African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1100 Mostar Hydropower Station

When East Africa entered the Third Five-Year Plan and continued to develop its own industry, other parts of the world were not peaceful, especially the increasingly acute conflicts among European countries, among which the game between Britain, France and Germany was the most prominent. The secondary conflict was reflected in the dispute between Austria-Hungary and Russia over the discourse power in the Balkan Peninsula.

The domestic problems of Austria-Hungary and Russia were acute, which made them the weak links in the imperialist chain.

Yes, Ernst also listed the Austro-Hungarian Empire as being equal to Russia. This can be seen from the results of the First World War in the previous life. A coup d'état took place in Russia, but the new government at least managed to retain most of its interests, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire was directly dismembered. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was the real biggest loser in the First World War.

Therefore, it can be said that the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia were evenly matched, and the dispute between the two countries in the Balkan Peninsula has a long history, making them natural competitors. If the Ottoman Empire, the old enemy of the two countries, had not weakened, perhaps they could have put together another table of "Dou Dizhu" in Central and Eastern Europe, forming two major poker games in Europe with the Western European grouping of Britain, France and Germany.

Compared with the original history, since the failure of Italian unification, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is actually much stronger than the same period in history. At least the threat from western Italy no longer exists, allowing the Austro-Hungarian Empire to devote more energy to competing with Russia in the Balkan Peninsula.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Russia lost face, which made the Austro-Hungarian Empire even more arrogant in the Balkans. However, overall, Russia is still a big shot, and it does not take its old rival, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, seriously.

……

1911 4 Month 7 Day.

Mostar, southwestern Bosnia, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Today, a major project in the city of Mostar was completed. The Mostar Hydropower Station, built with support from East Africa, was completed on the Neretva River.

In front of the newly built Mostar Hydropower Station dam, the general manager of the newly established Mostar Hydropower Company, Kerlev, said happily: "The completion of the Mostar Hydropower Station will become a new economic development engine for our city, providing help for our city's electricity supply and industrial development."

Kerlev is a typical East African and one of the representatives of the East African business community in Bosnia, and most of his employees are locals.

However, unlike other places in Bosnia, the locals in Mostar are very peculiar, because more than 80% of the local population are Chinese, 17% are Croats, and finally 3% are Serbs.

Therefore, among the workers who participated in the construction of the Mostar Hydropower Station in front of Kerlev, except for a very small number of East African technicians, most of them were Chinese, and there were a small number of Croatians.

The three major ethnic groups in Mostar were Ottomans, Croats and Serbs.

The city of Mostar was once an important border military town run by the Ottoman Empire. After the Austro-Hungarian Empire took control of the Bosnia region, the Hechingen Consortium, through "cooperation" with the Austro-Hungarian army stationed in Mostar at the time, completely "de-greened" this town, which originally had Ottoman characteristics. In addition, the Hechingen Consortium became the largest landlord in the area and further introduced immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire to the entire lower Neretva River valley area.

Of course, the Far Eastern immigrants imported into the local area from East Africa at that time were actually "illegal residents", and most of them "settled down" in the local area as laborers hired by the Hei Xingen Consortium.

In the early days, East Africa mainly engaged in agriculture in the lower valley of the Neretva River. The local climate has a Mediterranean climate and abundant water resources. Under the arrangement of the Hechingen Consortium, Far Eastern immigrants developed farms and plantations in the local area. At that time, Far Eastern immigrants were actually similar to Russian serfs.

Because the lower valley of the Neretva River belongs to the front line between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, the local population is not large. In addition, the terrain is relatively rugged and there are large amounts of virgin forests, so it is not suitable for living.

This provided convenience for the Hexingan Consortium. With the support of a large number of cheap Far Eastern immigrant labor, the Hexingan Consortium continued to open up wasteland downstream along the Neretva River. After more than 30 years of development, the lower reaches of the Neretva River actually became a prosperous area in Bosnia and Croatia.

This can be seen from the population situation in the lower reaches of the Neretva River. Today, the local population exceeds 630,000, of which Chinese account for 480,000, more than 70% of the local population, while the entire lower reaches of the Neretva River covers an area of ​​only more than 4,000 square kilometers. This comparison shows the degree of prosperity of the local area under the support of East Africa. More than 4,000 square kilometers is basically equivalent to the size of a medium-sized prefecture-level city in the Far East Empire in the past (the average area of ​​prefecture-level cities in my country is about 28,000 square kilometers).

For such a small place, a population of over 500,000 is quite rare, at least in the Balkans. You should know that the population of the entire Kingdom of Serbia is only over 2 million, and that of Bulgaria is over 4 million. Therefore, the lower reaches of the Neretva River under the governance of the Hechingen Consortium is definitely a densely populated area.

As for why East Africa wants to support a pro-East African force here, it has to start with East Africa's infiltration into the Bosnia region.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Bosnia, East Africa had already begun to work on building an East Africa-like region within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the work in Bosnia was not going smoothly at the time.

First of all, Bosnia is a country dominated by mountains and hills, and it is blocked by Croatia, so transportation is not smooth.

Therefore, East Africa could only use the port of Ploče in Croatia in the previous life as a starting point and infiltrate into the Neretva River basin.

The Neretva River was an important river in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in the past, and the Port of Ploče is right next to the Neretva River.

The lower Neretva River valley from Ploče to Mostar constitutes a rare flat area on the border between Bosnia and Croatia.

This was also the basis for the Hexingan Consortium to carry out the "enclosure movement" in the local area. It can be said that most areas except Mostar were basically developed by the Hexingan Consortium later.

Ploče was a port city in Croatia in the past, while Mostar is the fifth largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is also the only way from Sarajevo to the Adriatic Sea.

As the second largest city in the region, the Port of Ploče can be said to have been independently developed and constructed by the Hechingen Consortium.

If East Africa had not intervened, the Port of Ploče would probably have to have been built in 1939 by the later Kingdom of Yugoslavia, just like in its previous life.

The city of Mostar is different. Mostar is located at the intersection of the Dinaric Mountains and the Vranica Mountains. The Neretva River flows from here into the plains downstream, so Mostar controls the flat and open river valley area downstream of the Neretva River.

It is also a place of contention for military strategists in history. The important Battle of Neretva River in World War II took place here. Controlling Mostar means that you are not far from Sarajevo, one of the most important cities in the Balkan Peninsula.

Sarajevo is adjacent to the city of Mostar, separated by the Vranica Mountains, so the Neretva River Valley is the main gateway to the Adriatic Sea for Bosnia and Serbia.

This also shows that East Africa's local layout is mainly between the port of Ploče and the city of Mostar, which is equivalent to cutting off the main transportation route between the inland area and the coast.

However, East Africa's infiltration into Bosnia was not smooth sailing. At least Ernst's early idea of ​​controlling the economy of the entire Bosnian region was unrealistic.

The main reason is that Bosnia has a complex ethnic composition. It is the intersection of the three major religious forces of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Arabism. It was also the center of competition among the three traditional European powers of the Ottoman Empire, Russia and Austro-Hungary. Sarajevo is the place with the most intense competition. It can be seen from the local population composition that Sarajevo is the main place where ethnic groups and religious believers live together.

(End of this chapter)