Sunday, January 4, 2009: 12:10 PM
Riverside Ballroom (Sheraton New York)
Late Imperial Russia was the foremost international debtor country in pre-World War I Europe. Its finance ministers Russia’s repeatedly turned to foreign capital to modernize industry, construct public works and railroads construction, along with subsidizing the military-industrial complex, The percentage of imperial government debt held by foreigners jumped from 30% to 48% Between 1895 and 1914, with the bulk held in French hands—80% in 1914—and another 14% by 1914 held by the British.[1]British participation in the turn of the century Russian market was relatively miniscule. Anglo-Russian tensions over Central Asia had soured British investors on Russian funds, but when the Russo-Japanese War and Russia’s commitment to the gold standard rendered Russia in dire need of funds, they rather surprisingly turned to London. Russia’s need for cash provided an opening for John Baring, Lord Revelstoke both to lead British participation in the Russian business and to shape in British foreign policy toward Russia. As Revelstoke claimed, in opening up the London capital market to Russia, he was laying the groundwork for an amelioration of Anglo-Russian relations that had not yet been envisioned by the elected politicians responsible for British foreign policy.
This paper will discuss the ways in which Lord Revelstoke, a non-governmental actor with only the, albeit considerable weight of Baring Brothers behind him, was able to affect and sometimes effect British foreign policy, while at the same time influencing both foreign policy and domestic policy within Russia. Using the 1906 and 1909 Russian loan negotiations as a lens, it will examine Revelstoke’s management of the particular role British capital and financial investment played in the construction and strengthening of the Anglo-Russo-French entente.
This paper will discuss the ways in which Lord Revelstoke, a non-governmental actor with only the, albeit considerable weight of Baring Brothers behind him, was able to affect and sometimes effect British foreign policy, while at the same time influencing both foreign policy and domestic policy within Russia. Using the 1906 and 1909 Russian loan negotiations as a lens, it will examine Revelstoke’s management of the particular role British capital and financial investment played in the construction and strengthening of the Anglo-Russo-French entente.
[1] Herbert Feis, Europe: The World’s Banker, 1870-1914 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1930), pp. 210-11.
See more of: Empire, Political Economy, and Economic Diplomacy in the British Empire, 1776–1914
See more of: AHA Sessions
See more of: AHA Sessions
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