African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 943 Battle of Manila Bay
The first town.

After Spain declared war on the United States, Ernst soon received the news. The war between the two countries naturally attracted the attention of the East African navy and army.

The East African Navy has a short history, few combat records, and little experience, so it is very concerned about the upcoming naval war. The United States and Spain are both maritime powers, so no matter who wins or loses this war, it can provide better data support for the development of the East African Navy.

The US Navy is a focus of attention in East Africa. After all, the expansion of the US Navy has only been in recent years, and the application of a large number of new technologies far exceeds that of Spain, a sunset flower.

The East African Army did not pay much attention to the Spanish-American War, because the battle between the two countries' armies was just a fight between weaklings. However, Spain did use some East African standard equipment in the Philippines, so it still had a certain testing effect on rifles, artillery, machine guns and other weapons.

"This war between Spain and the United States is probably the last major war in the entire 1990s. Together with the South African War and the Far East War, three large-scale wars broke out in just ten years. This also indicates that the world is in a period of fierce collision, and the battle between the new and old forces is far from over." Ernst sighed.

East Africa versus Britain, Japan versus the Far Eastern Empire, and the United States versus Spain are all provocations by new powers against old powers in the international order.

Of course, the South African War was more complicated and involved Portugal. As for Britain and East Africa, it was only a draw. But when Britain intervened in the South African War, other countries easily ignored Portugal, which was also a main force, and the Boer Republic was even less noticed.

Of course, these three wars were just appetizers. In Ernst's mind, Germany's challenge to British hegemony was the final outcome. Among the old countries, Britain and France were the most representative, and among the emerging countries, it was naturally Germany.

Although there are rising stars such as East Africa, the United States, and Japan, these countries are not in Europe. Now the center of world civilization is in Europe, so the value is different.

The main battlefield of World War I was Europe, while World War II spread to the three regions of Europe, Asia and Africa. Of course, the main battlefield of World War II in Africa was North Africa.

Archduke Ferdinand said: "This is the current international situation. Many countries have achieved their own breakthroughs with the help of the tide of the Industrial Revolution, but the international community is a cake that has long been divided up. If the up-and-coming countries want to get a piece of the pie, they can only challenge the old countries."

Constantine: "The United States should not be considered a latecomer. In fact, the United States has always been very strong, but it is hidden deep and often easily overlooked. Therefore, the Spanish-American War is also an opportunity for the United States to demonstrate its military strength and gain more political influence."

"My father-in-law and father are both right. But because of this, we in East Africa cannot stop developing. We are relatively passive in the current international situation." Ernst said, "On the one hand, we have the strong accumulation of countries like the United States, and on the other hand, East Africa's domestic economy has just started to take off. Therefore, if we want to dominate the division of the international pie, it will take at least 20 to 30 years."

The East African economy has actually just built its overall framework, and the country's industrialization will require at least a dozen years or even longer of effort.

According to the current economic development speed of East Africa, if the urbanization rate of East Africa can exceed 1910% before , it will be considered an excellent achievement for the East African government.

After all, in 1910, the urbanization level of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was only over %, and that of Tsarist Russia was only over %, which is much lower than that of East Africa today.

East Africa was able to join the ranks of world powers thanks to its accumulation of population and territory. This was also true for Tsarist Russia, while other powers were more powerful in industrial strength.

Of course, Ernst is not too worried about enhancing East Africa's industrial strength. After all, East Africa has already completed the layout of emerging industries such as electricity and internal combustion engines, which means that East Africa's technology will not be too bad in the future as time goes by.

Therefore, the economic work of the East African government is mainly to continue to improve the country's economic system and stimulate the vitality of economic development. At present, the state-owned economy is dominant, which is more conducive to East Africa's catch-up with other countries. East Africa's reform of the state-owned economy has never been interrupted. Even the Far East Empire in the past had to constantly spur state-owned enterprises, and the state-owned economic framework in East Africa would only become more rudimentary. Now the East African government is constantly checking for deficiencies and filling gaps on this basis.

Of course, Ernst will not let go of the shackles on the private economy at this stage. After all, the state-owned economy in East Africa is still on the rise, and it is beneficial for the East African government to concentrate national resources to compete with other countries.

Only when the state-owned economy in East Africa is relatively mature and able to lead the country's economic development will Ernst begin the next round of reforms.

……

Because of East Africa's instigation, Spain delayed declaring war, which gave the Spanish garrison in the Philippines more time to prepare.

After the two countries declared war, the US Asiatic Fleet stationed in Hong Kong officially headed towards the Philippines. By the time the US Navy reached the coast of the Philippines, it was already June.

The Spanish Navy in the Philippines adopted the strategy of the previous life, preparing to rely on the terrain advantages of Manila Bay to deal with the powerful US Navy.

At noon on June 6, the U.S. Navy finally arrived at Manila Bay and confronted the Spanish Navy. With the addition of the Zaragoza and Sagunto, the number of Spanish Philippine Navy warships increased to eleven, including nine cruisers and two gunboats.

Among them, only Zaragoza, Sagunto and Cristina were steel armored, so the Spanish Navy was still at a clear disadvantage.

After only one encounter between the two sides, the Spanish Navy was beaten badly. The Cristina, which was in the front, was directly blown with a big hole, and seawater quickly poured into the cabin. Other warships were either sunk or damaged. Fortunately, the Zaragoza and Sagunto were not seriously damaged.

This prevented the Spanish Philippine Navy from losing all confidence, but after the first round of head-on confrontation, the Spanish Navy did not dare to fight again. At this time, the Spanish Navy had lost four warships, so the Spanish Navy commander decisively ordered the entire army to flee into Manila Bay to avoid being annihilated by the US military.

During the escape, as expected, another warship was sunk, and the Sagunto was also hit by a cannon because it failed to react in time. Only the Zaragoza was able to organize a limited counterattack.

After seeing the Philippine Navy escape, Dewey decisively ordered the US Navy to pursue the enemy, but facing the Spanish army fighting on its doorstep, the US Navy was not so lucky this time.

First of all, Spain laid mines in Manila Bay this time, and the coastal defense artillery was also upgraded. So when pursuing the entrance to Manila Bay, in order to avoid the attack of Spanish coastal defense artillery, an American warship sailed north and plunged into the minefield of Manila Bay.

With a loud bang, this American warship unfortunately became the first warship lost by the US Navy in the Spanish-American War.

This was already a pleasant surprise for Spain. Of course, the Spanish government certainly did not think so. After all, they did not know about the previous Battle of Manila, in which the United States easily wiped out Spain's Asian fleet without losing a single warship.

Although the Spanish Asiatic Fleet had lost nearly half of its forces this time, it still had the strength to fight and sank a US warship, so it did not lose the war too badly. As for the outcome of the subsequent Battle of Manila Bay, it depends on the next actions of the two countries.

(End of this chapter)