ABSTRACT
Salisbury had made ready for war over Fashoda: but he was enforcing the ministerial declaration of Sir Edward Grey in the Rosebery administration that the Nile Valley was barred to Britain's rivals. Salisbury suspected that the German emperor actually hoped for war between Britain and France, which must be to Germany's advantage, and Chamberlain was ready, even eager, to fight for what he imagined was a great new market in West Africa. Suspected in Germany of pro-American leanings in the Samoan negotiations and the Spanish American war of 1898, Salisbury did not see America through Chamberlain's eyes, as the ideal partner of his global imaginings. Once Britain was at war with Russia not an alarming prospect if the combatants were left to themselves Germany and France would levy their blackmail in Africa: "And fighting them all would be a great strain". Salisbury had not changed his mind about the improbability of a full-scale Russian assault upon India through Afghanistan.