African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1123 East African Concerns

Ernst was naturally happy to see the French government's little tricks come to fruition. Only when the competition between Germany and France became more intense could East Africa get more benefits by having the best of both worlds.

As for France's tricks, Ernst believes that the impact on Germany is minimal. After all, East Africa is now in a period of rapid expansion of production capacity. Relying on the massive development funds obtained through large loans, all industries in East Africa have entered a stage of rapid development.

The so-called big order from France is nothing more than a drizzle in the eyes of East Africa. After all, East Africa is not as short of money as Russia.

Moreover, Germany's dependence on East Africa far exceeds the expectations of other countries. It is not just a few orders that can affect the trade between Germany and East Africa. For example, cotton, rubber, oil, rare minerals, etc. The scope of trade between East Africa and Germany is very extensive.

Germany imports more than 100,000 tons of cotton from East Africa every year, and it is obviously impossible for France to block the cotton trade between Germany and East Africa by spending money, as that would be an astronomical figure.

In the current period of rapid expansion of East Africa's production capacity, it is impossible for other countries to influence East Africa's exports to other countries through the trade situation because they simply cannot buy all the goods, but France has no choice.

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France adopted tactics to win over East Africa, and Germany naturally did not want to be outdone. After 1913, Germany spared no effort in winning over East Africa.

Germany has always wanted to bind East Africa to the German chariot, but the East African government does not have a strong desire in this regard. This has always been a headache for Germany. In the view of the German government, if East Africa can join forces with Germany, there will be almost no country in the world that can resist this powerful "German Alliance."

Shortly after seeing off Thomson, German Ambassador to East Africa Kamon communicated with the East African government almost as per routine.

Kamon started by painting a rosy picture for East Africa: "If East Africa forms an alliance with Germany, East Africa will obtain British colonies such as India and Australia, become the hegemon of the Indian Ocean and Africa, and become the world's leading top power. A world order dominated by Germans will also be established around the world."

It has to be said that the conditions offered by the Germans are indeed very tempting. If any one of them is achieved, the national strength of East Africa will rise to a new height. However, it is obvious that the East African government has its own ideas as to whether it can get its share of the cake.

East African Foreign Minister Freer said: "Although East Africa has always supported Germany, we cannot afford the risk of war, so we can only give Germany all support except war."

For the East African governments, Britain is not a paper tiger. As long as the East African royal army arrives, Britain's colonies can be easily taken.

East Africa mainly considers two aspects, one is the United States and the other is Russia. Because of the existence of the United States, East Africa is not optimistic about Germany's situation, while Russia and East Africa are worried that the cooperation between East Africa and Germany will lead to certain cooperation between Britain and Russia in the Indian Ocean.

In the Indian Ocean region, Russia must not be ignored. It should be noted that Russia has always had strong ambitions for the Indian Ocean. The main reason why Russia has been unable to gain access to the Indian Ocean is the British containment of Russia.

Assuming that East Africa falls out with Britain in the Indian Ocean region, Britain may reach cooperation with Russia to jointly deal with East Africa on the northern coast of the Indian Ocean.

Moreover, Britain controlled the three key nodes of the Red Sea, Malacca and the Cape of Good Hope, which controlled the main channels for East Africa's foreign trade. As long as Britain dared to give up some of its interests in the Indian Ocean, it could completely prevent East Africa's external expansion.

Take the Strait of Malacca for example. Even if East Africa wants to capture the Strait of Malacca, it may have to prepare for a long war because Malacca is too far away from East Africa, and Britain can completely deal with East Africa by relying on terrain and fortifications. In addition, Britain can also introduce the power of Japan and the United States to assist Britain in ensuring the safety of this important transportation route.

If Japan or the United States really took control of the Strait of Malacca, it would be a heavy blow to East Africa. Not only would it lose overseas territories such as Alaska and Lan Fang, but it would also lose the opportunity to go east to the Pacific Ocean. The complex international relations made East Africa hesitant. Britain's long-term hegemony gave Britain a lot of initiative. At least in most strategic locations, Britain had the ability to resist. This was not something that East Africa could easily resolve through a few wars. As long as it could delay East Africa, Britain could use the power of other countries to bankrupt East Africa's idea.

In the final analysis, the world system established by Britain over the past few hundred years is difficult to break. If a war breaks out, most countries in the world will stand on the side of Britain. This is also the brilliance of British colonization. In almost every region colonized by Britain, Britain has cultivated a large number of compradors and loyal dogs.

Therefore, at the moment, East Africa will never take the lead in speaking out unless it can guarantee a fatal blow to the world system established by Britain.

Even if East Africa can break this system now, the ultimate beneficiaries may be countries such as the United States, Russia and Japan.

In this case, it would be better to let Britain continue to struggle and wait until East Africa has made all preparations before launching a heavy blow to the British hegemony system.

After all, Britain is already a thing of the past and is declining at a visible rate. East Africa should now use Britain to maintain its system in the Indian Ocean region, slowly infiltrate it, and then take over Britain's legacy after all preparations are completed.

If the order established by Britain in the Indian Ocean suddenly collapses, it will definitely not be a good thing for East Africa. In addition to possibly attracting competitors such as the United States, Japan, and Russia, the collapse of the colonial order established by Britain may suddenly lead to the independence of a large number of countries, and it will not be easy for East Africa to control these independent countries.

After all, if Britain collapses, East Africa will become one of their biggest threats. In this case, they might as well continue to cooperate with Britain, the United States or Japan. At least these countries are far away and can give them a sense of security.

In short, East Africa does not want Britain’s colonial system in the Indian Ocean to suddenly collapse at this time, just as some European countries in the past did not want the Soviet Union to suddenly disintegrate.

When the Soviet Union existed, they could have the best of both worlds and lived a very comfortable life, but once the Soviet Union disappeared, the United States became the only superpower.

Take France for example. When the Soviet Union existed, France could become a powerful country and even dominated the establishment of the European Union. However, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, France's influence dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it became a target of attack from the United States. This was also an important reason why France later hoped that the Far Eastern Empire would assume the responsibility of being a world power and confront the United States.

However, due to its late establishment, East Africa's international influence has always been very limited. Although East Africa has actively expanded its influence in other countries and regions in recent years, this process will still require at least a long wait.

For example, along the Persian Gulf coast, East Africa has just acquired the Beibu Gulf territory, and other local forces still follow the lead of Britain. In the Indian Ocean coastal areas such as India and Southeast Asia, East Africa's influence is even weaker.

Therefore, if East Africa wants to gain hegemony over the Indian Ocean, there are many factors to consider, and it is definitely not something that can be easily resolved by a war as Kamon said.

Of course, the fundamental reason is that East Africa is not optimistic about Germany's victory in Europe, unless Germany defeats the three major powers of Britain, France and Russia at the same time and blocks the United States on the Atlantic coast. However, Germany alone obviously cannot achieve this level.

The possibility of Germany's failure in Europe is too great. If Germany fails, East Africa may face siege from other countries. Although there is no risk of national destruction, there is still a great possibility that East Africa will become a large "North Korea". East Africa now does not want to close its doors to the outside world again.

Ultimately, East Africa is unwilling to take the risk of war. As long as East Africa can remain neutral, it can gain benefits. Normal people know how to choose, and East Africa does not have the gambling nature of countries like Germany and Japan.

(End of this chapter)