African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1178 Disadvantages of Rhine City

When it comes to the issue of horse exports, East Africa is in an awkward position. In the short period from the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, East Africa once became one of the largest horse-breeding countries in the world.

According to data from East Africa in 1900, the total horse stock in East Africa was about million. Among the major powers in the world, only Russia and the United States reached this level.

Russia has long ranked first in the world in terms of the number of horses. For example, before World War I, Russia's horse stock was probably around 30 million, followed by the United States, which was also around 20 million.

Freer said to Thomson with a look of regret: "Ambassador Thomson, why don't you choose more cars! Although we are not short of horses in East Africa, the development of the automobile industry in recent years has led to major changes in the transportation industry in East Africa, and the number of horses raised has dropped to a lower level."

"At present, our country has only more than 10 million horses in stock, which is far behind the level of Tsarist Russia and the United States. So it is better to order more of our cars. East Africa has a very developed automobile manufacturing industry and can fully meet part of your country's needs."

East Africa was once a major horse-breeding country on the same level as Russia and the United States. After all, in ancient times and even in the early days of industrialization, horses were a very important source of power.

The army needs horses, and the popularity of horse-drawn farming means that agriculture also requires a large number of horses. Finally, there is the transportation industry. Today, most European countries still use horse-drawn carriages as the most important means of transportation. Whether in rural areas or cities, horse-drawn carriages are very popular.

Currently, only East Africa and the United States have truly achieved large-scale popularization of automobiles. Although other countries may have automobile manufacturing industries, they cannot change the fact that they are "mule and horse" countries.

For example, the British invested more than one million horses after the war broke out, and they also continued to import horses from the United States.

All European countries are big horse breeders. Even small countries like Belgium have nearly 500,000 horses. Big countries like France, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have millions of horses.

Of course, there are not enough military horses that can actually be used on the battlefield. Currently, France mainly imports from the United States, Argentina and three East African countries to make up for the gap.

Thomson smiled bitterly and said, "If possible, we would naturally like to popularize military vehicles on a large scale to tow artillery, but we lack maintenance personnel, experienced drivers, fuel, etc., so horses are more suitable for France at present."

Thomson had made his point clear, so Freer could only ask the next best thing: "In that case, how many horses does your country plan to purchase from East Africa this time?"

Today, the role of East African horses is declining rapidly, and the scale of breeding has also dropped significantly, but the size is still not to be underestimated, and it still ranks third in the world, only after Russia and the United States.

There is no pressure in selling them to the French. Although the overall quality of East African horses is not as good as that of European horses, there are many excellent breeds after years of breeding.

After all, East Africa still retains a lot of cavalry units, and the horses used by these cavalry units are breeds bred in East Africa itself.

Thomson said: "We plan to buy 10,000 horses first to test the waters. If the effect is good, we will continue to consider placing orders in the future."

This is already a huge amount of money. Because of the war, the price of horses is not low now, but it also shows the huge pressure France is currently under in the war.

Since the war broke out, the northeastern industrial areas of France have been basically occupied by Germany, which has resulted in France losing nearly 60% of its steel production capacity, 70% of its textile industry, and large areas of grain producing areas.

After the French Army Ministry boasted that "our soldiers always have two regular meals a day," more than 200,000 letters of protest suddenly arrived at the front.

Frontline soldiers claimed that only half of the more than 300,000 supplies and equipment delivered to the front were usable. Fresh meat was never seen. They could only chew greasy and hard canned beef, salted fish that was not salted enough, and so-called cheese pasta tasted like bark. All these foods were mixed with a lot of dust. Of course, France's enemies would only be more embarrassed, because the French army's food was already better than other European warring countries.

There are gains and losses. The loss of the heavy industrial areas in the northeast made it difficult for France to compete with Germany in terms of weapons production, and rifles and artillery shells could not meet the supply of the front line.

Currently, 57% of French workers have turned to military production, while in France's rival Germany, the proportion is 58%. It seems that there is not much difference, but the fact is that Germany's population base and industrial population are much larger than France's.

However, compared with Russia, France's capabilities are absolutely top-notch. After the outbreak of the war, France's military industrial production capacity expanded thirty times, which could support France's battle with the German army on the front line, while Russia's was only more than double. This shows the gap between Russia and other industrial countries.

This will inevitably lead to countries such as France sacrificing other production activities, which is also the basis for cooperation between East Africa and European countries.

……

As the war entered a stalemate, the frequency of personnel from various countries entering and leaving East Africa became increasingly higher, and each country would choose the best route, either Cabinda, Luanda, or Dar es Salaam, and select a landing point among these three cities.

For example, the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire usually choose Dar es Salaam, while France chooses Luanda, and other countries will decide based on their own needs.

As a result, the inconvenience of East Africa's capital relocation was also reflected. Although the railway from the coast to Rhine City was very convenient, it still took a lot of time. East Africa had to set up temporary diplomatic agencies and personnel in Luanda or Dar es Salaam.

Especially in a European war that concerns the fate of European countries, a delay of one or two days or even a few hours may have a major impact on the war situation.

Of course, East Africa will definitely not change the location of its capital to accommodate other countries. After all, whether it is the east coast or the west coast, it will have an impact on some countries. For example, setting the capital on the east coast will be conducive to exchanges between countries in the Indian Ocean region and the Far East, while if it is on the west coast, it will be conducive to exchanges with countries along the Atlantic coast.

Although East Africa is a bi-oceanic country like the United States, the national conditions of the United States are very different from those of East Africa. Its economic center is in the east, especially the northeast, so Washington's geographical location is barely sufficient.

In comparison, East Africa is much more balanced. Although the east coast of East Africa is strong, the west coast is not bad either. The city of Rhine, which is located in the middle, has become the best solution.

In response to this situation, Ernst said: "We are now going to establish temporary foreign affairs agencies under the vertical management of the central government in the three cities of Cabinda, Luanda and Dar es Salaam. Some unimportant issues can be handled by this agency, such as trade disputes, maritime conflicts, etc., and more tense situations will be submitted to the central government."

If it were in the past life, when the aviation industry was well developed, there would be no need to worry about this problem, as planes could fly directly to the inland hinterland. However, the civil aviation industry in East Africa is just getting started, and other countries only have aircraft for military and other purposes, and the number is not large.

Therefore, if one wants to have a face-to-face dialogue with the East African Central Government, one must transit through the railway. At a stage when aircraft have not achieved breakthroughs in endurance and safety, this drawback of Rhine City cannot be avoided. Fortunately, communication technology is relatively developed. Even if a hierarchical agency is established in Luanda, Dar es Salaam and Cabinda, the East African Central Government can always grasp the overall situation.

It is no wonder that maritime powers like to build their capitals in coastal areas. In today's era, this does have a relatively big advantage.

Moreover, this is conducive to coordinating the country's naval forces. Edo in Japan and London in the UK have similar functions. The same was true for the first town and city in the former capital of East Africa. Ernst can observe the development of the East African navy at any time. Unfortunately, the situation in East Africa is complicated. Not only is it vast, but it also embraces two oceans, which is why this kind of happy trouble is caused.

(End of this chapter)