rusya’dır. Ancak Almanya 20. yüzyılın başında üçüncü bir aktör olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Almanya’nın ortaya çıkışı İngiltere ve Rusya’nın İran’da nüfuz alanları konusunda anlaşmasına yol açmıştır. Bunun ardından, İngiltere, Almanya’yı İran’da uzak tutmaya çalışmıştır. Almanya ise İngiltere’nin yaptığı gibi bankacılık ve imtiyazlar yoluyla İran’da ekonomik ve ticarî çıkarlar elde etmeye çaba göstermiştir. Bu çalışma İngiliz Dışişleri belgeleri ışığında tarih araştırma deseninde nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanarak Almanya’nın sermayesi için yeni pazarlar bulma arayışlarına karşı İngilizlerin tepkisine ışık tutmayı amaçlamaktadır ve veri toplama tekniği olarak doküman analizi kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışma İngiliz Ulusal Arşivi’ndeki Foreign Office-Affairs of Persia and Arabia and Affairs of Persia başlıklı tasniflere referans vererek İngiltere’nin ve bölgedeki İngiliz temsilcilerin Almanya’nın İran’da ekonomik ve ticarî çıkarlar elde etme çabasına nasıl cevap verdiğini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

İngiltere, İngiliz Dışişleri, İran, Almanya, Kredi, İmtiyaz

Ethical Statement

Etik kurulu onayı gerektirmemektedir.

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