Suchergebnisse

"... THE TIBETANS ARE BUT THE SMALLEST PAWNS ON THE POLITICAL CHESSBOARD, BUT CASTLES, KNIGHTS, AND BISHOPS MAY ALL BE INVOLVED IN TRYING TO TAKE THE PAWN." HAMILTON TO CURZON THE YOUNGHUSBAND MISSION TO LHASA IN 1904 WAS AN EVENT WHICH TRANSCENDED THE CIRCUMSCRIBED LIMITS OF ANGLO-TIBETAN RELATIONS. IT LIT THE FUSE TO AN IMPERIAL CRISIS, BITTERLY DIVIDING THE INDIAN VICEROY, LORD CURZON, AND HIS COLLEAGUES IN THE HOME GOVERNMENT. CRITICS HAVE SEEN CURZON'S TIBETAN POLICY AS AN ANACHRONISM: THE MANIC OBSESSION OF A RUSSOPHOBE WHOSE LACK OF JUDGMENT WAS EXPOSED WHEN YOUNGHUSBAND DISCOVERED NO SIGN OF A VISIBLE RUSSIAN PRESENCE OF LHASA, THE SPUR WHICH HAD PROPELLED HIM THERE. HOWEVER, TO DAMN CURZON ON THAT GROUND ALONE DOES SCANT JUSTICE TO THE CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF HIS POLICY. IT WAS AN AXIOM OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS IN HIS DAY, AS IT IS OFTEN AN UNSPOKEN ASSUMPTION IN OURS, THAT GREAT POWERS REACH A MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING ON THEIR SPHERES OF INTEREST IN ORDER TO AVOID SERIOUS CONFLICT. SUCH SPHERES WERE PRINCIPALLY DETERMINED BY GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. BRITISH INDIA WAS ENTITLED TO ITS OWN ZONE OF INFLUENCE AS MUCH AS RUSSIA'S IMPERIAL DOMINIONS.1 A LASTING ACCORD BETWEEN BRITAIN AND RUSSIA COULD ONLY BE BASED ON THIS PERCEPTION, HENCE HIS CRITICISM OF THE ANGLO-RUSSIAN CONVENTION OF 1907. BUT IF CURZON CAST A WARY EYE ON RUSSIA, HE WAS SCORNFUL OF CHINESE PRETENTIONS IN TIBET. LHASA, IN HIS VIEW, HAD TO BE FREE OF RUSSIAN AND CHINESE INFLUENCE.