Chapter 647 Preparation
Ernst also understood the current situation of the Orange people, which was quite bad. After all, the two sides had been fighting for more than a year, and the Orange Free State did not have any complicated terrain. It is basically flat and the territory is not large. The only mountainous area nearby is still in the hands of East Africa, so it cannot deal with the British army like Afghanistan.
It is not easy to persist until now. Even for Ernst, the Orangemen have overfulfilled their tasks.
"Now that the Orangemen have become insignificant, the most they can do is make some small moves to cause some trouble for the British and Transvaal people, and then the British will be free." Ste said.
"Your Highness, what are your instructions?" Sweet asked after hearing what Ernst said.
"We can now identify countries and regions that are hostile or threatening to East Africa, mainly in the south, the Transvaal, the Portuguese, the British, and in the northeast, British Somaliland, the Sudanese region of Egypt, and now also Colonized by the British, these areas must increase supervision to prevent the British from making small moves. Your military should also prepare response plans at any time. The military has not fought for a long time. Let them move around and see if there are any long-distance transfers. The problem, especially this time, is that railways and roads are more developed than a few years ago. "
Ernst is a very stable person, so even if there is only one percent chance, he has to be careful.
Because he has substituted himself for the British, he will never let East Africa go. Now Britain still has grips and allies in Africa. If it does not contain East Africa at this time, there will be basically no chance in the future.
The confrontation with East Africa is nothing more than cheating. If Britain fails, the most it can do is sacrifice the Cape Town Colony, and this is the worst plan. Except for the United States, no country has made Britain lose a large area. Territory, but if successful, it would be quite cost-effective to break up southern East Africa.
This is the same as playing chess. You cannot focus on temporary gains and losses. The final result still depends on victory. If you can take away the south of East Africa (Rhodescia), then East Africa can only become Brazil. , even the raw materials for industrial development are not available.
At the same time, by capturing the south, East Africa's control over southwest Africa will be destroyed, and Portugal will be able to recover its lost territory. In this way, half of East Africa's effective territory will be lost.
The British African colonies will be as prosperous as in the previous life, instead of competing with a bunch of countries to grab every acre of land in West Africa.
And the area controlled by East Africa now is very different from Africa in the previous life. East Africa's construction of Africa is even more exaggerated than that of many African countries in the 21st century.
Not to mention other regions, the eastern coast, as the window for East Africa to contact the world, has undergone earth-shaking changes in its development in recent years.
The British ship is not blind. With the development speed of the East African coast, the inland cannot be too bad. After all, without inland development as an economic hinterland, the coast cannot develop so well, because East Africa mainly relies on The focus is still on bulk commodity exports, and a cargo cannot be hidden from the British who guard the Suez Canal. This has even caused the East African route, which has declined since the opening of the Suez Canal, to start to pick up.
Of course, with the addition of East Africa, the Suez Canal has become busier, because the Atlantic coast of East Africa is basically a display, and almost all trade in North America and Europe passes through the Suez Canal.
As for the trade between South America and East Africa, except for the slave trade, the exchanges are not frequent, and the commodity trade is even more so. After all, it is impossible for East Africa to export rubber, coffee and other tropical agricultural products to South America. Instead, everyone competitors, and East African industrial products are not very competitive in South America.
As for minerals, everyone mainly exports them. The industrial level of South America is not as good as that of East Africa. If you have so much minerals, you can’t use them yourself. Instead, you can make money by exporting them to Europe and the United States.
In short, East Africa today is significantly different from the traditional concept of Africa, especially in the context of West Africa.
Of course, other countries only saw East Africa eating meat, but did not see East Africa being beaten. East Africa’s current achievements are inseparable from the efforts of every East African, including those slaves. Nowadays, diseases are rampant in West Africa, natural disasters occur frequently, and the colonists are violently fighting in West Africa, which embodies the word "chaos", which is very consistent with the world's perception of Africa.
But it cannot be said that there is no progress in West Africa. Although the colonists were bad, they did build many plantations in West Africa. Even if the plantations were reactionary and backward, they were still much more advanced than the previous indigenous system. Of course, this is certainly not the case from an indigenous African perspective.
The colonists in West Africa were much more ruthless than the people in East Africa. They were a mixed bag of good and bad, with private armed forces running rampant, and they were entirely focused on economic interests.
Ernst remembered that one of the important reasons why Africans did not like to work in previous lives was that they were exploited too severely during the colonial era.
More work can stimulate people's enthusiasm, and the productivity of West African slaves is entirely based on the whipping and punishment of the colonists. Belgium did the most excessive things in the previous life. Of course, Ernst believes that the United States is not better. After all, dentures made from black teeth are no more "noble" than Congolese blacks who had their hands chopped off.
Black people are used to being plundered by colonists, so ordinary black people at the bottom have no motivation to work at all. No matter how much they produce, it has nothing to do with them.
This situation will not change even after African countries become independent, because the independence of African countries is still different from that of Asia, and the colonists here left too many behind when they evacuated.
For example, the ruling class was actually the hawk and dog of the colonizers. African society has not actually changed at all, except that the exploiters have changed from white to black.
And black rulers may not be as good as white people. White people are bad but not stupid, while many black rulers are bad and stupid. This makes it very easy for tyrants to appear in post-independence Africa.
No matter how much you say, the colonists have more experience in governing the country than the black hawks, and many black compradors still maintain the governance methods of the tribal era, so the industrial base left by the colonists in the colonial era is completely abandoned, and many The country is even more chaotic than before independence.
The most typical example is South Africa. The black ruling class in South Africa are typically good and uneducated. They have learned the shortcomings of white people without any teachers and have governed South Africa like that.
However, this is the case in many British colonies. This has to be said that one of the advantages of the British is that they are decisive. If they take the initiative to evacuate, they can lay mines in the colonies more calmly. Such independent areas are far away. It is better to be independent and thorough than armed struggle.
“It’s always a good idea to be careful, especially between countries. We are always faced with uncertainty, and we don’t have the ability to predict the future, so it’s best to be fully prepared in advance so as not to be caught off guard. "
Ernst himself used to like to be a gambler, but now he doesn't have to be careful. All East Africa can do now is to keep making moves, wait for the situation to change, and then make things right for East Africa. Completely settled.
As for greater ambitions, the idea has disappeared. After all, it is still a bit far away to consider these now. It is better to develop the industry in East Africa.
(End of this chapter)