Britain's Persian connection, 1798-1828

This is the third in Edward Ingram's widely acclaimed series of books about the nature of Great Britain as a great power during the industrial revolution, as illustrated by British imperialism in India and the Middle East. In 1801 and again in 1809 the British made a treaty with the Qajar regime of Persia. The two treaties and the seven roles the British prepared for Persia to play in the British empire were known at the time as the Persian Connection. The Qajars were expected during the Napoleonic Wars to help to consolidate British rule in India, to isolate India from the European states system, and even to help to destroy the Napoleonic Empire. Instead, they disappointed the British by asking for help against Russia. The entanglement of the Persian Connection in Anglo-Russian relations in the years after the Napoleonic Wars showed the limits to the power of Great Britain. It also showed that symbols are sometimes more important in international relations than substance and that successful empire-builders must act within a closed world of their own imagining. The Persian Connection was abandoned in 1828 as the British devised an alternative method of separating India from Europe, known as the Great Game in Asia.