Sergey Sazonov
Sergei Dmitryevich Sazonov GCB (Russian: Сергей Дмитриевич Сазонов; 10 August 1860 in Ryazan Governorate – 11 December 1927) was a Russian statesman and diplomat who served as Foreign Minister from November 1910 to July 1916. The degree of his involvement in the events leading up to the outbreak of World War I is a matter of keen debate, with some historians putting the blame for an early and provocative mobilization squarely on Sazonov's shoulders, and others maintaining that his chief preoccupation was "to reduce the temperature of international relations, especially in the Balkans".[1]
Sergei Sazonov
Сергей Сазонов
Сергей Сазонов
Early career[edit]
Of lesser noble background, Sazonov was the brother-in-law of Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, who did his best to further Sazonov's career. Sazonov was born into family of Dmitry Sazonov and Yermioniya Frederiks (Freedericksz). Having graduated from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Sazonov served in the London embassy, and the diplomatic mission to the Vatican, of which he became the chief in March 1906. On 26 June 1909 Sazonov was recalled to St. Petersburg and appointed Assistant Foreign Minister. Before long he replaced Alexander Izvolsky as Foreign Minister and followed a policy along the lines laid down by Stolypin.
Foreign Minister[edit]
Potsdam Agreement[edit]
Just before he was officially appointed foreign minister, Sazonov attended a meeting between Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany in Potsdam on 4–6 November 1910. This move was intended to chastise the British for their perceived betrayal of Russia's interests during the Bosnian Crisis. Indeed, Britain's Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon was seriously alarmed by this token of a "German-Russian Détente".[2]
The two monarchs discussed the ambitious German project of the Baghdad Railway, widely expected to give Berlin considerable geopolitical clout in the Fertile Crescent. Against the background of the Persian Constitutional Revolution, Russia was anxious to control the prospective railway branch from Tehran to Khanaqin, on the Turco-Persian frontier, financed by Russian and German capital; and Germany to link this branch to the Baghdad Railway. The two powers settled their differences in the Potsdam Agreement, signed on 19 August 1911, Germany giving Russia a free hand in Northern Iran and Russia in turn recognizing Germany's rights on the Baghdad Railway.[3] Sazonov was sick during that time, his office was led by Anatoly Neratov during his absence. However, as Sazonov hoped, the first railway connecting Persia to Europe would provide Russia with a lever of influence over its southern neighbour.
Notwithstanding the promising beginning, the Russian-German relations disintegrated in 1913, when the Kaiser sent one of his generals to reorganize the Turkish army and to supervise the garrison in Constantinople on request of the Ottomans, remarking that "the German flag will soon fly over the fortifications of the Bosphorus", a vital trade artery which accounted for two fifths of Russia's exports.[4]
Alliance with Japan[edit]
Despite his fixation on Russian-German affairs, Sazonov was also mindful of Russian interests in the Far East. In the wake of the disastrous Russo-Japanese War, he steadily made friendly overtures toward Japan. As a result, a secret convention was signed in St. Petersburg on 8 July 1912 concerning the delimitation of spheres of interest in Inner Mongolia. Both powers determined to keep Inner Mongolia politically separate from Outer Mongolia. Four years later, Sazonov congratulated himself on concluding a Russian-Japanese defensive alliance (3 July 1916) aimed at securing the interests of both powers in China.