Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

After the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia united the German Federation and established a strong German Empire. Until the First World War, this period of time belonged to the peak of the German Nationality.

Borrowing the momentum of a unified victory, the pride of the entire German Nationality rose to unprecedented heights. The cohesiveness of the people in the country was incomparable, and with the addition of Prussia, there was a long term and effective compulsory education. At that time, the Germany became the country with the highest level of technology in the world.

Between 1870 and 1913, industrial production in Germany increased 4.6 times with the introduction of new technology and equipment, while in Britain it increased only 1.9 times; the British share of the world's industrial output fell from 31.8 per cent in 1870 to 14 per cent in 1913, while Germany rose from 13.2 per cent to 15.7 per cent!

The reason for this was that the British were too immersed in their British Empire's fantasy and ignored their investment in basic science education.

Everyone knew that the first opportunity in Industrial Revolution was built on the basis of the first big technological explosion of humans.

The most important inventions of the humans of that era were the flourishing development of steam engines, railways, Jenny's textile machines and navigation technology. Britain had indeed caught up with the historical opportunity and thus achieved the glory of the British Empire.

But, as was the custom in all old empires, anyone who reached the peak of the world would immediately become lustful and conceited.

Britain has slowly fallen into its own powerful fantasy, ignoring the competition from other countries.

Just by looking at the struggle between Benjamin and Gladstone, Benjamin could tell that the entire people of Britain were arrogant. The powerful Britain did not promote compulsory education, but instead let Prussia take the top spot in the world.

The result of Prussian long-term investment in education was a wave of great technological breakthroughs between the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War.

Technology had contributed to a great increase in production efficiency and, in turn, to the explosion of the entire country's gross national product, which had in fact surpassed the United Kingdom to become the second largest country in the world before the outbreak of the First World War.

Britain was only the third largest country in the world and ranked first in the list was the long-time isolationist United States. However, the United States' gross national product was based on its vast territory and abundant resources. In fact, according to efficiency, the United States' technology and industrial production efficiency were far inferior to the Germany's.

This was actually the confidence of the Kaiser Wilhelm who dared to launch the First World War, and it was precisely because he possessed such power that he dared to challenge the supremacy of England. In the First World War, especially on the western front, Germany was almost independent of the combined forces of the two countries of the English and French.

Artillery battles and trenches were all about the strength of the nation, and they were all about steel! If Germany did not have the second largest gross national product in the world, how could he possibly fight a war on such a scale?

The war was only the final solution to the conflict, and before it other forms of competition were still rampant, including the Kaiser Wilhelm's ambitious plan for the Baghdad Line.

Since Britain had taken full control of the world's maritime transport, the sea routes were completely within the range of the Royal Fleet's artillery. In addition, the navy was a very, very expensive army, and it was not easy to amass talents from the navy.

That was why although the Germany surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of technology, education, gross national product and so on, it was a pity that in terms of the navy, they were completely unable to go back on their words. Just by looking at the accumulation of talent, the Prussian Germany was far from being as well-off as Britain.

The lifeline of the ocean has always been in the hands of Britain, including several famous straits around the world and famous transportation routes.

In order to break out of this predicament, the Kaiser Wilhelm initiated the Baghdad Railway Project, which started in Berlin and continued to run straight to the Ottoman Empire through the Austro-Hungarian Empire and through the Balkans, i.e., to Turkey in the future.

The Bosphorus, known as the Strait of Istanbul, was the dividing line between Europe and Asia. At that time, Germany's plan was to build a railway line from Berlin all the way here, and build a bridge there. After that, they would work with the Ottoman Empire to build a railway line across the Iranian plateau to Baghdad, which would then lead them directly to the Persian Gulf.

This way, the German goods and military power could be poured directly into the Central Asia and even expand to East Asia through the Central Asia.

Historically, this plan had been severely thwarted by the English and French, but by then Germany was no longer the Germany of the past. Under the pressure of Germany's powerful state, Britain had been forced to make a series of concessions and, before the outbreak of the First World War, had formally accepted Germany's plan to build railways to Baghdad.

Unfortunately, during the First World War, this plan was forcefully interrupted. Germany had only built the railway to the European side of the Istanbul Strait, which meant that the earliest Balkan railways had been built by the German.

If the Kaiser Wilhelm were to complete this super large project according to his plan, then in the 20th century, the geopolitics of the whole world would have changed dramatically.

I'm afraid it's hard for modern people to understand the influence that railways had on the world at that time. They might think that your railroad had to travel through so many countries, each with its own political considerations. How could you do that?

Would there be a country that would admit the control of your railway today and rob you of it tomorrow? Or should I destroy it for you? Because after all, the railway passed through their territory!

Those who had such ideas would not have known that in the 1920s, when the global powers began to expand their railways to the world, his investment model was completely different from that of other countries.

For example, Britain's France was building railways, the Great Qing was building a railway from Beijing to Shanghai, and according to international practice, these super projects, which were invested by foreign powers, were going to help them gain the right to garrison troops in order to protect their country's core interests.

In other words, if the Qing Government accepted, the funds, technology, and companies of Britain and France, as well as the corresponding British and French armies, would be able to be stationed along this railway line.

Historically, there is a very practical example of this. It is the Central East Road, the main line of the Northeast Railway that we are very familiar with. Dalian goes all the way to Harbin and then connects to the Siberian Railway. The railway in the three provinces of East China, the North and South Great Artery, is called the Central East Road.

Until the Republic of China, also known as the era of Zhang Zuolin, there had always been troops of Russian and Russian on the Middle East Road. Of course, at the beginning, there were no Japanese troops.

When did the Japanese army come in? It was after the Russo-Japanese war that Japan defeated Russia, who was forced to cede half of its rights on the central and eastern roads to gain the first Japanese troops stationed in the three eastern provinces.

If you think about it this way, you can also understand how heaven-defying King Wilhelm's Baghdad Railroad really is!

If this had been the case, then the German army would have gone along the railway line all the way to the Persian Gulf, and it would have been like a sharp knife stabbing directly into the heart of the British colonies. To the south could threaten Africa, to the east could threaten India, and to the southwest could threaten Suez Canal.

This was only the meaning of military politics. If the commercial value of this railway was calculated, it would be infinitely large!