African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1325 Qatar

At the Third Fleet headquarters, Commander Lomage and Vice Admiral Prato studied a map of the Middle East.

The map of the Middle East is very complicated. There are a large number of countries and countless tribes. The powerful ones include Britain, the Ottoman Empire and Persia, the medium ones are the Saudi tribes and Oman, the weak ones are Bahrain and Qatar, and the others are almost negligible.

"How about Persia?" Lieutenant General Prato chose Persia as his primary target and gave his reasons: "The Empire's relationship with Persia is average, and its strength is not strong enough. Moreover, Persia itself has the longest coastline in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and there are many islands for us to choose from. We don't have to occupy it like we did in the Beibu Gulf. Leasing it is also possible, as long as it can meet our current needs."

Leasing is a very common way to acquire overseas military bases or colonies. Some overseas military bases or colonies of countries such as Britain and France were obtained in this way. Therefore, East Africa, which is also an imperialist country, is also familiar with this model.

However, in the past, East Africa focused more on directly sending troops to occupy, and most of East Africa’s overseas colonies were obtained through this simple and crude method. Only in the Far East or South America would East Africa occasionally use the leasing method.

Commander Romachi frowned and thought for a moment, then said: "Persia is indeed a good choice, but Persia is a big country after all, and its relationship with the Empire has been gradually deepening over the years. It can be put in the backup options."

Persia has always been a great power in the Middle East. Apart from the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Gulf can now be called the second most powerful country in the Middle East. Of course, Egypt may not agree with this.

After all, Egypt's history is in no way inferior to Persia, and in modern times, Egypt's development has been very outstanding. If it had not been for the intervention of Britain and France, Egypt's Ali regime might have really replaced the Ottoman Empire and become the big brother of the Middle East.

Of course, with the intervention of British and French forces, Egypt certainly does not have the strength to challenge the Ottoman Empire again, but if its national strength is compared with Persia, the two countries are probably evenly matched.

In the geography of the Middle East, the only four countries that are highly regarded by East Africa today are the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Persia and Oman. Among them, the Ottoman Empire is undoubtedly the only independent country in the Middle East.

Although the Ottoman Empire's diplomacy has been weak in modern times, like the Far Eastern Empire, it still has the ability to develop and protect itself independently, while the other countries have been basically infiltrated by Britain and France into a hornet's nest.

Commander Romage's next words also proved this point: "Although Persia has always emphasized its neutral status, it has in fact been dragged into the war by the British. During this period, Britain attached great importance to Persia."

"After all, Britain has to rely on Persia's land and resources to fight against the Ottoman Empire. So if we threaten and intimidate Persia, the Persian government may ask the British to deal with these problems. So I can only put Persia as a backup option."

The British deployed as many as one million troops in the Persian Gulf, but with so many troops, they certainly could not just float on the surface of the Persian Gulf and confront the Ottoman Empire.

The reason why Britain was able to invade the territory of the Ottoman Empire was because it did so through Persia. Now the British troops on the front line are even more dependent on Persia for the transfer of supplies, so Persia has been tied to Britain to a certain extent.

In fact, in the previous life, Persia was also the front line of Russia's confrontation with the Ottoman Empire. It's just that in this time and space, the Ottoman Empire joined the war relatively late. By the time the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia, Russia was already on the verge of collapse.

Originally, the wealth of the Kazan treasury was transported from northern Persia to the coast of the Persian Gulf via East Africa, passing through the Russian sphere of influence in Persia (of course, this sphere of influence was an agreement reached between Britain and Russia without Persia's consent).

After the collapse of Russia, Britain took over the local area, and even some Russian troops were directly incorporated into the British army to serve as cannon fodder.

All in all, now that Persia and Britain are tied together, Commander Lomage's concerns are not unreasonable, which is also recognized by Lieutenant General Plateau.

Lieutenant General Prato said: "Then let's choose targets from the small countries in the Middle East. In fact, if possible, I think Oman is also a good choice. It's a pity that Oman's relationship with us has always been good, so we can't find a reason to attack." East Africa attaches great importance to its relationship with Oman, which is mainly inherited from the Sultanate of Zanzibar, a branch of the Omani Empire.

It can be said that the people of Zanzibar are a very special existence in East Africa. The original capital for East Africa to grow was provided by the people of Zanzibar. It can be said that East Africa’s earliest coastline, seaports, handicrafts, and shipbuilding industries all originated from the people of Zanzibar.

East Africa's treatment of the Zanzibar people is also the most special. On the road of colonial expansion and rise in East Africa, the Zanzibar people can be said to be the only group that has been favored by East Africa.

The root cause of this problem is that East Africa needs the people of Zanzibar to act as a bridge for communication between East Africa and the Middle East. This is not limited to the Middle East, but also applies to Central Asia, Southeast Asia and other areas influenced by Arabism.

Whether it was the slave trade between East Africa and the Middle East, or the later commercial trade (mainly agricultural products), or the sales of industrial products after the 20th century, the people of Zanzibar made great contributions, and of course, they also made a lot of money.

The huge profits earned from the price difference earned by middlemen enabled the Zanzibaris to quickly gain political status in Oman. Today, many officials in the Omani government are former Zanzibar people.

Of course, the so-called Zanzibar people are actually Omanis, and the Sultanate of Zanzibar, the only proof of the existence of the Zanzibar people, has long disappeared in the long river of history.

However, the return of the Zanzibar people to Oman to trace their roots has undoubtedly promoted the development of relations between East Africa and Oman.

East Africa also needs Oman to continue to serve as a bridge for communication between East Africa and the Middle Eastern countries. Oman is also more pragmatic and aware of its position in its diplomacy with East Africa. For example, the negotiations in the Fujairah region are the result of Oman's active compromise.

Faced with such a country, the East African government is naturally very friendly towards it. If the British factor is excluded, Oman is almost equivalent to East Africa's agent in the Middle East. In fact, it is almost the same today. With the rise of the East African navy in the Indian Ocean, Oman has been getting closer and closer to East Africa.

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After hearing Lieutenant General Prato's bold idea, Commander Lomachi decisively said: "Your idea is very dangerous. The central government will definitely not agree with us to do this. To a certain extent, Oman's interests are consistent with ours. In fact, if it were not for the historical legacy issues during the Fujairah negotiations, we would never have done this."

"Moreover, Oman has supported our construction of the port of Fujairah. If we stab Oman at this time, it would be morally shameful."

Looking at Commander Lomachi's serious expression, Lieutenant General Prato said unhappily: "I was just thinking about it. How could I really do anything to Aman?"

"In fact, I have already chosen a target in my mind, that is Bahrain's neighbor Qatar. Although Qatar's location is slightly worse than Bahrain, the two are similar in other aspects. The only disadvantage is that they will be neighbors with the British in the future."

The reason why Prato said that Qatar's location is worse than Bahrain is mainly in terms of the two countries' territories. Bahrain is an island, while Qatar is connected to the Arabian Peninsula.

For the navy, islands often bring a greater sense of security, thus preventing the enemy from launching attacks from land and providing better defensive capabilities. The British Navy chose Bahrain as the most important naval base in the Persian Gulf for this reason, and this was also inherited by the previous US Navy.

Of course, although Qatar’s location is relatively bad, it is not unacceptable. After all, the part connected to the land is not long. What’s more, Qatar borders the Beibu Gulf territory in East Africa and has its own army behind it, so there is no need to worry about enemies on land.

(End of this chapter)