African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1314: The Horn of Africa War
A relevant agreement has been reached with the UK, which means that the work of the East African government will become busy in the coming period.

First, in terms of grand strategy, because East Africa and the United Kingdom have renegotiated the Indian Ocean issue, this means that East Africa has to rebuild the military and political strategic layout of the Indian Ocean and build a new system.

As Ernst often mentioned, no matter how powerful a country is, its resources and capabilities are limited. Acquiring more colonies, regions, and military strongholds means spending more resources and manpower.

Because of East Africa's overseas expansion in recent years, the total military strength in East Africa has now reached more than 800,000. This is very strong evidence.

After all, when it comes to the security of East Africa, East Africa only needs four or five hundred thousand people, or even fewer troops to maintain the security of the mainland. The main reason is that there are no forces around East Africa that can threaten East Africa.

The root cause of the large-scale military expansion in East Africa lies in colonial expansion.

East Africa maintains a high level of troop deployment in East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Islands), the Isthmus of Kra, Togoland (West Africa), and the Gulf of Tonkin (Persian Gulf).

In 1918, the number of overseas troops stationed in East Africa had reached . In many areas, the number of troops remained at tens of thousands or even over . Among them, the number of troops stationed in the Isthmus of Kra, the Kalimantan Islands (including the Lan Fang Overseas Province and other areas), and Togoland reached nearly .

In addition, there are a large number of overseas islands that obviously also need personnel to be stationed, such as Alaska, New Guinea, the Kingdom of North Hawaii, the South Ryukyu Islands, Nauru, Palau, etc.

The number of East African troops stationed overseas even exceeded the number of troops stationed in East Africa, and the main reason for this result was East Africa's overseas colonial policy.

East Africa’s overseas colonial policy is a typical case of “high-cost colonization”, and this method cannot even be called “colonization”.

Because East Africa implemented the "wheel flat" policy overseas. What is wheel flat? It is an extreme policy popular in ancient East Asia that aimed to destroy the enemy's country and race.

East Africa can be said to be the country with the most extreme and cruel means among the great powers. Only the Americans and Belgians before this century and Japan today can be compared with East Africa.

Even the bottom line of the European armies that are now busy with World War I is much higher than that of the overseas armies in East Africa.

Britain's Indian colony had a population of over 300 million and an area of ​​over 3 million square kilometers, but the number of British troops stationed in India did not exceed 100,000.

In contrast, in East Africa, in the Kra Isthmus alone, a small area with an area of ​​only 50,000 square kilometers and a population of only a few hundred thousand, there are more than 100,000 troops stationed there.

The reason for maintaining such an extreme policy in overseas colonization in East Africa is very simple. It is Ernst's response to the world anti-colonialism wave that broke out in the 20th century.

After all, other races are not trustworthy in Ernst's eyes. Even the "fake army" is not within Ernst's consideration. Ernst also knows that the world situation is irreversible.

This means that the colonial system will eventually collapse in the 20th century, so East Africa must be prepared.

However, in this case, the East African government will inevitably face the high cost of overseas colonization. In addition to high military expenditures, East Africa will also have to bear tremendous logistical pressure, as well as post-war reconstruction of overseas colonies, introduction of immigrants, resource development, etc., which will require a lot of energy, manpower, financial resources and material resources.

It can be said that East Africa’s overseas colonies are not profitable at present. On the contrary, the East African government has to pay a lot of money into them. The benefit of this is also obvious, that is, East Africa’s control over these regions will be very stable in the future.

This is also the reason why the "high-cost colonization" in East Africa cannot be considered colonization.

Traditional colonization, like Britain's colonization of India, only required the stationing of a small number of troops to obtain the colony's population, taxes, and production.

This brutal method of eliminating the "indigenous people" in East Africa will inevitably lead to fierce military conflicts and disrupt the original production order.

