Alexander Izvolsky

Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky Александр Петрович Извольский
Count Alexander Izvolsky
Born	18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1856 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	16 August 1919(1919-08-16) (aged 63) Biarritz, France
Nationality	Russian
Occupation	Diplomat, Foreign Minister

Count Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky or Iswolsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Изво́льский, 18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1856, Moscow – 16 August 1919, Paris) was a Russian diplomat remembered as a major architect of Russia's alliance with the British Empire during the years leading to the outbreak of the First World War.

Izvolsky came from an aristocratic family of Polish descent. He graduated from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in St Petersburg with honours, and shortly thereafter married Countess von Toll, whose family had far-reaching connections at court. Through these connections, he joined the Foreign Office, where Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky became his patron. Izvolsky served as Russia's ambassador to the Vatican, followed by posts in Belgrade, Munich, and Tokyo (from 1899). While in Tokyo, Izvolsky urged a peaceful accommodation with the rising power of Imperial Japan over Korea and Manchuria. He assisted Japanese former Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi arrange a trip to St. Petersburg in 1902 in an effort to defuse increasing tensions. These efforts incurred the wrath of Tsar Nicholas II, and Izvolsky found himself transferred to Copenhagen from 1903. From that posting he continued to press for a diplomatic settlement with Japan before and during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. He served as Russia's Imperial Foreign Minister between April 1906 and November 1910.