Chapter 474 Discussion
Leford’s pessimism is ultimately about money. The local area will only suck blood from Mozambique, so Mozambique cannot invest money in local development like East Africa does. Forget about the money, Portugal itself will not be able to provide other favorable support to Mozambique to reduce colonial costs, thus blocking the way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
The East African naval exercise made the new governor of Mozambique somewhat aware of the reality, while the British colony of Natal's attitude towards the East African exercise was "understood" and neither cold nor indifferent.
The East African Navy does pose a certain threat, but the British are not afraid of this threat. In 1877, the British had a total of nearly 180 main warships. The East African Navy was like a giant in front of the British Royal Navy. An ant.
Of course, this ant is still somewhat threatening in the Western Indian Ocean region, because the Royal Navy is a global force and cannot be concentrated in one place to crush this ant.
"What do the Germans want to do? Demonstration? If they dare to go to India, Cape Town and the Red Sea to do this, then I will admire them, but conducting such meaningless exercises in Natal is too much. We are gone! Even if it is replaced by Cape Town, the Germans will know what the world's largest navy is."
In the final analysis, the Natal colony is just a small colony surrounding the port of Durban. There is a big gap between the large colonies at the level of London, so the behavior of East Africa is very disdainful in the eyes of the Governor of Natal. It is like two people fighting, and someone goes to the enemy's house to threaten the other's children.
The purpose of East Africa is not just to show off its muscles, but more importantly to express an attitude to the outside world, that is, East Africa is different from other countries in the region. The colonists were not fools. They also had to screen their targets, otherwise it would be embarrassing if they overturned when they encountered a hard problem. This kind of thing happened all over the world.
The East African Navy is the best window to showcase the mental state and national governance capabilities of East Africa. The navy is developing well, which shows that the organizational capabilities of its own government are not too bad, and countries with strong organizational capabilities are generally colonial This is the hardest nut to crack.
As for the land, the East African Army should not hang out. To be honest, the East African Army is considered a second- or third-rate force in Europe. At most, it is worse than the armies of the major powers. In case it scares the surrounding forces. Not good.
Generally speaking, the East African naval exercises are useful. At least they let the British know that there is a fleet in East Africa that looks good. Without a big deal, it will be extremely difficult to colonize East Africa. However, what worries the British most is what exactly East Africa is. Which end?
After more than half a year of investigation, Benjamin obtained relatively comprehensive information, and the British government had a clearer understanding of the size of the East African colonies.
“From the Somali Desert in the northeast to the Namib Desert in Southwest Africa, we can just draw a diagonal line on the African continent facing the equatorial region. This diagonal area can already clearly belong to the Kingdom of East Africa. Territory, this is almost the same as the territory of the Kingdom of East Africa. In addition, the two colonies of the Portuguese, one on the left and one on the right, just show that the territory of East Africa is in the shape of a diagonal line. Therefore, estimating the area of this diagonal line, we believe that the land area of East Africa is at least About seven million square kilometers, my God! The numbers alone are terrifying. There are few countries in the world larger than East Africa."
Benjamin: "It's large, but it doesn't mean it's useful. The deserts of Australia and Canada. The ice sheets of Brazil and the rain forests of Brazil, so in the end it depends on the effective territory. What do you think the effective territory of East Africa is?”
“Your Excellency, it is difficult to describe, but it is certain that most of Southwest Africa is Desert areas of little value, and the northeastern region of East Africa is also a large desert area. The two areas are probably nearly two million square kilometers, and there should also be rainforests like Brazil, but it is not clear how large they are. Analysis, but one thing is certain, that is, the scale of development in Africa should not be large. If Africa wants to be completely developed like the Americas, it may take hundreds of years.”
"It is wrong to think this way. The development of the Americas will encounter the constraints of insufficient manpower, so there has been the black slave trade for hundreds of years, but Africa is different. It is the hometown of black slaves. I mean, if East Africans use black people to What will happen if we develop Africa?" "Fantasy, if black people are so useful, then it won't be the Germans' turn to take advantage of it. You should really communicate more with black people. I'm sure except for a few people. For example, most black people are so stupid that they can't do anything, and they are not as reliable as machines. Machines don't riot, but black people do. I think the same is true for black people in East Africa. They It is very likely that they will resist the colonization of East Africa like the Indians.”
You can say that the Indians are bad, but their determination to oppose the invasion is still good. It is a pity that the Indians are not unified. The core strength to fight against the despicable white colonists.
It took more than a hundred years for the United States to massacre Indians. If an East African kingdom wanted to colonize and expand in East Africa, it would still encounter black rebels.
However, he did not realize that there are not many black people in East Africa, or that there are too many Germans in East Africa. The resistance of black people in East Africa has been completely destroyed, so the status of black people in East Africa is A slave who was not bought and sold.
Of course, no matter how large Africa is, its national strength is not determined by size alone, especially for immigrant countries. Brazil and Argentina have such good natural conditions that they are so bad, so the Benjamin government does not believe that the national strength of East Africa will be higher than that of those countries in the Americas.
As for the special case of the United States, it is not something that can be touched in East Africa. The name of the "Chosen Land" does have some truth, but even so, it took a hundred years for the United States to develop into one of the great powers, so Benjamin The government does not believe East Africa has this potential.
So East Africa itself does not deserve too much attention, but whether there is support from the German and Austrian governments behind East Africa. If the two countries are not interested in overseas colonies, Benjamin himself will not believe it.
“The royal family of Hechingen, like the royal family of Prussia, is also a Hohenzollern family, and the relationship between the two families is quite close. It is the same as Sigmaringen in Romania. I even think that in addition to Germany, the other Hohenzollerns The countries led by the family may have premeditated plans to form a national network through family connections, so East Africa must be in the same group as Germany."
"Mardos, your idea is not true at all. Because our intelligence investigation shows that East Africa is obviously closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially the alliance treaty signed by both parties. This shows that East Africa chose the Austro-Hungarian Empire instead of Germany when choosing its camp. The same is true at the economic level. The same is true. The trade partners in East Africa are also the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which can be seen from the destination of merchant ships.”
Benjamin: "East Africa is a very special existence. Maybe it is not a colony of Germany or Austria, and it is not impossible."
In the past, the British understanding of East Africa was that this country might have been created by Prussia. After all, the surname Hohenzollern can explain many things, but East Africa's subsequent behavior was not like this. On the contrary, East Africa got closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
(End of this chapter)