Mongolia Seeks Russian support for Independence Bid

Mongolian Delgation Seeks Russian Assistance for Independence from China

Bogd Gegeen

On August 15th, the Mongolian delegation headed by Prince General Ch'in Wang Handdorj arrived in the Russian Capital of St. Petersburg. On the next day, the delegation is received by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Sazonov. The Mongols hand him a letter from Bogd Gegeen (Bogd Khan) in which the Mongolian religous leader asks for Russian help on recognition of  independence and official protection by Russia from China,  as well as assistance in the development of trade, railways,  and communications systems. Besides Bogd Gegeen, the letter is signed by Tüsheet Dashnyam Khan, Tsetsen Khan Navaanneren, and Sayin Noyon Khan Namnansuren, Mongolian tribal (aymak), and dynastic leaders.

Map of Mongolia



Mongolia provided a buffer between China and Russia, and the purveying thought that a power, such as Japan, may take over the Russian bases in Mongolia, if assistance was not provided. ^[1] The Mongolian independence movement and influence by Russia and the Soviet Union would extend well beyond World War One.


[1] Urgunge Onon, Derrick Pritchatt. Asia's First Modern Revolution: Mongolia proclaims its Indepedence in 1911. E.J. Brill, The Netherlands

JAPANESE ADM. TOGO SEES USS UTAH BEING BUILT IN PHILADELPHIA

Admiral Count Togo

On this date 100 years ago today,  Admiral Count Heichachiro Togo, Japanese Naval Hero in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, in the battle of the Sea of Japan, that decimated the Russian Naval fleet, visited the Navy shipyards in Philadelphia. His visit was highly celebrated. He was treated both as a hero, and royalty, as he toured the United States, principally, Naval sites. He was at a dinner hosted by President Taft, where overtures of a Japanese and American arbitration treaty were made.  

His visit had its irony: He became chief tutor to Emperor Hirohito, Japanese Emperor during World War II; of greater irony was the fact that he landed in the United States aboard the Lusitania, whose sinking in 1915, shifted American neutrality; the ultimate irony may be that he toured the completion of the USS Utah, that would be bombed in Pearl Harbor, a little over 30 years later, by the Empire of Japan, and in whose wreckage 54 men are still entombed.

From the New York Times:

TOGO SEES NEW SHIPS.

 Much Impressed by War Craft Building in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10. -- Admiral Count Togo to-day inspected the battleships Utah and Arkansas, which are being built for our navy by the New York Shipbuilding Company on the Delaware River. In the slip next to the American ships he saw the Morena, the large battleship which is being built for the Argentine Government. She has a displacement of 28,000 tons and is the largest man-of-war yet undertaken.
  The ships made a deep impression upon the Japanese Admiral, and he looked enviously at the young naval officers at his side, whose future on the sea is yet before them.

USS Utah hit by torpedo in Pearl Harbor

   A formal call on Mayor Reyburn at City Hall, which was returned half and hour later br the Mayor, began a day of  activity from Admiral Togo. He inspected the Philadelphia Naval Yard and saw the battleship Minnesota in dry dock and the Kearsarge a few yards away. He was entertained at luncheon by Capt. A.W. Grant, Commandant of the Philadelphia Naval Yard. All the naval officers stationed hear were present. After an exchange of toasts to the Emperor of Japan and the President of the United States, the Marine Band played strains from the Japanese National anthem and "The Star Spangled Banner." The party then sailed up the Delaware to the ships yards, where a salute of nineteen guns were fired. The Japanese Admiral for the first time since this tour began soke of the oppressive heat.
  On the trip up the Delaware River Admiral Togo talked with the naval officers in the partry about the Japanese who have been educated at Annapolis. The Admiral said that almost all these officers had won distinction in Japan.
  A change in the itinerary of Admiral Togo will enable him to see the fleet now manoeuvring (sic) off Provincetown, Mass. When his party arrives in Boston Thursday, Aug 17, the Admiral will call upon the Mayor. He will then proceed onm a torpedo boat destroyer to Provincetown, where he will visit the fleet. After being entertained at luncheon on board the battleship Connecticut, the flagship of the squadron, the party will return to Boston, and on Friday visit the Navy Yard.

Albanians Accept Turkish Concessions

August 4, 1911: New York Times Reports that War between Turkey and Montenegro is avoided.

ALBANIANS PLACABLE.

