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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Russia and South Africa a Hundred Years Ago |
Authors: | Davidson, Apollon Filatova, Irina |
Year: | 1997 |
Periodical: | South African Historical Journal |
Issue: | 37 |
Pages: | 21-47 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | South Africa Russian Federation |
Subjects: | foreign policy international relations History and Exploration Politics and Government |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582479708671290 |
Abstract: | The history of diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa began in 1818, when the first Russian consul was appointed in Cape Town. Towards the end of the 19th century Russia began to play with the idea of establishing closer relations with the South African Republic. A growing interest in the goldmining industry in Transvaal and the growing Jewish emigration from Russia to the Transvaal played a role. However, the most important incentive was the growing tension between Britain and the Boer republics. The Jameson raid, with its clear foreshadowing of the Anglo-Boer War, led to a sharpening of Russian interest in South Africa. In 1898 the first (honorary) Russian consul in Johannesburg was appointed. The authors, who had access to Russian archives, describe in detail Russian diplomatic policy in connection with the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). They focus on the messages, letters and notes the German Kaiser, the Russian Tsar and the Queen of England sent to each other, and on the memorandum 'On the Russian foreign policy in connection with the Anglo-Boer War' of 22 January 1900, written by Vladimir Nikolaievich Lamsdorf a few months before he was promoted from Deputy Foreign Minister to Foreign Minister of Russia. Ref. |