Russia
Alexander Izvolsky
1856–1919 Russian Foreign Minister, 1906–1910; ambassador to France, 1910–1917
Izvolsky was a polished diplomat who steered Russia from its humiliation in Asia toward the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 and the Triple Entente. His ambition to open the Straits to Russian warships led him into the Buchlau bargain with Aehrenthal in September 1908; when Austria annexed Bosnia first and the other powers refused to support him, he was humiliated and moved aside. As ambassador in Paris, he worked closely with Raymond Poincaré and was a strong advocate of the Franco-Russian alliance. He nursed his grievance against Vienna after 1908. After the Revolution he stayed in France, where he died in 1919.