Count Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky or Iswolsky (, , Moscow – 16 August 1919, Paris) was a Russian diplomat remembered as a major architect of Russia's alliance with Great Britain during the years leading to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. As Foreign Minister, he assented to the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 in exchange for Austrian support for the opening of the Turkish Straits to Russian warships. In the resultant Bosnian Crisis of 1908–1909 the Powers did not accept the opening of the Straits. Izvolsky, publicly humiliated and destroyed by the debacle, resigned as Foreign Minister in 1910. Early life and career Izvolsky came from an aristocratic family of Russian descent. He graduated from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in St Petersburg with honours, and shortly thereafter married Countess von Toll, whose family had far-reaching connections at court. Through these connections, he joined the Foreign Office, where Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky became his patron. Izvolsky served as Russia's ambassador to the Vatican, followed by posts in Belgrade, Munich, and Tokyo (from 1899). In Tokyo, Izvolsky urged a peaceful accommodation with the rising power of Imperial Japan over Korea and Manchuria. He assisted Japanese former Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi arrange a trip to St. Petersburg in 1902 in an effort to defuse increasing tensions. The efforts incurred the wrath of Tsar Nicholas II, and Izvolsky found himself transferred to Copenhagen from 1903. From that posting, he continued to press for a diplomatic settlement with Japan before and during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. He served as Russia's Imperial Foreign Minister between April 1906 and November 1910. Anglo-Russian alliance In the wake of the disastrous Russian-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution of 1905, Izvolsky was determined to give Russia a decade of peace. He believed that it was Russia's interest to disengage from the conundrum of European politics and to concentrate on internal reforms. A constitutional monarchist, he undertook the reform and modernization of the Foreign Office. In the realm of more practical politics, Izvolsky advocated a gradual rapprochement with Russia's traditional foes - Great Britain and Japan. He had to face vigorous opposition from several directions, notably from the public opinion and the hard-liners in the military, who demanded a revanchist war against Japan and a military advance into Afghanistan. His allies in the government included Pyotr Stolypin and Vladimir Kokovtsov. He concluded the Russo-Japanese Agreement of 1907