African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 879 The military’s attention

Regarding the promotion of radio, the military is also directly involved this time. After all, the military value of radio is too great. Therefore, in order to better strengthen the pioneering experiments of radio in the military, scientific research groups affiliated to the military have begun to take action.

"The application of radio is inseparable from the transmission of information, and its application is reflected in the specific point of wireless telegraph. In the past, our army could only transmit messages through wired telegraphs, and the laying of lines was extremely restrictive, which greatly delayed the speed of military information transmission. Radio is extremely flexible in this regard."

"Of course, radio also has a disadvantage, that is, its signal is transmitted directly in the air, so the enemy can obtain our information by building signal receiving devices. This requires our army to work hard in the field of information security, especially compiling new code books to prevent the enemy from easily deciphering our military information."

"At the same time, this also shows that wired telegraphy still has value, especially for some important military units and departments, which use wired telegraphy transmission to ensure national information security."

The top military officials in East Africa speak very clearly about the application of radio, which is understandable. The East African military can be said to be the most receptive group in the world to advanced military technology.

Because the East African military system is generally young and highly educated, the application of advanced military technology is also an important reason why East Africa was able to defeat the British in the South African War.

Archduke Ferdinand said: "Our navy must popularize wireless on ships on a large scale. After all, warships cannot be connected with wires. In the past, communication between naval ships basically relied on traditional forms. Now the emergence of radio means that Our country’s navy is about to undergo major changes.”

"Not only that, our overseas military bases also have a huge demand for this technology. After all, the investment cost for wired transmission promotion is high, and radio transmission allows us to directly connect the Northern Hawaiian Kingdom, Lanfang Overseas Province and the mainland of East Africa. ”

The emergence of wired telegraph and submarine cables allowed Britain to extend its tentacles to all parts of the world. The UK relied on wired telegraphy to establish the world's largest telegraph network. For example, communications between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire must first be routed in Europe and then through India. of.

Relying on the submarine cable network, the British government can realize the plan of monitoring the world. The British submarine cable eavesdropping is a well-organized secret agency. They set up eavesdropping agencies at the connection points that the cable must pass through, install eavesdropping devices, and quickly summarize important information. Research.

As early as 1880, the number of submarine cables laid by the UK reached an astonishing 156 million kilometers. Now the scale will only be larger, basically connecting all major British overseas colonies, including Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, etc.

However, the cable telegraph network in East Africa is only a regional network, while the British network is a "global network". This can only be achieved by a country like the United Kingdom, which is the world's hegemon.

The earliest example of this in previous lives occurred during the Boer War. After the British defeat, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who was gloating about the defeat, sent a telegram to Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic, to warmly congratulate the Boers on their victory and It was said that the Transvaal "independently defeated the invaders" and "defended the country's independence."

Cable telegraphy in East Africa has also developed extremely rapidly in the past thirty years, and has basically formed an effective network covering the entire country. Of course, places like Mozambique and Angola are definitely less dense in distribution.

This telegram was intercepted by the British before it reached the Transvaal through a submarine cable controlled by the British. Since then, the British have paid more attention to the threat from Germany. They have changed their previous compromising posture and instead adopted confrontational measures around the world. Measures were taken, and Germany also responded tit-for-tat. The contradiction between Britain and Germany gradually intensified, and eventually they gradually fell into a "shipbuilding race" and the establishment of alliances between imaginary enemies, which eventually led to the outbreak of World War I.

There is a certain possibility for this statement, but it is definitely not the fundamental reason. After all, William II himself is a "big mouth" and often makes "astonishing remarks" in the international community.

However, this also proves the authenticity of the UK's use of a global cable telegraph network to obtain intelligence from relevant countries. At least Ernst himself believed that this was a traditional craft of the Angsa people. Later, the United Kingdom became a "filial son" and the United States also had a "prism" to monitor the governments of various countries, and it was made public as relevant righteous people fled, so the British Prevention is not about making a mountain out of a molehill.

Thinking about it from another perspective, if Ernst had this "network" in his hands, then Ernst would definitely do the same for the national interests and security of East Africa.

Of course, the cable telegraph network from East Africa to Europe is still safe. It is directly connected to the Austro-Hungarian Empire network and takes a separate line without the need to transfer to Cape Town.

However, it is feasible to connect the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the British Mediterranean to the Far Eastern Empire. However, this is also a complex project. The East African government can ensure information security through "disguise".

Of course, in the end we must embark on the path of building an "independent" network. In fact, after realizing the British behavior, the United States, France and Germany all began to build independent submarine cable systems in the 20th century.

In the 20th century, there were more disputes between cable telegraphs. During the war, a special kind of ship called a "cable cutter" appeared. This kind of ship would unceremoniously cut off other countries' submarine cables during wartime, and the powerful British The Royal Navy ensures these "electric pirates" operate smoothly.

Therefore, even if the security of wired telegraphs is more reliable, it is not foolproof, especially since East Africa's connection to Europe and the Far Eastern Empire is bound to pass through the British sphere of influence. If the submarine cable is cut off, it will be over.

Therefore, in the East African telegraph industry, Ernst's plan is to "walk on two legs" to realize the mutual complementation of wired telegraph and wireless telegraph, to be independent of wired telegraph transmission outside the UK, and at the same time to match the wireless telegraph system, so as to realize the realization of East African countries information security.

In addition to the military, the demand for wireless telegraphy in other departments cannot be ignored, such as the postal system, academic exchanges, commercial information transmission, connections between central and local governments, etc.

This means that in the next few years, East Africa, which originally relied on traditional information transmission methods such as wired telegraphs, railways, and post station systems, will be greatly affected.

The information industry in East Africa will undergo tremendous changes with the birth of wireless telegraphy, which is tantamount to an information revolution.

Of course, this also means that East Africa must prepare for the popularization and promotion of radio. For example, the problem of easy interception mentioned by the military before requires various departments and scientific research institutions in East Africa to formulate new communication rules and increase the number of communication rules. new device.

This also involves the production of radio equipment, which is also a complex issue. For example, the requirements of the military must be relatively high. After all, the threshold for electrical equipment to meet military standards is very high, and the military cannot maintain "delicate" electronic equipment. , must meet the needs of field operations, be able to work normally under various extreme climate conditions, and must be waterproof and earthquake-resistant.

Especially for the navy, the required standards will only become more stringent. Ships operating in the sea industry will definitely encounter various extreme weather. After all, the East African Navy cannot always operate in the tropical waters around East Africa, and occasionally has to go to high latitude waters. During training, the sea is extremely bumpy. In this case, higher requirements are placed on the performance stability of electronic products.

(End of this chapter)