African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1058 British Attention
"What is East Africa trying to do?" British Prime Minister Bannerman said. Prime Minister Bannerman is quite sensitive to East Africa's recent activeness in the international community.

Because not too long ago, the so-called Kingdom of South Germany invaded the Komadugu Yobe River Basin in Northwestern Nigeria.

Britain blamed East Africa for the war launched by the Kingdom of South Germany. After all, the so-called Kingdom of South Germany was a "puppet" regime supported by East Africa. Many British people regarded the war launched by the Kingdom of South Germany as a test of Britain by East Africa.

If you understand the British people's mentality, East Africa will definitely cry out for injustice. Although the Kingdom of South Germany has obtained the support of East Africa, this was not East Africa's original intention.

Of course, these are no longer important. After all, the British only look at the results and process, that is, the East African little brother invaded the outskirts of the British Nigeria Protectorate.

However, this was still within the tolerance range of Britain. After all, the Kingdom of South Germany did not enter the British Nigeria Protectorate, and the Kingdom of South Germany was not equivalent to East Africa, so it was not worth Britain's intervention.

Bannerman pointed at the map and said, "Before, East Africa instructed the Kingdom of South Germany to make small moves in Nigeria. This was still under our control, but now East Africa is clearly showing signs of infiltrating the Middle East. At the end of the year, East Africa sent three delegations to the Ottoman Empire, Oman, and Persia."

"This is a very sensitive time, mainly because we have just reached some consensus with the Russians. Now East Africa's intervention is likely to cause unrest in the region again."

Bannerman does not think that East Africa knows the content of the negotiations between Britain and Russia and undermines the plans of Britain and Russia. East Africa's intervention in the region should be just to plant a flag here.

"After the South African War, East Africa's diplomatic activities have been inactive and it has rarely appeared in the international community. Now, more than a decade has passed, and it seems that East Africa can no longer resist stirring up trouble in the international community."

In fact, the British Cabinet would at most take a look at something like the South German Kingdom's invasion of the Yobe River Basin in Komadugu and then pay no more attention to it.

But the Middle East is different. It is a sensitive region and Britain has important strategic interests here. Any force that may have an impact on the local situation will naturally attract Britain's attention.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, East Africa has been busy with its own development and construction in recent years, but this does not mean that East Africa is not interested in international affairs. In fact, in the large-scale wars in the world in recent years, there is always the shadow of East Africa. Although they are not the dominant force, they have a significant impact."

"For example, during the Russo-Japanese War, East Africa provided port services to Russia, or during the Spanish-American War, it provided a certain degree of assistance to Spain."

"So this East African country is never as honest as it seems. In my opinion, this time East Africa's large-scale entry into the Middle East can be seen as a change in East Africa's diplomacy and politics."

"Judging from East Africa's current actions, it is possible that East Africa will launch an offensive in two directions at the same time, one in West Africa and the other in the Middle East."

"These two regions are relatively important to East Africa. If East Africans are allowed to gain a foothold in these two places and expand their influence, it will be a disaster for the whole world. This evil empire will become an important force that threatens the hegemony of our British Empire, just like Tsarist Russia."

Listening to his subordinates' analysis, Prime Minister Bannerman also became serious. After sorting out his thoughts, he said, "With its current territory and population, East Africa is already a country with great influence. If they can gain an advantage in West Africa and the Middle East, East Africa will completely become one of the most powerful countries in the world."

"If combined with some of East Africa's colonies, East Africa will build a powerful sphere of influence from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which will be a disaster for all of Europe." Foreign Secretary Williams said: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, it's not that serious. As you said, if East Africa controls West Africa and the Middle East, then East Africa can indeed become the most powerful country in the world."

"But can East Africa really do this? Apart from other things, we have strong power in these regions alone and can beat back East Africa and its minions. Our power in the Middle East and West Africa is far from comparable to that of East Africa."

"Moreover, the power of various countries in West Africa and the Middle East is complex. France, Germany, and the United States all have colonies in West Africa, and the same is true in the Middle East. In addition to external forces, countries such as the Ottoman Empire, Oman, and Persia are unlikely to completely turn to East Africa. After all, it took us hundreds of years to conquer these countries, but until now, they are still standing there, so it is impossible for East Africans to gain a huge influence in the Middle East or West Africa."

Bannerman: "What you said makes sense, but this idea is too optimistic. After all, from a geographical point of view, East Africa has more advantages than us. East Africa can directly influence West Africa or the Middle East through the navy. East Africa itself is not a small country. It has the potential to become the next United States. East Africa has been developing very well in recent years. If they can gain extraterritorial influence, then East Africa will be even more powerful and will be difficult to control from now on."

Today's industrial countries all have relatively stable external markets. The reason why Britain and France are envied is because they have vast colonies. They can transfer their own crises to their colonies during economic crises, and accelerate their own development by plundering their colonies. These two effects make it difficult for any country to refuse.

As a late-developing country, East Africa, like Germany and the United States, has always lacked stable and valuable colonies, especially colonies with considerable market size. Germany is the worst off. Due to its geographical location, Germany's colonial activities were relatively late. Take Cameroon, Germany's largest colony, for example, its population is only a few million, and a large part of this population are still primitive people with no consumption capacity.

At least East Africa has a stable market like the Abyssinian Empire with a population of over 10 million. Together with other colonies, East Africa seems to be much happier than Germany.

The United States also exerted great influence throughout the Americas through the Spanish-American War and various political activities, and held wealthy Caribbean colonies such as Cuba.

In addition, the areas of East Africa and the United States are far beyond the reach of Germany. If Germany wants to go further, it has only two ways to go. One is to integrate the markets of Central and Eastern Europe, and the other is to defeat Britain and France and obtain their colonies.

The Central and Eastern European market is very important to Germany. This market plays a huge role in the development of German industry today. However, due to the existence of Russia, Germany's power can only extend in the direction of the Ottoman Empire.

As for Western Europe, its industries are well developed and it is considered a competitor of Germany. The dominant forces among them are Britain and France. If you want to break the pattern in Western Europe, you must defeat Britain and France at the same time, otherwise everything will be in vain.

In short, all countries have an extreme desire for colonies, and East Africa is no exception. The British government’s idea is to prevent East Africa from gaining an advantage in West Africa and the Middle East.

Because of these two regions, if West Africa is annexed by East Africa, it will form a superpower second only to Russia, and the Middle East region is even more important for Britain.

The Middle East is actually a bridge connecting the UK and India. Any person or force that may pose a threat to India will be targeted by the UK.

Bannerman said: "From now on, we must strictly monitor the political and diplomatic dynamics of the East African government in the Middle East. We must only know the final thoughts of the East African government and take action accordingly. The Middle East is the crossroads of world transportation, so we must not tolerate any forces other than the UK controlling this place, including locals."

(End of this chapter)