Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary

Short on money, the Persian government dispatched Antoine Kitabgi to Paris in1900 to hunt for oil investors. Kitabgi sought the aid of a retired British diplomat, William Knox D'Arcy, who had built his fortune on gold mining and remained open to promising investments. Oil seepages had been observed in Persia for centuries, but two earlier concessions had failed. A French geologist convinced D'Arcy that the Middle East held potential, and he subsequently founded the oil industry there. Persia's national identity stretched back to the fifth century B.C.E. In the 18th century Qajar shahs united warlords and tribal confederations, and ruled avariciously for a century and a half. They learned to play Russia and Great Britain off each other, both vying for economic control in the era of Great Power diplomacy. By the turn of the 20th century, Russia held...