Decide to Accept Concessions Turkey Offered and Cease Hostilities.

Cettinje, Montenegro, Aug 3. The Mallisori tribesmen have they decided to accept the concessions made them as a condition that they cease hostilities and return to their homes in Albania. The exodus from Podgoritz, thiry-eight miles north of Scutari, began to-day.
    The Montenegrin Minister of War told the tribesmen that it was the sincere desire of King Nicholas that the revolt cease and that they return forthwith to their homes, in order that they might not fling away concessions with which they should be satisfied. The revolutionists replied that they had little faith in Turkey's promises of amnesty, but would obey absolutely the King's advise.

Peace Treaty Signed

August 3, 1911: From the Washington Times, News of the Impeding Arbitration Treaty between the US, England and France

PEACE TREATY WILL BE SIGNED THIS AFTERNOON

Knox and Bryce Will Affix Signatures At White House.

By J. FRED ESSARY
When Secretary Knox (Philander C. Knox), Ambassador Viscount James Bryce And Ambassador Jules Jusserand sign the arbitration treaties at 3 o'clock this afternoon, binding the United States, Great Britain, and France to submit all differences of whatever nature to arbitration, the most advanced step for international peace in the history of the world will be taken.

   This ceremony will take place in the President's library at the Executive Mansion (former name of the White House, not known as the White House until 1901 as named by Theodore Roosevelt) and at the President's palace in Paris simultaneously. The French ambassador is abroad. Ambassador Bryce returned to Washington from Maine for the excahnge of the signatures.
   As soon as the treaty can be received from Paris the President will send both the French and the English instruments to the Senate for ratification. They may be acted on during the extra session or they may have to go over until December.

Party at Ceremony.

   President Taft, Secretary of State Knox, Ambassador Bryce, Chandler Anderson, solicitor of the State Department, and the great authority on international law, and the French Consul General will compose the immediate party at the White House Ceremony. The Secretary and the British Ambassador sign the heavy scroll in duplicate.

   The French treaty will be signed by Secretary with Viscounte Saint Phalle, vice consul at New York with witness. President Taft took no part in the preliminary exchange.

   Surrounding the immediate party will be the members of the President's Cabinet. Behind them will stand a number of newspaper men whom the President has invited to witness the impressive international event. There will be no other invited guests.

   The signing will take place in the most historic chamber of the White House. This is the private study of the President. It was here that the treaty of peace between this country and Spain was signed, and it was here that President Lincoln held many of the gravest conferences of civil war times.

Bound to Peace.

   By today's act the three countries involved bind themselves to submit to arbitration all issues of vital interest. An d these issues include questions of national honor and questions of territory. No such treaty has ever been negotiated between two great powers.

   In the past a question of national honor, an insult of one nation by another, was regarded as a matter beyond arbitration. Only a resort to arms was regarded as an honorable means of avenging such a blow at a nation's pride.

   And the same thing was true of questions involving territory. An invasion or an appropriation of one nation's territory by another was not a matter, according to the standards of the past. which may be submitted to an arbitration court for adjustment. If one people placed a hostile foot on the territory of another, the act meant war and nothing else.

ALL CHANGED.

 

   Today, however, the three greatest powers in the world agree among themselves that they will submit all such questions to arbitration.

   That other nations will fall into line and negotiate similar treaties is a foregone conclusion. The moral force of the three of the greatest peoples of the Earth in such a pact will be felt, and Germany, Japan, and Russia are expected soon to enter the brotherhood.

   From the standpoint of the world's peace and the world's happiness, therefore, today's simple ceremony in the White House is probably the most important move in a century. History was made when the signatures were exchanged between the representatives of these powerful nations.

 

Turkey Warns of War on Montenegro

July 31, 1911: In response to increasing attack of Albanians Christian tribesmen, know as Malissori, on Turkish troops, and their fleeing to the mountains of Montenegro, where many ethnic Albanians live, the Ottoman government has threatened action again the tiny country of Montenegro.

TURKS MENACE WAR ON MONTENEGRINS

60,000 Troops Massed on Border and Ultimatum Ready, London Correspondent Says.

TO RISK INTERVENTION

Assert That King Nicholas Must Cease Harboring Malissori or Have His Realm Invaded.

