British policy in Iran and relations with the soviet union, 1945-46

Pierpoint, David (2000). British policy in Iran and relations with the soviet union, 1945-46. University of Birmingham. M.Phil.

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Abstract

This thesis is an investigation in to British policy towards Iran between the Yalta Conference and the resolution of the Iranian Crisis of early 1946 and the subsequent impact of those policies upon her relationship with her enigmatic partner, the USSR. It investigates the development of ideas within the British Embassy in Tehran and more especially within the Foreign Office relating to the future of Iran, which had been the subject of an Anglo-Soviet occupation since August 1941 and which had been, through its bounteous supply of oil, of vital economic importance to Britain since the late nineteenth century. The paper calls in to question the assertion that British foreign policy in the immediate aftermath of the war was based entirely upon the principles of the socalled 'New World Order', and its instruments, the Atlantic Charter and the United Nations. Instead, the paper contends that elements within the British government actively sought a compromise arrangement with the Soviet Union in which Britain and Russia would share in the exploitation of Iranian resources. However, in the final analysis it is argued that the British government abandoned this stance when the US government resolved that Iran must not fall, even in part, into the Soviet orbit. The failure of British policy is exposed; British influence in Iran was discredited to the extent that she was forced to abandon the south western oilfields in 1951, US planners sought to distance themselves from their partners at every turn and the Soviet Union had been alienated even further from the allied mainstream.

Type of Work:	Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Phil.)
Award Type:	Masters by Research > M.Phil.
Licence:
College/Faculty:	Schools (1998 to 2008) > School of Historical Studies
School or Department:	School of History and Cultures, Department of History
Funders:	None/not applicable
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JZ International relations
URI:	http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/5354

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