African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1118 Balkan Crisis

East Africa has never stopped building its public opinion system. After all, Ernst has a deep understanding of the power of public opinion warfare, so even during the worst economic period in East Africa, it has never stopped infiltrating the Western public opinion system.

The Titanic was indeed an opportunity for a public opinion war. The Titanic was a complete "man-made disaster". Britain, as the country that manufactured and operated the ship, completely shirked its responsibility for the Titanic through public opinion. The American media was responsible for hype, portraying the Americans on the ship or the American ships that participated in the rescue as tragic and heroic.

In fact, the sinking of the Titanic was definitely not as "beautiful" as described by the British and American media. However, the mainstream media in Britain and the United States only choose to publish statements that are beneficial to their own country, and they can even forge some news to confuse the public.

For example, the Brooklyn Eagle reported on April 1912, 4: "The only blemish was that at the bottom of a lifeboat leaving the Titanic, two bodies of coolies from the Far East Empire and eight living people were found squeezed under the seats... These people... rushed into the lifeboat at the first moment of danger."

There are countless fake news like this, which were not vindicated until the 21st century. For example, Tim Martin, a scholar who studies the history of the Titanic, said that there is no evidence that the rumors of Chinese survivors disguising themselves and hiding really happened. Since the public believed at the time that only women and children should be rescued, he believed that these were "stories made up after the fact" by the media and the public.

However, after these false news were debunked, European and American countries had actually stopped caring about the Titanic, but the adverse impact it left behind has lasted for nearly a hundred years.

This is not difficult to understand. Decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it changed from an anti-fascist ally in World War II to a "murderer" who assisted Adolf in invading Poland. Although the Soviet Union's performance in World War II was not glorious, it is also a fact that the European and American media changed their attitude. After all, this is not what Europe and the United States said when something happened in World War II and they needed the Soviet Union to join.

Of course, as the Titanic is the focus of world attention for a short period of time, Europe and the United States will not ignore the facts and offset the contribution of East Africa.

The media controlled and influenced by East Africa in Europe began to make efforts the day after the Titanic accident to restore the true situation of the accident.

Of course, East African public opinion did not let go of the Titanic's owner, the British White Star Line. As the root cause of the accident, the White Star Line's shoddy work and operational errors were the fundamental causes of the sinking of the Titanic.

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The sinking of the Titanic was just an insignificant incident in the northern hemisphere for East Africa. To put it bluntly, except for the domestic officers and soldiers who participated in the rescue, no one would care even if more people died on the Titanic.

The focus of the East African government is the war in the Balkan Peninsula in 1912. As the powder keg that ignited World War I in the previous life, the changes in the situation in the Balkan Peninsula can be said to be the direct cause of the outbreak of World War I.

East Africa has been monitoring the situation in the Balkans and has been deploying its own forces there through Bosnia to prevent the loss of East Africa's voice in the region.

Because the changes in the Balkan Peninsula also have a huge impact on East Africa. The Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea on both sides of the Balkan Peninsula are also important routes from East Africa to the Central and Eastern European markets, and the Central and Eastern European market itself ranks first in the trade among East African countries.

Ernst: "The countries in the Balkan Peninsula have reached a consensus and have a tendency to go to war with the Ottoman Empire. What attitude should we take towards this war that may break out at any time, so as to guide the situation in Europe to develop in the direction we hope."

As one of the major powers in the world, East Africa is also one of the maintainers of world order, so it can obtain a lot of first-hand information. For example, if the countries in the Balkan Peninsula want to wage war against a behemoth like the Ottoman Empire, they must first communicate with the major powers in the world. To put it bluntly, without anyone supporting them behind the scenes, these countries in the Balkan Peninsula cannot even achieve independence.

Therefore, the countries in the Balkan Peninsula attach great importance to contacts with other major powers, and East Africa is naturally one of them. Although East Africa is an African country, this also makes the countries in the Balkan Peninsula feel more at ease. It is always better to seek help from East Africa than from Austria-Hungary and Russia. After all, if Austria-Hungary and Russia join in, it will be more difficult to kick them out again.

The same is true for the Ottoman Empire. Because it has a lot of territory in the Balkan Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire can also be regarded as a Balkan Peninsula country. The relationship between the Ottoman Empire and East Africa has always been good, so both sides are actively seeking East Africa's support.

Siwei Te said: "Now the countries in the Balkan Peninsula have very good relations with us, especially Romania, Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary. They even have military cooperation with us. As for Greece and Serbia, we also have trade relations with us. So in this war, we in East Africa must consider it carefully."

"However, from the perspective of practical interests, we should lean towards the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire controls Constantinople, which in turn blocks the passage to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The unobstructed Black Sea is particularly important to us. Russia and even the entire Black Sea coastal countries have always been important consumer markets for our agriculture and industry."

"Of course, if the Ottoman Empire loses Constantinople in this war, that's another matter. Given the current state of the Balkan countries, this is not impossible. However, the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and East Africa does not only exist in Constantinople, a major transportation hub. We also have to deal with the Ottoman Empire in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, so we must be very cautious in our attitude toward the Ottoman Empire."

After Witt made his point, Merkel added: "We cannot support the Ottoman Empire too much. The emotions of the Balkan countries are also worth considering. After all, when we deal with international relations, it is best not to offend too many people. The most important thing is that we have no historical problems with the Balkan countries, so it is best not to fall out with the Balkan countries just because we support the Ottoman Empire."

After others made some suggestions, many people within the East African government expressed their support for the Ottoman Empire. The fundamental reason for this result was that the Ottoman Empire itself was more valuable to East Africa than the Balkan countries.

As two important countries along the Indian Ocean coast, East Africa and the Ottoman Empire can be said to be the only independent countries that are not controlled by Britain or other colonizers.

Although the Ottoman Empire could not play any role in the Indian Ocean, East Africa and the Ottoman Empire, which were also suppressed by Britain, had many things in common, mainly because of the existence of Britain as a common enemy. Therefore, the two countries had the same common goal of driving the British out of the Indian Ocean.

Of course, East Africa actually had no real feelings towards the Ottoman Empire, and the many collaborations between the two countries were purely based on considerations of interests.

Within East Africa, there were those who supported the Ottoman Empire, and naturally there were also those who opposed and supported the Ottoman Empire.

Constantine said: "The decline and even disintegration of the Ottoman Empire is very likely to happen. We should stand on the side of the Balkan countries with other European countries. This will cater to the mainstream sentiment of the international community and avoid our country being dragged into the war. I personally am very pessimistic about the fate of the Ottoman Empire. In this war, the Ottoman Empire is likely to be at a disadvantage."

Constantine's words are also worthy of attention, because standing on the side of the Ottoman Empire is basically equivalent to diplomatically isolating oneself from European society.

Of course, as an African country, East Africa actually doesn’t have much to do with the life and death of the Ottoman Empire or the countries in the Balkan Peninsula. As long as there is no anti-East African force, it can basically accept it.

(End of this chapter)