ACTIVITIES OF THE AMERICAN DIPLOMAT AND FINANCIAL ADVISOR – WILLIAM MORGAN SCHUSTER IN PERSIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE ХХ CENTURY

Abstract

    The Middle East turns into an object of geopolitical and geo-economic rivalry between major colonial powers at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries.  The “Big Game” swept into its whirlpool both the old players - Great Britain and Russia, and the new ones - Germany and the USA. Persia was caught between a political “hammer” and a “anvil”. To establish precisely their dominant positions in Iran, methods of smooth penetration were used through the appointment of “necessary” officials, “their” economic agents, etc. However, the Persian government had to consider the possibility of maintaining the parity of interests of the main actors of the “big game” England and Russia and not to allow an advantage in one side. And so, in the early twentieth century, the choice fell on “neutral” American financial experts. The Persian Majlis invites Morgan Shuster as the general control of finance, who is carrying out a large series of reforms in the country. Pursuing a not quite far-sighted policy, Schuster undermined the country's financial basis, which was the reason for his resignation in 1912.