Опис

Baron Rosen’s memoir, published in two volumes in 1922, covers his four-decade career as a diplomat. Volume I details his early years, including his work in the Asiatic Department, where he helped draft the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg, which ceded the Kuriles to Japan. He served in posts in Yokohama, New York, Washington, Mexico City, Serbia, Bavaria, and Greece.

Volume II covers his reappointment to Tokyo in 1903, where he was a key negotiator of the Nishi–Rosen Convention, tried to avert the Russo‑Japanese War, and eventually served as Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 1905 Portsmouth peace negotiations under President Theodore Roosevelt, helping to negotiate an end to the war on terms acceptable to Russia. Later chapters address domestic Russian politics: the revolt of 1905, the Duma, Stolypin’s reforms, the lead-up to World War I, the revolutions and Bolshevik upheaval, providing insightful commentary on the decline of the imperial system and its foreign policy failures.

The memoir includes candid assessments of diplomatic practices, vivid portraits of prominent statesmen, and a conservative critique of the Tsarist regime. One of the most compelling sections is Rosen’s personal account of the February 1917 Revolution, especially his encounter with revolutionary soldiers at his Washington club.