Chapter 808 The dust has settled
With the collusion of several people, Portugal directly became the biggest victim. Not only that, the previous proposal of Ellenthal to reduce Portugal’s compensation was also rejected by Salisbury. .
After all, eight million pounds is not a small amount. Anyway, it is East Africa that is the "evil", and the UK is taking the money, so there is no need for Portugal to pay back less, and even Salisbury is unscrupulous. I thought that the asking price for Portugal in East Africa was too low before, and the UK would really make money if it doubled.
This idea was despised by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and East Africa, and being an ally to the British did not end well.
It was Alan Tal who spoke up: "Forty-eight million pounds may already be the limit that Portugal can afford. If it is doubled, the Portuguese government may directly default on the debt. They are not in the world now." They are all majestic Portuguese imperial colonies.”
During the changes in the world structure in the 19th century and before, countries actually took advantage of Portugal and Spain. After all, these two countries accounted for most of the colonies back then.
Now Spain still has some strength, but Portugal has completely declined, so the situation Portugal will face in the future will definitely be more difficult. However, most of the colonies left by Portugal are not of much value, such as Portuguese Goa and East Timor. Sao Tome and Príncipe are small colonies.
As the East-British parties reached a settlement, the subsequent negotiation meeting was just a formality, and Portuguese representative Gers also discovered the changes in Salisbury.
Most of the time, Salisbury was debating with the East Africans, and the scene was very heated. But when it came to the Portuguese issue, Salisbury was vague, and sometimes he even watched the drama directly.
And Gers is naturally unable to resist East Africa. This is the gap in national strength. We can sell face to the new power that has emerged in East Africa, and Portugal, who is it! Never heard of it.
Of course, this is also related to the close relationship between Portugal and the United Kingdom. Everyone knows that Portugal is a vassal of the United Kingdom, so naturally it is not my turn to intervene in the Portuguese issue. Don't you see that the British are not anxious? So I am even less willing to speak for the Portuguese.
While the Venice Conference was going on, the East African government also had many private exchanges with the United Kingdom. Selling the Kingdom of Portugal and preserving British interests in South Africa had been recognized by both countries, and the United Kingdom could also make a huge fortune. , why not do it.
As for the previous huge military expenditure, in the final analysis, it was still eaten by Britain's own military-industrial interest groups, so Britain did not lose at all. Although the South African War did not meet the optimistic expectations before the war, it was decent. Quitting is the best outcome for the current British government.
The Venice Conference was held until June. Although Britain and East Africa had determined the basic ideas in March, in order to take care of the face of the two British allies, Portugal and the Boers, Britain and East Africa launched There was a fierce scolding battle.
At the end of March, the East African government began to cease military operations in Cape Town in accordance with its previous commitments, and at the same time began to repatriate captured British soldiers.
The first batch of 523 British troops returned to the British mainland on April 26, 1889. This greatly restored the popularity of the British government. The British prisoners of war were greatly welcomed by the local people. After all, the size of the UK Not big, more than 60,000 prisoners of war can be distributed in almost every region.
So the living conditions and safety conditions of these prisoners of war have attracted great attention from the British people, which involves more than 60,000 families.
In fact, there should be more than 80,000 families. After all, East Africa will not be reincarnated in the dirt, and it is impossible for the 20,000 dead British troops to resurrect them and hand them over to the United Kingdom.
Moreover, a large part of the 20,000 British soldiers who died were not due to war, but due to diseases and other problems. Among them, 1,008 people were missing. Even East Africans dare not say that they feel sorry for themselves. Familiar, not to mention the British troops fighting as guest troops in the South African battlefield.
In fact, the casualty figures of the British army are relatively good compared with those of the coalition forces. The coalition forces lost a total of 170,000 killed in battle, and the number of injured and injured exceeded 300,000. This was enough to trigger a plague in South Africa.
And so it is that East Africa is still cleaning up the mess in Angola and Mozambique, especially as drug spending reaches new highs, which was also brought to the Venice Conference in June. East Africa's claims against Portugal increased instead of falling, directly exceeding 50 million pounds. This also forced the Portuguese government to speed up the negotiation schedule. As long as the 120,000 captured Portuguese troops stayed there, they would be completely passive, unable to get out.
Unlike the United Kingdom, Portugal really cannot stand the trouble, especially the prisoner issue. The total population of the United Kingdom is close to 40 million, so the importance of 60,000 prisoners of war to the British government is almost Ignoring it, this is not as big a problem as the workers causing trouble.
The population of Portugal is only over three million, and 120,000 prisoners of war can basically connect a large part of the people in Portugal.
So the Portuguese government must ensure the safety of 120,000 Portuguese prisoners of war, otherwise the angry people can directly overthrow the Portuguese government.
So with Portugal's compromise, the Venice Conference was finally concluded on June 28, and the three parties participating in the war signed an armistice agreement under the witness of the international community headed by Count Ellenthal.
According to the provisions of the armistice agreement:
The East and British sides ceased immediately, and the troops of both sides withdrew to the pre-war border between the two countries. The British had to compensate the British prisoners of war for the consumption and treatment expenses during their stay in East Africa. A total of three million pounds.
Portugal ceded Angola and Mozambique to the Kingdom of East Africa, and compensated East Africa for war indemnities of 40 million pounds.
Due to financial pressure from Portugal, this part of the war reparations was advanced by the United Kingdom. Of course, the original two million pounds was converted according to the value of Angola and Mozambique, which means that East Africa is worth two million pounds. Two Portuguese colonies were obtained, and the issue of ownership of Angola and Mozambique was completely settled.
Legally speaking, Angola and Mozambique can no longer have anything to do with Portugal.
Finally, there is the Boer issue. The Boer Republic was abolished and incorporated into the East African territory. Orange became part of the East African Kingdom, bounded by the Orange River and the Tugela River. The south was British and the north was completely East Africa.
As for the opinions of the Boers, they were completely ignored by the East British and British countries. The Boer Republic now cannot even retain the government-in-exile.
After all, the premise of the government-in-exile is that the popular foundation of the Boer Republic still exists. Just like Poland, although it is occupied by Tsarist Russia, the people living on the land are indeed Poles. Therefore, the Polish government-in-exile in the UK is of great use and can be incited at any time. Nationalist sentiment in Tsarist Russia in order to deter Tsarist Russia.
And East Africa did too decisively in the former Boer Republic, which is the Orange region, and directly drained the local Boer people's base. Therefore, even if the Boer Republic's government-in-exile is retained, it is meaningless, except across the Austrian border. The Orange River has no effect on the barking of dogs in East Africa and the further consumption of British taxpayers' money.
Of course, the British government had a deeper consideration, that is, there were too many Boers in the Cape Colony. If the Boer Republic-in-exile government was retained, not only would it not threaten East Africa, but it might in fact stimulate local forces that were not conducive to British rule.
Boers account for more than 60% of the population of the Cape Town Colony, so naturally the Boer Republic, a "serious problem", cannot stay longer.
(End of this chapter)