Paul never doubted that Russia ought to play an active role in Asia.
Like his mother, he valued the Iranian marches for their strategic and
economic usefulness. Paul, too, was determined to keep the Turks
out of the area. This wariness of the Ottomans was part of Paul's fun-
damental outlook, not a reaction against any present Turkish threat.
In fact, Russo-Ottoman relations were uncommonly cordial during
Paul's reign. Even at the start of his reign, when he seemed bent on
doing the opposite of whatever his mother had done, he accepted the
role of protector of Georgia and made preparations to shield it from
the Iranian attack expected in 1797. He also shared Catherine's focus
on Georgia as the keystone of Russia's Caucasian policy. Thus, he
not only wanted to make several khanates subject to Georgia but also
expected the neighboring khans to be willing to cooperate in Georgia's
defense. Like Prince Potemkin, he regarded the Armenians as valuable
allies in the realization of Russia's goals. He hoped to use them to
bolster Georgia's defenses and economy by offering land grants, cash
bonuses, and local autonomy to Armenians who would move to
Georgia from neighboring khanates. He also shared the hope that
Russia would be able to organize lucrative equivalents of the trading
establishments of several European countries in southeast Asia. His
president of the College of Commerce, Peter Soimonov, stated the
underlying ambition forthrightly when he argued that, if Russia were
to build a permanent and secure outpost at Anzali, it would be able
to trade with Iran the way Western countries traded with India. The
tsar considered the possibility of rivaling the highly valued textiles
of India with the products of silk and cotton mills he contemplated
establishing at Baku. In his first, generally conciliatory message to
the second Qajar shah, Paul insisted that the shah take measures con-
ducive to increased Russo-Iranian trade.
11
The lure of the India trade
came to the fore again near the end of Paul's reign when he sent an
expedition to dispossess the British East India Company from the
Subcontinent. The tsar wrote to the General of the Cavalry Vladimir
Orlov, the commander of the expedition, that
the English have their commercial establishments [in India], which were obtained
either by money or by arms; the goal is to destroy all this and liberate oppressed
rulers and win [them] over to the same dependence on Russia as they have on
England, and turn their commerce toward us....(However, Paul's motive for attempting the conquest of India lay in
the clash of English and Russian interests in Europe and was not a
direct outgrowth of his attitude toward Asia.)
If Paul's objectives in Iran and the Caucasus were not innovative,
52 Russian Policy: Questions and Continuity