According to East Africa's colonial method, to colonize India, let alone collect taxes, I'm afraid the annual military expenditure will rise to the sky, and it may not be successful. After all, India has a population of nearly 300 million, and it is very difficult to physically eliminate 300 million pigs. With the latest changes in the situation, East Africa has to re-adjust its strategy and military in the Indian Ocean on a large scale.

The new territories ceded by Britain and France in East Africa will reshape East Africa's military presence in the Indian Ocean region. Apart from other things, the Socotra Islands, the Chagos Archipelago, and Rodrigues Island, three important areas related to the national security of eastern East Africa, will involve the re-deployment of the East African Indian Ocean Fleet.

Especially for the navy and the air force, the construction of ports and airports for the fleet to dock is imperative. Among the three places mentioned above, large-scale military facilities will be built in the Socotra Islands and Rodrigues Island in East Africa, and the military facilities left by the British on the Chagos Islands will also be transformed and rebuilt.

This is a large-scale systematic project involving the East African navy and air force to conduct operations in the Indian Ocean region.

Secondly, since East Africa wants to take the Horn of Africa into its possession, it will obviously have to conduct large-scale military operations, which will be another military expenditure.

Although the Horn of Africa has a small population, it has a vast area of ​​nearly 150,000 square kilometers. A large number of troops will definitely be needed to completely turn it into a part of East Africa.

In addition, the East African government's verbal "promise" to intervene in Russia's internal affairs is obviously a considerable expense. Even if it is just for show, some manpower and financial support will be required.

Therefore, it can be predicted that East Africa will not be idle for some time to come, and this is also what Britain and France hope to see. After all, if East Africa is not idle, it will not have the energy to intervene in the European war.

Although the cost paid by the two countries was not small, it was still very cost-effective compared to the changes in East Africa caused by World War I.

As a result, East Africa had almost no idle time during the entire World War I. In addition to economic work, military operations also became more frequent.

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Europe is engaged in large-scale wars, while East Africa is engaged in frequent small-scale wars overseas. It can be said that the entire Indian Ocean has become the region in the world with the second most wars and conflicts after Europe because of the existence of East Africa.

Moreover, its bloodiness is no less than that of the European battlefield. Although there are many countries participating in the war in Europe and a large number of deaths, the genocide-style conquest war in East Africa is more likely to cause psychological discomfort.

1918 6 Month 4 Day.

The East African government officially defined the "Hassan" as a target for attack on the grounds of undermining navigation safety in the Gulf of Aden and undermining East African border security.

At the same time, the border defense forces of the Northwest Theater of Operations in East Africa officially launched the war in the Horn of Africa from the main traffic routes controlled by East Africa, including Dire Dawa City, Eyl Town, Dallol Town, Buholed Village, and other places on the border between East Africa and "British Somaliland".

The East African Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet also entered the Gulf of Aden from the waters between the Socotra Islands and the Horn of Africa, handing over the British-controlled area east of the port of Berbera.

The United Kingdom also began to withdraw its troops in British Somaliland to the area west of Berbera and all the way to French-controlled Djibouti, successfully completing the withdrawal of its troops in the Horn of Africa.

To deal with the Horn of Africa, the East African government expects to maintain the number of troops at more than 50,000 to avoid a recurrence of the lessons learned in the Beibu Gulf (Persian Gulf) territory.

East Africa's initial actions in the Beibu Gulf territory were unsatisfactory. The Horn of Africa is larger than the Beibu Gulf territory, and the terrain is more complex. The Arab religious forces represented by Hassan are active in the local mountainous areas.

This means that conquering the Horn of Africa is no less difficult than the expedition to the Beibu Gulf territory, and may even be more difficult. East Africa is already prepared for a long-term war.

This time is roughly within two years, and the rebel armed forces in the Horn of Africa have been basically eliminated. It took nearly a year for East Africa to stabilize the Beibu Gulf territory, so this time is in line with the expectations of the General Staff.

(End of this chapter)