Chapter 392 Strategic Security
The Fetter River is a tributary on the right bank of the Fal River, the northern tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The downstream confluence with the Fal River is the Bruhof Reservoir in South Africa in the previous life, and the upstream is Winburg, an important city in the Transvaal, is also the boundary river between the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.
Wynburgh is located on the plain in the middle of the Fetter River (the upper reaches of the Fett River is Y-shaped). It was one of the Boer republics established by the old Pretorius in 1852. The Lydenburg Republic and other Boer colonies were incorporated into the Transvaal Republic, and it is the southernmost city of the Transvaal Republic.
The 513th East African Division occupied this place a few days ago. After losing Pretoria, the Transvaal Republic's command system was actually completely out of control, which made East Africa's occupation of the Transvaal Republic very smooth.
“After capturing Winburg, the area north of the Fetter River will be completely in our East African hands. South of the Fit River is the Orange Free State. According to the order of the Crown Prince, after our troops occupy Winburg, we will Winburg controls the north bank of the Feit River as the center. Unless the Orange Free State actively provokes, the East African Army will no longer fight across the Feit River," Kerry Rhodes, commander of the 513th Division, pointed at the map and said to his men.
After occupying Wenburg, East Africa's combat mission against the Transvaal Republic was basically completed, or Ernst's strategic intention was initially completed. The original purpose of attacking the Transvaal Republic was to let the gold mines on both sides of the main stream of the Fal River rot. In the soil, after East Africa controls the Feit River, 99% of the gold mine distribution area will fall into the hands of East Africa. As long as East Africa prohibits the development of the land between the north of the Feit River and the south of Pretoria, these gold mines will It will not be discovered, including Johannesburg in the previous life, and it will be impossible to appear.
The reasons for prohibiting the development of this area are also ready-made, because it is located deep inside the South African plateau, and Lesotho blocks water vapor from the Indian Ocean, making it very dry, with barren land and a fragile ecological environment.
East Africa can use ecological protection as an excuse to prohibit any individual or force from developing this area. Ernst plans to establish a natural ecological reserve here similar to the Galenseti Prairie.
East Africa does not have much interest in the Orange Free State across the river. On the one hand, the East African Kingdom declared war on the pretext that the Transvaal Republic supported the Debele rebellion, but the Transvaal Republic The Republic of Vanuatu and the Orange Free State are two countries, so there is no pretext for war against the Orange Free State.
Although the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic are like brothers, the interests of the two sides are not completely overlapping. Before, Pretorius Jr. tried to promote the merger of the two countries, but the Orange Free State suffered a heavy defeat. reject.
Ernst thought that he could try to win over the Orange Free State. Ernst had no hostility to the Boer country in the first place, but conflicts with the Transvaal Republic in terms of interests and national security.
On the other hand, the Kingdom of East Africa needed the Orange Free State to act as a buffer between East Africa and the British Cape Colony. Because the Kimberley Diamond Mine has been discovered and developed, the British have real interests in the Orange Free State. It is impossible for the British to allow East Africa to annex the Orange Free State.
On the contrary, the Transvaal Republic Ernst will never allow it to continue to exist. The existence of this country will be a huge disaster in the future. In the past life, it was because of the discovery of many gold mines such as the Rand Gold Mine. This resulted in unprecedented British enthusiasm for exploring South Africa.
The British increased their military presence and colonial efforts in South Africa, which shaped the South African colony in its previous life. South Africa directly became the colony with the largest number of white people in sub-Saharan Africa. The number of Boers alone may reach 600,000 to 700,000. If you add the British, Irish, Indians... the number of white people in South Africa can easily exceed one million, which will pose a huge threat to the security of East African countries.
After East Africa occupied the Transvaal Republic, apart from the strategic position of Cape Town, South Africa only had diamond mine interests in Orange. However, there is no shortage of diamonds in East Africa, and it even has the world’s largest reserves. one.
Relying only on diamond mines, the landlocked country of the Orange Free State cannot complete industrialization. What's more, the Orange Free State is still short of water, and its future development potential will be locked up, even worse than Mongolia in its previous life. At the same time, with the advancement of the policy of the East African Kingdom, a large number of Boers from the Transvaal Republic took the initiative to migrate to the Orange Free State, which could greatly strengthen the power of the Boers in the Orange Free State.
According to the population growth rate of the two Boer Republics in the previous life, the population of the Orange Free State will definitely easily exceed 400,000 by then. If the Orange Free State is fully developed, it can at least become a A good agricultural country, unlike the previous life, the two Boer republics were parallel imports.
In this way, the size of the Orange Free State can be similar to that of some small countries in Europe, and it will not be easily annexed by the British.
Although due to East Africa's invasion of the Transvaal Republic, it is certain that the Orange Free State will not have a favorable impression of East Africa at the moment, and may even directly defect to the United Kingdom.
But Ernst hoped that the Boers would be at odds with the British as they were in their previous lives, and a conflict would eventually occur. This was inevitable. After all, the only valuable diamond mine in Orange was in the hands of the British, unless the British drove out the Germans like in East Africa. The Boers in the Transvaal Republic also drove the Boers out of the Orange Free State, but it was impossible for the British to do this.
Finally, East Africa can annex the Transvaal Republic to ensure its own strategic security. Because the gold mining area falls into the hands of East Africa, Britain will not be able to implement the 2C plan like in its previous life, except that there is no profit. In addition to its attractiveness, in terms of strength, even the South African colonies after annexing the Orange Free State were unable to compete with the East African Kingdom. In the past, South Africa's economic main body was in the northeast, but now it is the East African territory.
Not only the 2C plan, but even the French 2S plan is completely impossible to exist. The first mountain that the great powers must knock down when carving up Africa is the East African Kingdom, which has completely established a foothold in Africa.
To deal with an emerging centralized country like the East African Kingdom, it is impossible to rely on British and French forces alone, unless they dare to use their energy to deal with other countries on the European continent on the East African Kingdom.
The East African Kingdom is not dead. It can also win over the second German brother (Germany and Austria) to balance Britain and France. It is nothing more than the royal family of Hechingen transferring some more benefits.
Besides, the relationship between Britain and France, unless it is a world war, is impossible to pee in a pot, and the relationship between the two countries in Africa may even be very bad.
The existence of the East African Kingdom means that there are not many blue oceans in East and South Africa that can be developed. Currently, the only area in Africa with large tracts of unclaimed land and favorable conditions is West Africa.
As long as the East African Kingdom develops stably and is strong enough, after 1880, all countries will have no choice but to fight in West Africa. The competitive pressure in West Africa will be unprecedentedly intense, and Britain and France just happen to have colonies in West Africa now. Strategy West Africa is also considered logical, and it is foreseeable that other regions, such as South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, will also face more violent colonial storms in the future.
(End of this chapter)