Lord Salisbury
1830 – 1903 British Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary
Conservative prime minister through the Scramble for Africa, presiding over the reconquest of Sudan and the Second Boer War.
- Religion
- Church of England
- Affiliations
- Conservative
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury, was three times prime minister and Britain's leading statesman during the Scramble for Africa. He steered Britain through the Berlin Conference era of partition, the reconquest of Sudan crowned at Omdurman, and the Fashoda standoff with France. His government also fought the Second Boer War against the two Afrikaner republics. He practised a cool, calculating diplomacy aimed at expanding British claims while avoiding a great-power war.
Connections
- associate of Cecil Rhodes — Worked with and around Rhodes's southern African expansion.
- associate of Joseph Chamberlain — His Colonial Secretary and driver of imperial policy.
- associate of Joseph Chamberlain — Served as Colonial Secretary in his cabinet.
- associate of Lord Cromer — His man on the spot ruling Egypt.
- associate of Lord Cromer — The prime minister he served in Egypt.
- associate of Lord Curzon — The prime minister who appointed him viceroy.
- associate of Lord Kitchener — The prime minister under whom he reconquered Sudan.
In the timeline
- 1884 – 1885 The Berlin Conference and the Scramble for Africa the prime minister during partition
- 1892 Indian Councils Act of 1892 pushed through by Curzon mentioned
- 1898 The Battle of Omdurman and the Reconquest of Sudan the prime minister
- 1898 Fashoda Incident the prime minister who faced down France
- 1899 – 1902 Second Boer War the prime minister
- 1902 Salisbury hands the premiership to Balfour mentioned
- 1903 Death of Lord Salisbury and decline of the Cecil Bloc central figure