Chapter 463: Taking Line
The German Parliament is meeting, and nothing can be hidden. At least Britain, France and other countries already know that there is a force in Germany that has evil intentions for its overseas colonies.
As Bismarck said, the current German government cannot waste time on those bad places. The bad places are nothing more than islands in Africa and the Pacific. Good places include India, Indochina, the Caribbean coast, and the Middle East. North Africa and Australia were both under British and French control.
Latin America is a special region. Latin America is now considered an independent continent. It is not a colony of anyone. It is at most a semi-economic colony of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States.
Much of Latin America was formerly a colony of Spain and Portugal. After the Spanish and Portuguese colonial forces were expelled from Latin America, a power vacuum appeared in Latin America. European colonial powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands tried to fill this gap, but they encountered firm opposition from the United States and the original sovereigns, Spain and Portugal.
In 1823, the United States even issued the Monroe Declaration, declaring that America was the Americas of the Americans, and opposed European countries' colonization and interference in American affairs. Britain, France and other countries were concerned about the power of the three countries, so they did not forcibly carve up the country. After the rapid growth of the United States' national power in the 19th century, the European powers no longer had the strength to carve up the country.
Now there is Bismarck in Germany who can suppress the colonialists, but in the end Bismarck is just a prime minister and can only represent this government.
Hohenzollern Castle.
"Congressman Klein is very grateful for your message. Please accept this." Tom skillfully took out a red envelope and stuffed it to Klein.
"Haha, I'm being polite. It's just a small favor. But don't worry, Mr. Thomas, I will pay attention to any useful information!" Klein happily stuffed the red envelope into his pocket and said : "Send my regards to His Majesty the King!"
"No problem!"
Sent Klein away, Tom carefully sorted out the contents of this parliament, and then sent it to East Africa via telegram.
Hechingen is part of the Hohenzollern Province of the Kingdom of Prussia, so the local parliamentarians are naturally inseparable from the royal family of Hechingen.
In fact, it was not Constantine who went to East Africa. This time, the Prince of Hechingen was indispensable for having a seat in the Upper House of the Imperial Parliament.
But it doesn’t matter. There is Sigmaringen next door in the Imperial Parliament. If there is any trouble, the Hechingen royal family can also get the news. In the same way, the Hechingen royal family can get the news. Basically, this meeting The content will also be known to other countries.
This aspect also reflects the reason why East Africa has been obscured for ten years. East Africa has no parliament at all, so the risk of information leaking is basically non-existent.
Moreover, European exploration of Africa progressed very slowly. Before Ernst colonized East Africa, European exploration of sub-Saharan Africa was almost limited to coastal areas and rivers such as the Nile.
(Picture: Map of the explored areas of Africa in 1901. The red area is a well-known area, only North Africa and the Nile River in Egypt, the blue area is the coast and some rivers, which are relatively well-known, and the gray area is a completely unexplored area)< br>
East Africa soon received the message from Tom.
Constantine asked: "It seems that after Germany was unified, it also began to try to exert its influence in the world. At least some people are no longer satisfied with the current reality. What should we do?"
Ernst said: "Taking advantage of this warship transaction between us and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we should finalize the relationship between the two countries. Now we should also take sides!"
Constantine: "Choose the Austro-Hungarian Empire "
Ernst: "Yes, East Africa needs allies, and there is no one more suitable than the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
Ferdinand: "I'm afraid there are some people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He does not think that East Africa is qualified to be his ally.
After all, the status of African countries is indeed too low in the eyes of Europe, just shy of being tied with Antarctica.
Ernst said with a smile: "We don't care what some people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire think. Just by following the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we can avoid a lot of trouble."
It is better to say that we are not allies so much. Ernst wanted to give East Africa the status of an Austro-Hungarian protectorate. Of course, it was not a protectorate like Zanzibar.
However, this matter is not easy. Just thinking of benefits is impossible, so Ernst also plans to give some benefits to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The specific benefits will depend on the bargaining chips in East Africa. .
