Anglo-Russian Entente
A map of the region, dating from 1907-1920, showing the Russian line.
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| Signed | 31 August 1907 |
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| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 is the common name used for the Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. Signed on August 31, 1907, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the convention brought shaky British–Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in Persia,Afghanistan, and Tibet. It delineated spheres of influence in Persia, stipulated that neither country would interfere in Tibet’s internal affairs, and recognized Britain’s influence over Afghanistan. The agreement led to the formation of the Triple Entente.
During the last third of the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire's advances into Central Asia and the consolidation of the British Empire's domination of South Asia led to intense rivalry between the two European colonial empires. The conflicting interests centered on Afghanistan, Iran, and Tibet, three states that constituted buffers between Britain's and Russia's colonial possessions in Asia. The emergence of the German Empire as a world power and the humiliating defeat in 1905 of Russia by a nascent Asian power, the Empire of Japan, in the Russo-Japanese War, helped to persuade some British and Russian officials of a need to resolve their respective differences in Asia.
On May 20, 1882, Germany entered into the Triple Alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary, complementing its industrial and socio-political climb in the world arena. Furthermore, Germany dramatically increased its military output from the early 1900s up to the outbreak of World War I. Under a new “Prussian-German” empire, the German government worked to increase the nation's wealth and reach what was then the zenith of German power. While Britain and Russia were skeptical of Germany's imperialistic motives, members of the Triple Alliance were in turn somewhat threatened by Britain's and Russia's aggressive foreign policy tactics and wealth derived from their colonies.
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