African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 978 Subsequent Impact
The founding ceremony of East Africa attracted the attention of diplomats from various countries, but that was all. Once today's situation spreads throughout East Africa, the heat will probably fade away.

This kind of enthusiasm will at most spread within a small circle in Europe, and it is inevitable that it will be spread to senior officials of other countries through diplomats who attend the military parade.

But this is also in the interests of East Africa. Public sentiment can also influence government decisions. Take Portugal for example. If there had not been active opposition from the Portuguese people, the impact of the South African War would have ended long ago. Now the Portuguese government might have established diplomatic relations with East Africa.

Through this military parade, diplomats from various countries have gained a deeper understanding of the East African Army. Judging from the parade alone, the East African Army's organizational capabilities, discipline, and weapons and equipment all meet the characteristics of a world-class military.

Therefore, East Africa, which has the East African Defense Force, has no rivals in the entire African continent, and countries outside the region will not have the idea of ​​crossing the sea and fighting a ground war in East Africa.

As for the data of the East African Navy, it has always been reassuring. However, the East African Navy is an elite force and should not be underestimated. At least it has the strength to maintain the coastal waters of East Africa.

After the founding ceremony, many interested diplomats have begun to describe the military intelligence revealed by the East African military parade to their country.

German Ambassador Boers wrote in the letter: "Based on the outdated data from this round of military parades and the South African War, it can be inferred that the standing military force of East Africa is at least maintained at around 200,000 all year round. Its land area is huge, so the size of its army is definitely larger than that of the United States. The number of people in this parade reached 8,000 to 9,000. Such mobilization capabilities are obviously very easy for East Africa to achieve."

Eight or nine thousand people are not too many, but they are enough to reach about one-fortieth of the German Army. Therefore, in Burs's view, the Eastern Reserve Army should be at least 200,000 or 300,000 in size to be reasonable.

He dipped his pen in ink and continued, "But the defense pressure in East Africa is obviously less than that of European countries, so the number of troops cannot reach the standards of various European land power countries. This can be seen from East Africa's weapons and equipment. The number of its guns and artillery equipment is not inferior to that of the Imperial Army. East Africa is not a very wealthy country, so its military configuration is more about quality than quantity."

There is no big problem with Boers' argument that East Africa is not very rich. As a whole, East Africa is still an agricultural country and its income level cannot be compared with that of industrialized countries in Europe and the United States.

But the East African government is obviously different from the governments of European and American countries. The East African government holds a large number of resources and industries. Therefore, in terms of the wealth of the government, the East African government is probably above the governments of other countries. This also means that the East African government's ability to integrate resources is stronger than that of traditional countries.

Resource integration is conducive to improving efficiency and reducing costs, especially in promoting the development of the military industry. Therefore, although the size of the East African military is smaller than that of Germany and France, its actual military expenditure is not inferior to those countries.

"East African soldiers are in good shape. Judging from this military parade and the daily life of East African people, the East African army is definitely not bad in terms of catering. In addition, the compulsory education system in East Africa is very complete, so it can be inferred that the quality of East African soldiers may even reach or even exceed the level of our country."

This idea of ​​Boers probably comes from the fact that compulsory education in East Africa is longer, so in theory the quality of East African soldiers is higher than that of Germany.

There is definitely no problem with this, but although the compulsory education system in East Africa is larger in scale and the education period is longer, the quality of compulsory education in East Africa is very poor. At least at the same level of education, East Africa is not as good as Germany. However, East Africa can offset part of the gap in education quality by relying on the human wave tactics.

For East Africa, the low lower limit of education quality is not a big problem, but the talent needed in East Africa must be abundant.

"…In my opinion, East Africa will be an important country for our country's economic, commercial, cultural and political exchanges in the future. Its military, especially the army level cooperation, should be strengthened. If it can become our arm, it will be of great benefit in the future struggle for world power."

At this point, Boers' letter ended. He took a sip of tea and said to his servant, "Send the letter to the country!" To be honest, the military strength demonstrated by East Africa in this military parade has not changed much from that during the South African War, but it is not surprising that it attracted Boers' attention.

After all, although military development will undergo major changes over time, stability within the cycle is also common.

Since the Franco-Prussian War to today, especially in the field of army equipment, except for the privately-owned East African, other countries have not actually made much change. They have only made minor adjustments to traditional weapons such as guns and cannons. The real military equipment competition is concentrated in the navy.

Of course, this is for countries in the first echelon. Like many backward countries and regions, there is indeed a lot of room for improvement, such as the African natives in the hinterland of West Africa who are still using cold weapons or even primitive weapons.

Boers' focus is on the changes in the East African Defense Force in the past decade. After all, it has been ten years since the South African War, and ten years is enough time for a country's army to become corrupt.

This military parade is an important reference for examining whether the East African army still maintains its combat effectiveness. At least on the surface, the East African Army still maintains a good spirit and discipline, which is enough for Germany, which wants to win over East Africa.

After all, everyone is afraid that their teammates will fall behind in the future, such as the Austro-Hungarian army. Germany has always known that the Austro-Hungarian army had many problems, but they would never have imagined that the Austro-Hungarian army in another time and space would be so weak that even a small country like Serbia could not be easily dealt with.

In the past, Germany's ability to find teammates was indeed worrying, but this does not mean that they would not examine their teammates and enemies. For example, an important basis for Germany to judge Britain's military decline in the past was Britain's poor performance in the Boer War.

Now, because of the East African issue, the Boer War that was supposed to take place during this period has ceased, and the British will not make a bigger fool of themselves. It is also unknown what impact this will have on the German government's judgment.

Therefore, the British who suffered great losses in the South African War should "thank" East Africa. No matter how weak East Africa is, it is still a big country with a population of tens of millions. It would be a real shame if they were defeated by a country like the Boers with only a few hundred thousand people, or even if the British army had a similar number of troops, but failed to achieve good results.

If the South African War reduced Britain's prestige by five, then the Boer War in the previous life weakened Britain's prestige by fifty, or even higher, which means that East Africa extended the life of British hegemony to a certain extent.

The struggle for power between major powers often starts from secondary regions. They weigh the strengths and weaknesses of the other side and finally launch a fatal blow. In the past, Germany tested Britain through the Second Boer War, and the Moroccan Crisis was a test of France.

It is just like the foreplay of several major powers in the 21st century through the Middle East, Europe, Danwan Island, the Philippines and other regions. The more flaws a country reveals, the more disadvantaged it will be in international competition.

Therefore, the military parade in East Africa this time also has some similar purposes. The East African Navy certainly cannot compete with other countries overseas because the East African Navy is not strong enough and is prone to problems. Once a problem occurs, it is easy to trigger a chain reaction, which is not good for East Africa, which already has many overseas colonies.

Therefore, flexing muscles through the army is a relatively peaceful means. After all, no country dares to start a war with East Africa on the African continent. Using the army can also show that the East African army is still sharp and cut off the bad ideas of some countries.

At the turn of the century, East Africa also needed to constantly send signals to the outside world that the East African army was still capable of fighting, so that it could maintain neutrality in an increasingly deteriorating and harsh international environment. Without going to war, this goal could only be achieved through military parades or exercises.

(End of this chapter)