African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1120 The Balkan War breaks out

While exports to the Ottoman Empire were growing, East Africa's exports to other countries were also equally good. Apart from the Balkan Peninsula, there were many countries in the world that were actively preparing for war. Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, the United States, Japan, including East Africa itself, and other countries had all been actively expanding their armaments since the 20th century.

In addition to the large-scale arms race among the great powers, the imperialist frenzy of dividing up the world that began in the late 1990s also activated investment in the military field by non-great powers.

Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, signs of war appeared in various parts of the world. The dark cloud of war that could sweep the world had been brewing quietly for nearly twenty years, and the center of the storm was Europe.

Among the great powers, the only ones who can sit firmly on the Diaoyutai are the United States, East Africa and Japan. There are almost no strong enemies around these three countries, but Japan has obviously embarked on a military expansion route that is completely different from that of the United States and East Africa, and has not devoted all its energy to economic development.

While East Africa was supplying strategic materials to the Ottoman Empire, orders from other regions were also relatively active, such as Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Many of the resources needed by Russia had to be imported from East Africa, mainly in non-ferrous metals, internal combustion engine vehicles, electricity, communications, tropical agricultural products and many other areas.

Britain and France could obtain many important war materials through their colonies, such as cotton, rubber, sugar, etc., and were relatively less dependent on East Africa. Their imports from East Africa were mainly industrial products such as internal combustion engine vehicles and power equipment.

In East African foreign trade, Germany and Russia ranked first and second respectively, Austria-Hungary ranked third, followed by the Far Eastern Empire, the United States, Britain and France.

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In October 1912, the Balkan League was formally established. The Balkan League consisted of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro. As a result, the anti-Ottoman forces on the Balkan Peninsula were basically assembled.

The Balkan League had an army of more than 700,000 and more than 1,000 artillery pieces, while the Ottoman Empire had only more than 700,000, and the number of artillery pieces was basically the same as that of the Balkan League.

Although East Africa conducted relevant trade with the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman government did not immediately transfer the acquired materials to the European front. The only way from the Persian Gulf to Europe was through land routes, mainly the Baghdad Railway, which was obviously not an easy task for the Ottoman Empire to conquer.

The Ottoman government of the Balkan League issued an ultimatum, demanding that the Ottoman Empire allow the various ethnic groups in Macedonia and Thrace to obtain autonomy in accordance with the provisions of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, which was flatly rejected by the Ottoman government.

Before October 1912, 10, the Balkan League declared war on the Ottoman Empire one after another, and the First Balkan War broke out. The Balkan League burst out with powerful war potential and gained a huge advantage at the beginning of the war.

Rhine City.

The war potential of the Balkan countries is quite shocking to the East African military. The four small Eastern European countries alone mobilized more than 700,000 troops, which is almost twice the size of the East African army before the expansion was completed.

Merkel: "In the Balkan Alliance, Bulgaria, the most populous country with a population of only four million, mobilized more than 300,000 troops. Montenegro, with a population of only a few hundred thousand, also organized an army of tens of thousands."

"The entire Balkan Alliance has a population of less than 10 million, less than one-third of the Ottoman Empire, but it has assembled more troops than the Ottoman Empire. The total number of troops on both sides exceeds one million. This is the largest war in Europe in recent years!"

Since the end of the Franco-Prussian War, there has been basically no large-scale war in Europe, and it has been forty years since the Franco-Prussian War, so what Merk said makes sense.

Siewert: "The Balkan Alliance had the support of Britain, France and Russia, which enabled it to complete its military expansion and preparation for war. As for the Ottoman Empire, Germany did not give corresponding support, but instead put the Ottoman Empire at a disadvantage." The actual strength of the Balkan Alliance was not much stronger than that of the Ottoman Empire. Neither side had established a complete industry, so the Balkan Alliance's ability to complete its military expansion mainly relied on the support of external forces.

Ernst said: "Judging from the current situation, the Ottoman Empire will suffer a great loss in this war, but this is exactly what we want to see. After all, the Ottoman Empire will suffer a more severe fall in the war, which will be more conducive to our infiltration of the Ottoman Empire."

In Ernst's mind, if the Ottoman Empire was not defeated miserably, it would be detrimental to the alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire. At present, German diplomacy was a mess. It could be said that except for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, several other major European powers had become enemies. In addition, without Italy, the troublemaker, the German camp's paper strength was too weak, which was likely to affect Germany's confidence in the war in the future.

If Germany does not start a war, it will be greatly disadvantageous to East Africa now, so Ernst hopes that the Ottoman Empire can replace Italy and give Germany confidence in the war. As for East Africa's infiltration into the Ottoman Empire, that is completely an excuse, not Ernst's true thoughts.

As for the situation of the Ottoman Empire, even gods cannot save it, but it is much more advantageous to Germany than Italy, the traitor who defected to the Allied camp before the war in the previous life. At least it can prevent Germany's military operations from being greatly affected by the rebellion of its allies.

Logically speaking, Ernst still hoped that Germany would achieve ultimate victory, but reason told Ernst that this was almost impossible to happen.

Ernst was not optimistic about Germany's future at all given that East Africa was unlikely to participate in the war, and East Africa was unlikely to participate in the war for the sake of Germany's future.

Even if East Africa joins, the final result will be three against four, or even three against five. Britain can curb East Africa's military operations by bribing the United States and Japan in the final stage.

Among the Allied Powers, only Germany performed above the passing line. The performance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in its previous life made Ernst extremely distrustful of the Allies' ability to win.

East Africa must guard against the United States. In terms of the national strength of the two countries, the United States is still superior to East Africa. Any wrong choice may put East Africa at a disadvantage in the subsequent competition between East Africa and the United States.

Of course, if Germany could achieve even more brilliant results than in its previous life, it is not impossible for East Africa to turn to the German camp at the end of the war, but this is almost impossible to achieve.

World War I was a long war of attrition, and Britain and France had a huge advantage over Germany. Unless Germany could defeat France at the beginning of the war like it did in World War II, if it failed to do so, Germany would have to enter a stalemate, which would be very unfavorable for Germany.

Therefore, East Africa’s final decision will still depend on the changes in the situation on the European battlefield after the outbreak of the war. Unless one side gains a clear advantage, East Africa will not be able to survive.

This is understandable. In the previous World War I, countries joined the war one after another. For example, the Ottoman Empire and the United States joined the war later. Most countries chose to stand idly by at the beginning.

The same is true for Britain. When Britain officially declared war on Germany, the war between France and Germany had already begun. Romania was neutral in the early stage and joined the Allied camp later. This was the case for European countries. As a non-regional country, East Africa was even less likely to take sides before the war broke out or in the middle of the war.

This round of Balkan War can be seen as a rehearsal for World War I, and it actually represents the game of multiple forces behind it. After most of the Ottoman Empire's forces are driven out of the Balkan Peninsula, the main contradiction in the entire Balkan Peninsula will turn into the contradiction between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After this round of war, Russia's influence in the Balkan Peninsula will be further enhanced, which is obviously not what the Austro-Hungarian Empire wants to see. Russia only needs to support Serbia and other countries to make the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a difficult position. Therefore, the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia in the past would break out before the conflict between Germany and France.

(End of this chapter)