African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1128 The Beginning

With the arrival of 1914, the New Economic Policy of East Africa was initially compatible with the planned economic system. According to the East African government, this was an economic path with East African characteristics that required both planned economic guidance and market freedom. The New Economic Policy was implemented smoothly amid criticism and rebuttal.

While East Africa was undergoing major reforms in its national economic system, new waves were brewing on the European continent, ready to plunge Europeans into the abyss.

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"In Greek mythology, the Sirens used their singing to attract sailors. Any ship that heard her singing and could not resist the temptation would crash into the reefs on the coast. Today, the leaders of European countries are pulling Europe to the brink of war as if they had heard the Sirens' singing," wrote an East African journalist in the Rheinische Volkszeitung in February 1914.

It has become a consensus among most countries in the world that Europe will go to war, but no one can imagine the huge destructiveness of this war.

In fact, war is not a strange word to Europe. Group fights have often occurred in European history, such as the Thirty Years' War, the Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, etc. These are wars involving many countries and lasting for a long time.

However, when these wars occurred, the lethality of weapons was still very limited. After enjoying nearly fifty years of peace, Europeans have forgotten the pain of past wars and have ignored the terribleness of the increased lethality of today's weapons.

The last most notable war in Europe was the Franco-Prussian War, which was large in scale but short in duration, and Germany had the upper hand from the start, thus preventing both countries from suffering too much damage.

During the Balkan Wars, the mutual attacks between the Balkan countries were also completed in a short period of time. For example, the war between the Balkan League and the Ottoman Empire, or the war between Bulgaria and the Anti-Bulgarian League, were all completed within a few months. The two Balkan Wars combined lasted less than a year.

Nowadays, most European politicians have the mentality of "quick victory" and "decisive battle". Many people only think that once a war is started, it will end in a short time.

Before the First World War broke out in the previous life, almost all the participating countries were full of confidence in the war. They had accumulated great confidence from the colonial wars and believed that war was the best way to gain military merit.

Especially those old aristocrats who had become increasingly decadent during the two industrial revolutions hoped to restore the glory of their families through war. These people became the most radical promoters of war, using the power and status in their hands to promote the beauty of war through public opinion.

For example, in Britain, there was a general sense of optimism, and people believed that the war would be over in a few weeks. After all, the British, who had enjoyed peace for a long time, had long forgotten the cruelty of war. Since the Napoleonic Wars, the British had not experienced a large-scale war. Even in the American War of Independence, they defeated the opposing side and did not suffer much loss.

Moreover, because of East Africa, Britain avoided the lessons of the two Boer Wars and did not become a laughing stock among European countries. Although losing to East Africa was also embarrassing, it was much better than being taught a lesson by the Boers in the previous life.

Although France suffered heavy losses in the Franco-Prussian War, its strong national self-esteem plunged the entire nation into a state of crazy revenge. They wanted a war of blood and fire to wash away their past shame, completely unaware of how much harm the war would bring.

Prussia-dominated Germany has hardly ever been defeated in recent years and has won several battles that determined its national destiny. Coupled with the rapid development of its domestic economy and its rapid industrial strength, it has expanded beyond all limits.

Before World War I, Europeans believed that Europe dominated the world. Whether it was the old Britain, France, or the emerging Germany, they all achieved unprecedented success.

European armies were invincible in the colonies, crushing all the foreign natives who dared to resist them like bulldozers, and along with it, European capital spread all over the world, dominating the economic lifelines of most regions of the world from Ivory Coast to the Moluccas. Today, European civilization has shown an amazing ability to penetrate, and it seems that the world's civilizations can be divided into: European and barbaric. This is the golden age of Europe.

Against this background, European people generally have an extremely strong sense of national superiority and pride. This sense of superiority and pride is not entirely the result of propaganda - they have indeed achieved extraordinary success.

Their views on war were also different from those of today's people. They viewed war as a common way for a country to develop, and compared with today's people, they were more in favor of the use of force.

In other words, today in Europe, from top to bottom, whether politicians or ordinary people, there is a widespread extreme desire for war. They regard war as an important way to change the destiny of the country and individuals.

To sum up, Europeans in the early 20th century were actually a group of war maniacs disguised as civilized.

As social thinking in European countries becomes more radical, competition for interests becomes increasingly fierce, conflicts become irreconcilable, and war draws closer. Major and powerful countries outside the region are all ready to stay out of the matter, including the Far East Empire, East Africa, the United States, and Japan.

As for the fact that Europeans have no worries at all about internal strife that would allow these foreign powers or strong countries to snatch the throne of the so-called center of civilization from Europe, Europe of this era has the capital to be proud and complacent.

Of course, East Africans don’t have time to understand the mentality of Europeans. Today, the East African economy is also booming, and most people don’t have the time to care about what is happening on the European continent.

But there are also a few individuals who saw business opportunities in the exaggeration of East African news. As long as they can connect with the European battlefield, they can make a lot of money!
With the implementation of the new economic policy, a group of relatively powerful private businessmen have emerged in East Africa in the past three years. In order to open up sales in the European market, they dare to adopt new technologies, new processes and new concepts.

Although the war in Europe had not yet started, many people had realized that this was an opportunity that could not be missed. Therefore, in 1914, many East African businessmen went to Europe to develop the market.

This is actually related to the overheated domestic economy in East Africa. The hot market in East Africa now makes people believe that investment can bring returns. A large number of companies have emerged throughout East Africa, engaged in various types of production activities.

This inevitably leads to a result, that is, East Africa's industrial production is in large-scale overcapacity, so East Africa naturally needs to find a way to sell its goods, especially those private enterprises. Among overseas markets, Europe has the highest consumption level and is relatively close to East Africa, so many private enterprises in East Africa have begun to go abroad.

As an immigration country, East Africa has deep cultural roots with Europe, so it is relatively convenient to go abroad, especially to Germany and the Slavic regions.

Under such circumstances, a large number of East African merchants appeared in European countries. They tried to sell East African industrial products to all parts of Europe. This was also the first time that Europe had come into contact with so many East Africans.

Before this, East Africa implemented a closed-door policy, and it was almost impossible to see East Africans in Europe except for international students and public officials. But now, many East African faces have appeared in European countries. As a mixed race, East Africans are relatively easy to identify.

This also easily aroused Europeans' curiosity about East African countries. Through these cultural communicators who brought their own dry food, Europeans also had a relatively correct understanding of the situation in East African countries for the first time. However, it was too late at this time. After all, Europe was only one step away from the quagmire of war, and Europe would be unable to take care of itself.

(End of this chapter)