the border, but the two sides could not agree on a number of small
details, let alone the transfer of a larger area from Russian to Iranian
suzerainty.
The best opportunity for a conciliatory border settlement occurred
when Alexander sent General Ermolov to Iran in 1817. The tsar was
willing to make some token concessions. His basic premise was that
his role in the reconstruction of Europe after the Napoleonic wars
was far too important for Russia to be distracted by additional cost-
ly warfare in the Caucasus just so that Russia could extend the west-
ernmost part of its border with Iran as far south as the Aras. In keep-
ing with this train of thought, he also felt that some minor territorial
concessions would be a reasonable price to pay for improved relations
with Iran. When he thought of concessions, he had in mind nothing
as substantial as giving up a province. Rather, he was willing to yield
the small Qarabaghi border district of Moqri. It was cut off from the
heart of the province by mountains and had a climate that the Rus-
sians found lethal. By the end of the first war, they had given up de-
fending it and the Iranians had taken it (so that according to the peace
on the basis of the status quo ad presentem it was Iranian territory
anyway). Alexander also was willing, as he had been in 1812, to al-
low Talesh to be an independent principality rather than insisting on
its inclusion into Russia. Once again Alexander allowed a "hard liner"
to alter the direction of Russian policy. Ermolov was convinced that
the security of Russia's Caucasian possessions demanded that Russia
retain all the territory it currently held and that it conquer Yerevan
and Nakhjavan as soon as possible in order to reach the Aras. He
looked forward to the next opportunity for war against Iran.
Ermolov's mission to Iran was extremely unfortunate from the
point of view of people in either country who desired improved re-
lations. Obviously, his refusal to yield an iota on the territorial is-
sue produced consternation in the Iranian government. Moreover,
his conduct compounded the insult. He refused to observe the cus-
tom of removing his boots and putting on special footgear when
entering a notable's quarters. Since the Iranians used their carpets
for eating, sitting, and so on, they found it distasteful to have some-
one track in the outside dirt on his boots, but Ermolov believed that
any concession to foreign ways was demeaning. Ermolov also was
cool to 'Abbas but sought out Mohammad 'Ali. When Ermolov reached
the shah, he not only refused to relinquish any territory but also pro-
posed an alliance against the Ottoman Empire, offered to provide sol-
diers to train the Iranian army, and asked that Russian troops be given
free passage through northeastern Iran to attack Khiva. He was refused
The Consequences of the Struggle 153