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

LONDON. July 31. — The correspondent of the London Times at Constantinople says the Council of Ministers has decided to telegraph to Sadreddin Bey, Turkish Minister at Cettinje, instructing him to summon the Malissori to surrender by Thursday and to inform the Montenegrin Government that if it continues to harbor them the troops, who are much excited, will be obliged to pursue the Malissori as far as the frontier.

Malissori: fighting for Albanian homeland

   A dispatch from Salonica to the Daily Mail says:
   "The appointment of Abdulla Pasha to the command of the Turkish troops in Albania, with title of Commander in Chief of the Western Army, may be regarded as the first step on the part of Turkey toward putting an end on the northwestern frontier. Abdulla Pasha will be in command of  a force of 60,000 men, with three mountain batteries and three field batteries, and I am able to state on good authority that immediately Abdulla Pasha has reached his headquarters on the Montenegrin frontier the Ottoman Government will send an ultimatum to King Nicholas of Montenegro demanding the cessation of hospitality toward the Malissori tribe.
   "Should the presence of 50,000 or 60,000 Turkish troops ready to cross the frontier fail to convince the King of the desirability of a change of tactics, the Turks intend to declare war and invade Montenegro, disregarding the possible result of European intervention. All the little Balkan States are keeping a careful watch on the situation and are ready to take a hand in the game in case of the outbreak of hostilities."

French Prime Minister Undermines Negotiations in Moroccan Crisis

July 27, 1911: Another communique between Prime Minister Caillaux and German Foreign Ministers, soon to be intercepted by French Officials.

Only after German codes were obtained during World War I, could the full texts of dispatches between the German Foreign Minister in France and German Officials show the extent of secret negotiations between French Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux and the German Government. In dispatches between July 26 and 27th of 1911, Caillaux feared that ceding the entire Congo coast, in exchange for German recognition of French authority in Morocco, would be humiliating to France and would infuriate the English, who wished to limit German colonial growth.

Through the mediator, Hyacinthe-Alphonse Fondère, French Colonial Explorer and businessman, the secret negotiations, which possibly lead to great monetary gains by the prime minister, eventually did lead to Germany expanding their territorial gains in the Congo.

Intercepted by French officials, the French Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs, Justin de Selves, would become furious at the Prime Minister.  The documents were ultimately obtained by the French newspaper, Le Figaro, leading to speculation that Caillaix's wife murdered the editor of the paper to prevent release of these very explosives communiques, in 1914. Ultimately, their release was suppressed until after the war.

To the Foreign Office, Berlin

Alfonse Fondère

 "Caillaux has charged  Fondère to inform the embassy that he is moved by a sincere desire to come to an understanding with us, and that he would prefer to bring an agreement on broad lines, settling all differences which have arisen between us during the past years. This would help bring him to justify before public opinion the cession of Colonial territory, by pointing out the great advantage of suppressing all matters of friction with us.
   The greater the extent of the agreement and the larger the number of different objects embraced by it, the more able would France be to show a spirit of accommodation in the cession of Colonial territory; whereas a deal limited to Morocco and the Congo would cause here an impression of humiliation and could hardly be achieved in a form satisfactory to us.

Wilhelm von Schoen

   Caillaux asks for an inquiry to be made in Berlin as to what would be desired n the most different possible directions. What he is thinking of - although these would be but small concessions - is a German Chairman of the Ottoman Debt, the retrocession of 30 per cent. of the stock of the Bagdad Railway to the Paris Bourse (stock exchange) and an understanding about railways in the East. He has also considered the possibility of ceding to us the French possessions in Oceanica (Oceania). I am sending at midday tomorrow the Counselor of Embassy in order to give you a verbal report.

Caillaux urges strongly that nothing about these overtures should be communicated to Cambon(French Ambassador to Germany)."  Signed Schoen (Wilhelm von Schoen German ambassador in Paris)  

Germany Favors Treaty with U.S.

From the New York Times: Continued Arbitration by The Hague

Berlin, July 24, 1911. - The German Government has finished its study of the American-German arbitration treaty proposals and has formulated its comment thereon, which comment has been forwarded to Washington as a basis of negotiation. An official statement of the nature of the German views cannot be obtained here, but there is reason to believe that they are favorable.
   Though the arbitration negotiations between the United States and Germany are not so far advanced as those between the former country and Great Britain and France, this is explained by the fact that Germany received the American proposals later than the other countries, and is not to be construed as due to a hostile attitude on the part of this Government.