POTSDAM AGREEMENT SIGNED BY GERMANY AND RUSSIA

POTSDAM AGREEMENT SIGNED IN ST. PETERSBURG

ENDS RUSSIAN OPPOSITION TO THE BAGDAD RAILWAY

Mere hours after the Russian backed deposed Persian Shah's forces are routed, Germany and Russia signed the Potsdam Agreement (of 1911) in St. Petersburg, Russia, completing negotiations started the previous year between Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany in Potsdam in early November 1910.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey,  was seriously alarmed by the Russo-German agreement, with the fear that the British trade dominance over Germany could be affected, as well as making available oil reserves to Germany. The building of the Bagdad Railway is also cited as one of the contributing causes of World War One.

The Kaiser and The Tsar

The two monarchs discussed the ambitious German project of the Baghdad Railway, widely expected to give Berlin considerable geopolitical clout in the Fertile Crescent. Against the background of the Persian Constitutional Revolution, Russia was anxious to control the prospective Khanaqin-Tehran branch of the railway. The two powers settled their differences which would give Russia a free hand in Northern Iran. As Russian Foreign Secretary, Sergei Sazonov hoped, the first railway connecting Persia to Europe would provide Russia with leverage over its southern neighbor.


From the Russian Newspaper Novoye Vremya (Но́вое вре́мя), there were concerns at that time that published documents had indicated that Russia's obligations in the agreement were greater than the gains. The time frame set for the construction of the Russian portion of the Persian Railway from Tehran to the border city of Khanaqin,  placed a significant burden on Russian, because Russian trade with Persia would be significantly limited if a railroad between Tehran and Russian was not built simultaneously. 

The Baghdad Railway, from Constantinople to Baghdad, as well as the spur from Baghdad to Khanaqin would not be completed until well after the conclusion of  the War. Russian only partially built sections between Tehran and Khanaqin, ending its obligations at the start of the war. Had the railroad been completed, Ottoman troops would have gained greater access through the region. The Railroad may have changed the eventual course of the war.

Proposed Route through the Middle East