ABSTRACT
The purpose of this book has not been to study British imperialism through an analysis of its diplomacy towards Iran. On the contrary, a deliberate attempt has been made to avoid this approach for several reasons. First, as the existing literature on this period shows, this is the approach which has been adopted all too often by contemporary scholars of Iranian history. The works of Greaves and Kazemzadeh are two better-known examples. Second, imperialism is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon whose nature and mechanisms cannot be studied from one angle alone. For this purpose, the study of diplomatic history which is either based on the compilation of diplomatic data, or is sometimes reduced to an abstract ‘Study of the Foreign Policy of the Third Marquis of . . .’, irrespective of the wider economic and political determinants, is not sufficient. This approach, which is preoccupied with diplomatic problems fails to provide satisfactory answers to important questions since it tends to ignore the fact that usually political decisions and events are mere manifestations of deeper undercurrents. In other words, it concentrates on the effects at the cost of ignoring the causes. A history written from this perspective is at best incomplete, and at worst a distorted version of actual historical processes. As an instrument of foreign policy of different countries, the study of diplomatic history can be important in its own right, but only inasmuch as it can contribute to the understanding of wider political problems.
