African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1149 Return to South America
As the arms trade is a large market, publicity is essential, and the most effective way to promote weapons is through war.

For example, in the Gulf War in the past, the United States suppressed the Soviet weapons in one fell swoop. However, this does not mean that Soviet weapons were not good, but that they failed to adapt to the new fighting style of the US military. Another major reason was that the Iraqi army was too poor.

In fact, if the Soviet Union had not collapsed, a big country like this would have been able to quickly develop appropriate solutions to changes on the battlefield, but at that time, the Soviet Union no longer had this opportunity.

Many times, the performance of a weapon depends on who is using it. In the hands of an excellent army, even a fire stick can fully demonstrate its value. But if it is used by African countries in the past, it cannot be judged by common sense at all.

Bulgaria is the target of Ernst's resentment. Of course, Bulgaria does not suffer any loss from East Africa's actions. It is just like Ukraine in its previous life. It is a skill to be able to find the United States and a bunch of European countries to ask for military assistance. If even the West abandons Ukraine, that would be truly desperate.

Therefore, when Germany was unable to get away and Bulgaria was heavily dependent on German weapons, East Africa became Bulgaria's "savior".

After talking about Europe, John Lear began to talk about the key points of the arms market: "When European countries were involved in the European war, the arms market vacated in Asia, Africa and Latin America was the biggest part."

"These non-European arms markets are not just a single business. As long as we can make good use of the gap that the major European countries cannot get rid of, we can lay a good foundation for future arms trade in East Africa."

"For example, the Far East, the Middle East, Central Asia, West Africa, and Latin America. Originally, these markets were divided up by the world's major powers, but now our only competitors are the Americans."

Today, land warfare is still an era of rifles and artillery, and in this situation, the United States actually has unique advantages. After all, the United States is a country that does not ban guns, so rifle production in the United States is a large and complete industrial chain.

In addition, the United States is a completely liberalized market, so it produces almost all mainstream types of firearms. For example, the East African version of the Mauser rifle can also be found in the United States.

The United States has a strong gun manufacturing industry, and the fact that the United States has not gotten involved in the muddy waters of war has also increased the competitive pressure on the arms market in East Africa.

Except for big countries like the Far Eastern Empire, the consumption capacity of many countries is actually not as strong as imagined. Some island countries do not even need an army, and naturally they do not need high-end products such as artillery and warships. Instead, the most basic rifles can meet the needs of these small and poor countries.

Today, East Africa's foreign trade can be said to be in full bloom. At the same time, East Africa's financial pressure has also been significantly alleviated. After all, East Africa borrowed a lot of money from Europe and the United States before the war, and now it is equivalent to a process of repaying the debt.

This is also an important reason why East Africa can receive a large number of orders. East Africa was originally the debtor. Now the warring parties in Europe can get the strategic materials they want from East Africa without using their gold reserves. It is a win-win situation.

If East Africa had not owed so much debt before the war, it would have been detrimental to its own industrial exports. After all, if there were no debts, Europe and the United States would have to exchange real money for importing materials from East Africa, which would be psychologically difficult for any country to accept.

However, if European countries choose to settle their accounts with materials from East Africa, they will then form a path dependence on the materials exported from East Africa, which will be difficult to get rid of at least until the end of the war.

East Africa had been preparing for World War I for several years, but at that time, the United States had not even rolled out its production line. There must have been a gap in the quality of industrial products between the two countries, which means that the overall quality of East African products is higher than that of the United States.

For example, medicines, beverages and other products produced in East Africa enter Europe before the United States, and will continue to maintain their advantage in product competitiveness.

……

1914 October.

While the war in Europe was firmly in the headlines every day, East Africa suddenly made a big move in South America and taught the South American countries a severe lesson.

On October 10, the East African Navy officially started its massive visit to South America, sending a large visiting team of five battleships, one battlecruiser, and ten cruisers.

It can be said that the East African Navy used a large part of the Atlantic Fleet's assets to carry out this visit to South America, or to demonstrate. With the outbreak of the European war, the East African Navy also made adjustments and transferred most of the country's main naval ships to the Atlantic Ocean. The main task was to escort the country's merchant ships in Europe and ensure the smooth flow of sea routes.

After all, only by "showing the sword" can Britain and France see the strength of East Africa and prevent them from interfering with East Africa's maritime trade.

This is also an important reason why East African merchant ships can reach Germany smoothly. Although the trade between East Africa and the United States and Germany during this period was obviously aiding the enemy, Britain and France could only turn a blind eye.

After all, East Africa and the United States are important neutral countries that can change the situation of the war in Europe. If they offend any one of them, they may be dragged into an abyss of no return.

East Africa and the United States also maintain a tacit understanding and quietly safeguard the right to "free navigation". After all, this is beneficial for both countries to make money.

However, compared with the tacit understanding the two countries have shown in facing European countries, the competition between East Africa and the United States in other parts of the world is completely different.

America, which is regarded as the back garden of the United States, is also the main battlefield for the two countries to compete for the world market, as Britain and France are dragged down by Germany.

Space was also freed up in South America, and the United States, which proposed the Monroe Doctrine, was naturally happy to take over the sphere of influence of Britain and France in South America.

However, it is another matter in the eyes of the East African government. After all, in terms of distance alone, East Africa is not far from the South American continent, so East Africa certainly does not agree with some of the contents of the Monroe Doctrine.

Therefore, in order to compete for the sphere of influence and markets of Britain, France and other countries in South America, the United States and East Africa each showed their unique skills.

But in the final analysis, it all comes down to who has the bigger fist, forcing the South American countries to make the most "reasonable" choice.

This time, the East African Navy's visit to South America was on a grand scale. It even started from Mexico, a non-South American country, and ended in Argentina, far exceeding the scale of the East African Navy's last visit to South America.

The last time the East African Navy visited South American countries, it was mainly limited to the five southern South American countries, namely Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.

This time, all coastal countries are within the visiting range of the East African Navy, and there are basically no landlocked countries in South America, except for the two unlucky Paraguay and Bolivia.

However, visiting Paraguay is also within the plan of the East African Navy, and with the help of the Paraguay River, it is possible to reach the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion, directly.

As for Bolivia, there is really no way. Bolivia has no access to the sea, and without a waterway like the Paraguay River connecting to the outside world, the East African Navy naturally has no chance to visit Bolivia.

Of course, this does not mean that Bolivia has no navy. Although it has no access to the sea, Bolivia has the largest freshwater lake in South America, Lake Titicaca, and the Bolivian Navy is based in Lake Titicaca.

In the past, the Bolivian Navy was also a major feature of the world. Although it was just a large lake, the Bolivian Navy was stronger than many countries, with more than 5,000 personnel, which was much more than the Outer Mongolian Navy, which was also a landlocked country.

This is also a big regret of the East African Navy's trip to South America. If the time goes back a few decades, Bolivia would at least have had access to the sea.

Bolivia's access to the sea was lost because of the failure of the Guano War, which was after 1879. At that time, the East African Navy was not as powerful as it is now. This was also the first time that the East African Navy visited the west coast of South America.

(End of this chapter)