Ferdinand volunteered: "Leave this matter to me!"
"No problem!" Ernst said, there is indeed no one more suitable than Archduke Ferdinand. candidate. ……
In May, Archduke Ferdinand went to Austria in the name of inspecting the ironclad Friedrich and stopped by Schönbrunn Palace.
"What? An alliance?" Even though Franz himself is usually more serious, he was shocked by his brother's remarks, "Do you know what you are talking about?"
"What's the matter? What a fuss! The alliance between the Kingdom of Hessingen and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a perfect match.”
“When did you change its name to the Kingdom of East Africa?”
"The name East Africa is no longer appropriate. Now the number of Germans in the kingdom has reached tens of millions, so it is not surprising that we changed it to a German name."
"You include black people in the population?" Lenz asked rhetorically.
"Black people are not qualified to be our citizens. If black people are included, the population of East Africa will be more than 30 million."
But Franz still remained skeptical: "Lie to others. It's okay, don't fool yourself, my dear brother, there are only more than 10 million Germans in the empire. You said there are more than 10 million Germans in one area of Africa. Is it possible to be a person of ambition? "
Ferdinand said: "It depends on how you define Germans. Without counting the newly born population, the true German population in East Africa is probably close to four million. , of which South Germany contributed more than 1.5 million, and Austria-Hungary, North Germany, and the United States contributed about 2.5 million. "
"Is this data reliable?"
"In 1870, the population of Germany was about 40 million, and the German region has always been the region with the largest population outflow in Europe, especially after the economic crisis."
< br>“Are you sure you didn’t add Slavs and other ethnic groups to it?”
“If you add Slavs and other Europeans, it would be between 40 and 50 percent, and more than half of them are Slavs. It’s Slovenia, Croatia and Serbs.”
Franz’s eyelids twitched, this is poaching people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire! If you include these Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa poached at least two million people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But that’s fine, no wonder Slovenian and Croatian nationalists have been inactive in recent years.
"Even if you add the Slavs, the population shouldn't be more than 10 million."
"Isn't there still nearly half of the immigrants from the Far East! The two sides combined are exactly 10 million."
“Aren’t you afraid that such a country will collapse?” Franz asked his own question.
“It’s better to worry more about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, brother! Compared with the population problem in East Africa, the problem in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is really serious. Germans only account for more than 20%, and these ethnic groups They all have their own historical identities, and the crisis of division always hangs over you. On the head of the empire!”
The problem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a long-standing problem. The Habsburg family’s routine of loyalty to the imperial emperor is obviously unable to deal with the rise of nationalism, unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire can control it. and bring out a new nation that can encompass all nations.
"It is true that the empire's problem cannot be solved, so you also choose to take this path?"
Archduke Ferdinand shook his head and said: "National integration, East Africa is a purely immigrant country, and the Hechingen royal family serves as this The rulers of the country, their power is greater than that of any monarch in European history, so in East Africa has carried out an extremely tough assimilation policy, and just needs to wait until the next generation grows up, and there will no longer be cognitive problems."
"Is that still Germany?"
"Who knows! The Austro-Hungarian Empire can also do the same, and I believe you will choose the same way. The source of the people is the problem for us, the Habsburgs. The family doesn't matter, because this is how we established the Austrian Empire in the past, but now some of them, especially the Slavs, in Napoleon's conspiracy thinking, regard the nation as their identity, severing the relationship with the empire, and just breaking away. For them, there is no other way to build an empire except to build their own country. No matter how many Slavic countries are established, it is not as good as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later history also proved this. The Austro-Hungarian Empire can become a major force in Europe and the world, and it has the dignity of a great power. , there is also freedom for the small people, but a bunch of Balkan countries that were later fragmented did not even get the freedom for the small people.
It may be true that things are very unsatisfactory under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is definitely much happier than other countries.
(End of this chapter)