African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1163: Basda Railway

In response to Franz IV's words, Friedrich said: "The current development of East Africa is ultimately the result of the joint efforts of more than 100 million people, and this also shows the resilience of the German nation. After all, Brazil is also one of the world's major countries. Its founding history is earlier than ours, but it can only become an economic vassal of Europe. Therefore, the development of East Africa is the result of many factors, and it cannot be summarized in one or two sentences..."

Looking back to the past, when the Hechingen royal family colonized East Africa, the Maasai people on the East African grasslands were still fighting with the animals on the African grasslands. It can be said that the development of civilization in the whole of Africa was quite primitive.

It is extremely difficult to let the indigenous people skip the primitive society and directly transition to the industrial society. As for entering the agricultural society, East Africa is just a larger version of Brazil. Therefore, introducing relatively civilized immigrants is the key to East Africa's rapid rise, which saves a lot of time for education.

After chatting for a while, Friedrich got the topic back on track: "Your Excellency, I wonder what the purpose of your trip to East Africa is? After all, it is rare for your three countries to form a group to visit East Africa."

It is more than rare. This is the first time in history that a delegation from Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire has carried out diplomatic activities in East Africa. Moreover, the status of the leader, Franz IV, is also quite high. The situation in Europe is chaotic now and the main leaders have to stay in Europe. Therefore, the fact that Germany can send an Archduke Franz IV to East Africa is enough to show Germany's sincerity.

Franz IV said straight to the point: "The main reason why our three countries came here this time is because of the Baghdad Railway issue."

"Now Britain, France and other countries are relying on their geographical advantages to blockade our allies. So for the sake of victory in the war, I, on behalf of the three governments, hope to restart the construction of the last section of the Baghdad Railway, the Basda Railway."

Basdaq was the most important port of the Ottoman Empire in the Persian Gulf and an important part of the Berlin-Baghdad-Basdaq railway planned by Germany before the war. Germany began planning the construction of this railway in the last century.

However, due to the intervention of Britain and Russia, the railway ultimately only completed the overall construction of the Berlin-Baghdad section.

It can be said that this railway is the German version of the "China-Europe Express". After all, the German government is no fool. As early as the last century, Germany knew that if it offended Britain and France, Britain and France would definitely strike back at Germany by blocking Germany's maritime trade routes.

The Berlin-Baghdad-Basra Railway is an important link in breaking the British and French maritime blockade through land transportation. If Germany could open up this land route before the war, it would undoubtedly have a major impact on the entire European war situation.

Of course, Britain obviously also saw this, so under Britain's obstruction, Germany's 2B (Berlin, Bastille) railway plan eventually became a dead end and failed to achieve the strategic goal of reaching the Persian Gulf directly.

Now, the consequences are showing. As the situation on the European battlefield becomes increasingly severe, Germany becomes more and more dependent on the transportation of goods in the Persian Gulf region. However, this trade route is not unobstructed due to the interruption of the Baghdad and Basra railway projects.

Francis IV went on to say: "With the tightening of the blockade of maritime transport by Britain and France, the trade between your country and ours has finally been affected. Therefore, restarting the construction of the Baghdad and Basra railways will be very beneficial to our countries."

This is indeed true. Although East Africa relied on its strength to open up maritime trade between East Africa and Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Britain and France were able to block it through various means.

If the East African Navy had not deployed 70% of its naval power to the Atlantic region, it would have been a pipe dream for East African goods to reach Germany and Austria-Hungary directly.

Although Britain and France did not cut off the trade routes due to East Africa's strength, they could achieve the corresponding results by extending the time it took to transport goods to the Allies.

In general, East Africa has done its best towards Germany and Austria, and has even severely offended Britain and France.

All of this is based on the deterrent power of East Africa. Although East Africa's trade with Europe is blocked by the two countries, it is limited. After all, East Africa also controls the overseas material transportation channels of the two countries. Especially Britain, which was very dependent on India during the war, and from India to the British mainland, East Africa cannot be avoided. This is a fragile balance. Once Britain and France lose their temper in Europe, they will definitely fight to the death, and the tacit understanding between the three countries will be difficult to maintain. Of course, Germany will definitely be the most hurt.

Therefore, Germany now urgently needs the Basra section of the railway to ensure that its trade channels are unobstructed after Britain and France have sealed off the demons, and the 2B railway is the most important link.

Among them, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were allies of Germany. As long as the Bas-Dalian Railway was opened, materials from East Africa could be stably supplied to the three countries through the 2B Railway. This was the last logistics retreat for the three countries.

"It is difficult to complete large-scale transportation operations relying on manpower and camels on the hundreds of kilometers long route from Baghdad to Basra. Now it is necessary for us to restart the construction of this railway, so that the chances of victory for the Triple Alliance will be greatly increased." An Ottoman official also interrupted at this time.

It seems that the Ottoman Empire can no longer sit still and is planning to completely ally with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Friedrich thought to himself as he looked at the Ottoman officials in front of him.

At present, the Ottoman Empire is still a neutral country. Since it can run to East Africa with Francis IV, it is obvious that the two countries have reached a complete agreement.

This is easy to understand. The situation of the Allies on the battlefield is now very good, so the Ottoman Empire is certain that the Allies will win the final victory.

The key reason for the Ottoman Empire's determination is not difficult to guess. In addition to Germany's excellent performance in the early stages of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was truly unexpected.

Or it was beyond Ernst's expectations. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was in a very embarrassing situation in World War I, so Ernst was not optimistic about the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the beginning.

However, Ernst did not anticipate that many of the hidden cards he had planted would have a huge impact on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the current Austro-Hungarian Empire has many similarities with the previous Austro-Hungarian Empire, they cannot be equated.

For example, Crown Prince Rudolf has now completely taken over the battlefield command from Franz, which did not exist in the previous life. Rudolf is obviously younger than Emperor Franz and is more energetic in commanding and controlling the battlefield.

Take boosting morale for example. Crown Prince Rudolf went to the front line in person, which was difficult for the elderly Emperor Franz to do. Moreover, Rudolf was more courageous than Franz to use young generals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, anyone will have more concerns when they get older.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire in this time and space is much stronger than in the previous life. It has more territories, including Venice and Lombardy. In terms of population, Ernst has sent a lot of immigrants to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Including the Neretva region, at least 600,000 people have immigrated from East Africa to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in recent years, and these people will continue to grow as they enter the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For example, the population of the Neretva region has doubled.

The industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also stronger than the same period in history. This was also because the emergence of East Africa made up for the deficiencies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in energy, minerals, etc., such as the development of the oil industry in the Austro-Hungarian Empire by East African companies, or the export of East African cotton, rubber and other materials to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In terms of navy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also made some progress. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had an additional coastline in the Venice area. Even if Hungary opposed the expansion of the imperial navy, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had reasonable reasons to add a few more warships.

All in all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was strengthened to a great extent. Although it could not demonstrate the strong military capabilities of Germany, its combat effectiveness at least reached its original level.

At present, the main opponent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is only Russia. If the Austro-Hungarian Empire performs normally, the two countries are only evenly matched and have already fallen into a stalemate in the border area. This is different from the historical situation where the Austro-Hungarian Empire was defeated by Russia.

(End of this chapter)