African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1122 French Test
When Constantine died, the First Balkan War was basically over. The Ottoman Empire perfectly demonstrated its strength as the "Sick Man of West Asia" and was completely unable to resist the offensive of the Balkan League. The Balkan League was advancing by leaps and bounds, while the Ottoman Empire was retreating step by step. In this situation, the Ottoman Empire had to once again ask other countries to mediate to avoid further losses.

In May, with the support of various countries, the Ottoman Empire finally chose to give up almost all of its European territory in exchange for peace.

However, the smoke of war on the Balkan Peninsula did not dissipate with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. Due to the uneven distribution of spoils, conflicts between the countries on the Balkan Peninsula soon broke out, and the Second Balkan War broke out.

One of the most notable features of the Second Balkan War was the different supporters behind Bulgaria and the anti-Bulgarian alliance. In this round of war, Germany, Austria-Hungary and East Africa almost unanimously supported Bulgaria, while other powers supported Serbia, Greece and other countries.

The entire Balkan Peninsula seemed to be a competition between two major camps, an alliance of German countries and an alliance of non-German countries, as if Germany, Austria-Hungary and East Africa had joined forces.

The fact that the three German countries adopted almost identical political actions inevitably aroused people's speculation. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a dual system, there was no doubt that the Germans still had a major influence in national politics.

Germany, Austria-Hungary and the East African countries, any one of them is an important presence in the world. If the three countries unite, this is definitely not what other countries in the world want to see.

With the passing of Constantine, there have been some changes in the East African government on the surface, which has made other countries more eager to test the attitude of the "new" government leadership in East Africa.

Before the outbreak of the Second Balkan War, French Ambassador to East Africa Thomson once again communicated with the East African government.

Rhine Palace.

Now, three months have passed since Constantine's death. Ernst has temporarily come out of the haze and began to handle state affairs as emperor. Ernst received Ambassador Thomson at the Rhine Palace.

Thomson asked directly: "Your Majesty, I wonder if your country has communicated with Germany in this round of Balkan conflict. What is your attitude towards Bulgaria and other Balkan countries?"

Although it was not surprising that East Africa stood on Bulgaria's side, after all, Bulgaria had always had military cooperation with East Africa and was the Balkan country with the best relations with East Africa except Romania. However, when Germany, Austria-Hungary and East Africa stood together, France still felt nervous.

Therefore, the most important issue for Thomson was to use rhetoric to test whether East Africa and Germany had secretly colluded.

After all, as a German country, East Africa itself is prone to some misunderstandings. It can be said that without involving external situations, East Africa and Germany have a natural basis for cooperation. The two countries have similar cultures and deep economic cooperation. In terms of military, East Africa is even more similar to Germany.

Therefore, if Germany secretly formed an alliance with East Africa, it would be considered quite natural in the eyes of other countries in the world.

Ernst told Thomson: "East Africa has no clear political intentions in this round of the Balkan War. Our support for Bulgaria is a continuation of the relationship between the two countries before the war. Your Excellency should also know that we have in-depth cooperation with Bulgaria in military, so our support for Bulgaria now does not need to be interpreted in depth. It is completely a coincidence."

Thomson heard the hidden meaning in Ernst's words, which was that East Africa's current behavior in the Balkan Peninsula had nothing to do with other countries, and this other country was obviously referring to Germany.

Of course, as a seasoned diplomat, Thomson would not believe that East Africa had no connection with Germany or the Austro-Hungarian Empire just because Ernst said so.

So Thomson continued to probe: "The main reason is that at this stage, the consistency in diplomatic actions of Germany, Austria-Hungary and East Africa is hard to be assured. This coincidence will cause misunderstandings in many countries." The three German countries supported Bulgaria at the same time. Although each had its own excuses, it was easy for France to feel paranoid.

Ernst explained: "I believe Ambassador Thomson also knows that Austria-Hungary's support for Bulgaria is entirely out of fear of Serbia's extreme nationalism. Therefore, supporting Bulgaria is a decision made by Austria-Hungary to consolidate its own security. As for East Africa, although we have some military cooperation with Bulgaria, this does not mean that East Africa can have much influence on the Balkan Peninsula."

"Therefore, East Africa and Austria-Hungary's support for Bulgaria was unexpected, and East Africa, as a non-regional country, never had too many ideas."

Taking the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an example, its support for Bulgaria was clearly based on geopolitical considerations. The Austro-Hungarian Empire needed Bulgaria to strike Serbia to prevent the emergence of a "Greater Serbia".

Assuming that Serbia did not exist, it would be basically impossible for Austria-Hungary to support Bulgaria. From this point of view, Austria-Hungary's support for Bulgaria was speculative, and the same was true for East Africa. In this way, there was no possibility of an alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and East Africa.

Ernst went on to say: "At present, East Africa is still focusing on economic development. This can be seen from the East African Navy. Our total naval tonnage is obviously low in the world. Since East Africa has no intention of participating in the naval arms race, it naturally has no intention of expanding its influence in other regions."

This set of rhetoric can indeed make people feel more at ease. If East Africa really allies with Germany, then East Africa will inevitably participate in the war. A country that is ready to participate in the war will certainly not be slower than other countries in military construction like East Africa is now.

This also gave Thomson a reassurance. According to Ernst's words, East Africa did not have any obvious intention to interfere in the European situation.

East Africa obviously intends to stay out of it. After all, the size of East Africa's navy cannot even catch up with France. Instead of worrying about East Africa, it is better to worry about the United States, a country that is actively expanding its military.

Ambassador Thomson calmed down and began to talk with Ernst about other issues. Although East Africa did not show any expansion momentum militarily, it was undeniable that the East African Defense Force was still an important military force in the world.

Therefore, France cannot tolerate East Africa joining the German camp. If it wants East Africa to stay out of the game between Germany and France, it obviously needs to come up with more chips to win over East Africa.

After all, even if East Africa does not support Germany militarily, it can still support Germany through economy and trade, because France is well aware that as a non-colonial power, Germany relies on East Africa for a large part of its raw materials.

East Africa obviously will not cut off trade relations with Germany, so Germany will have the opportunity to obtain the cheap raw materials it wants from East Africa to promote its own industrial and military development.

For example, Germany's military-industrial enterprises need to import large quantities of special minerals needed for many weapons from East Africa, such as manganese, copper, chromium, rare earths, etc.

The only thing France can do is to drive up market prices so that it will not be too easy for Germany to purchase raw materials from East Africa.

So after making sure that East Africa would not be involved in the conflict between Germany and France, Thomson negotiated several large orders with East Africa on behalf of the French government, especially importing some materials from East Africa that might have been originally used by German military industrial enterprises.

Although France may not need it, the French order can at least increase the cost of Germany's military development. This can be regarded as a means of killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of one's own.

(End of this chapter)