Chapter 941 "The Rhine Empire"
Constantine was not surprised by Ernst's statement. After all, his son's ideas were very different from ordinary people since he was a child, otherwise it would be impossible to build a foundation.
"Ernst, although what you say makes sense, it is not recognized by the international community. The so-called throne in East Africa, like the Queen of England's Indian throne, may be easily secretly said by outsiders."
Ernst smiled and joked to his father: "If Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom moved the capital to Bombay, wouldn't her throne be worthy of its name! And our East Africa is completely different from the United Kingdom. East Africa is now the size of It is stronger than most kingdoms, so the empire is more in line with the current development situation in East Africa."
"As for the European discussion, if we are fighting for the European emperor, it will naturally make people laugh. But here. It is East Africa, so the empire we established is a huge country unprecedented in African history, so it is naturally called the East African Empire.”
After all, the Kingdom of Hechingen belongs to the European political system, so the Kingdom of Hechingen cannot be called an empire. After all, Hechingen was originally just a small state under the Holy Roman Empire.
As for the title Holy Roman Empire, Ernst was of course coveted, but it was impossible for other German countries to agree, especially Germany. If East Africa called itself the Holy Roman Empire, what would Germany become?
Of course, Constantine was not satisfied with Ernst's attention: "The name East African Empire is not good. Although we are indeed in Africa, the name Africa has long been stigmatized. When I say Africa, I can think of poverty, backwardness, and barbarism.”
It is true that Constantine said this. Although East Africa is developing rapidly, the stereotypes of Africa in European countries have not changed at all.
North Africa and West Africa are mainly holding back. These areas are colonies or spheres of influence of European countries, so they still use these areas as a model in their description of Africa.
"Father, what do you think?" Ernst asked. In fact, he felt that the name East African Empire was not bad.
“If you think about it, although the main body of East Africa today is still the eastern part of the continent, after several expansions, our East Africa is actually on the map as a whole, which is more consistent with the name of South Africa.”
Constantine said this, of course, the name South Africa is even less likely to be used in East Africa. In addition to still being related to Africa, the main reason is that the British South African colony has already occupied this geographical name.
After the end of the South African War, Britain integrated the colonies in South Africa and completely integrated the Natal Colony and the Cape Town Colony. The government was collectively called the South African Colonial Government.
So now South Africa mainly refers to the British colonial area in the southernmost tip of Africa. It is naturally impossible for East Africa to reuse this name.
"In my opinion, it is better to select from the cultural elements of the German region and then use it as a new country name in East Africa. Among them, my favorite ones are Rhine and Swabia."
Rhine naturally comes from the Rhine River, and Swabia is the birthplace of the Royal Family of Hechingen. The original Kingdom of Hechingen, which is now the Hohenzollern Province of Germany, is in the Swabia region.
Ernst suddenly realized: "Yes! Why didn't I think of using Rhine as the name of the country in East Africa? Isn't this ready-made!"
When the city of Rhine was built, Ernst said I didn't expect this, but my father's idea was reliable.
As for the name Swabia, Ernst did not consider it at all. Although there is a province of Swabia in East Africa, Swabia is really a country in history, that is, the Principality of Swabia under the Holy Roman Empire. Nowadays, all or part of Württemberg, Hechingen, Sigmaringen, Bavaria and other regions are within the scope of the country. The place where East African Standard German is collected is Swabia. However, although the name Swabia has a deep historical origin, it is completely incomparable with Rhine.
Ernst said directly: "At that time our East Africa will be called the Rhine Empire, and my father will be the first emperor of the Rhine Empire."
Constantin shook his head and said: "I originally I plan to abdicate and let you officially take over, so you should do it! And I don’t want to suffer during the coronation ceremony.”
Generally speaking, kings are lifelong, but Constantine is not. Constantine did not want to continue to be the king of East Africa. After all, he had long been idle and did not care about political affairs. Moreover, since Ernst established an official retirement system in the East African government, Constantine's thoughts became even stronger.
Ernst denied: "Father, you are the ballast of the country. Even if you really want to abdicate, it should be after the title of emperor is implemented."
Ernst was reluctant to Constantine's idea. He continued to persuade: "As for the coronation ceremony, I have said before that it will not be as bloated and complicated as in Europe. There will only be a few big scenes. You just go through the motions and the coronation ceremony is completed.”
“Simplifying the ceremony is not difficult for us. In fact, we don’t even need to invite foreign guests. After all, East Africa has become an empire. That’s the extent of our strength. , It is a natural thing, rather than having to be recognized by other countries, it is more important to unite the hearts of the people in the country.”
“We don’t use horse-drawn carriages like those in Europe. When the time comes, you will sit in a car. Just wave to the people in Rhine City. The roads we built in Rhine City are completely asphalt roads and are not bumpy at all. Other processes can be omitted and simplified.”
“This is the 19th century after all, and everything happened in Europe. Huge changes, the relevant systems should also make corresponding changes.”
Just like when the British royal family was crowned, there was a golden carriage and a big stone (the stone of destiny). In Ernst’s view, It's both painful and funny, and of course, only Ernst sees it that way now.
Ernst continued: "The coronation ceremony must be done as you feel comfortable, and I don't want red tape to restrict the successors."
"And to put it bluntly, the monarchy has already appeared in the world. The trend of decline, so our Hechingen royal family must also find ways to integrate into the country, instead of being completely separated from the people, especially in terms of class, at least we should not be separated Taiqing, with the development of technology and social thinking in the future, it is best for royal family members to keep a low profile in order to reduce trouble."
Constantine also nodded, and he agreed with his son's words, if. In the past, as an old nobleman, Constantine must not have thought so, but with the development of the times, some things would not exist if he had not pretended not to see them.
Even monarchs like William II and Nicholas II who tried their best to maintain imperial power could hardly change this situation. As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was already a backwater. Although the economy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still cannot be underestimated, However, the combat effectiveness of the army is declining rapidly. This is an intuitive feeling in East Africa. In military cooperation with East Africa, the quality of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's army has declined sharply.
So the Austro-Hungarian Empire is now in a very dangerous situation. The guns are not strong, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire is at risk of disintegrating at any time. Now Franz has really been reduced to a wall-pamper, facing aging The empire mended.
In fact, it is not that the Austrian government does not want to restore the glory of the Austrian Empire, but Hungary has a strong fighting capacity. Through parliamentary struggles, on the one hand it resolutely promotes Magyarism in Hungary, and on the other hand it continuously reduces military expenditures, which makes the Austro-Hungarian army unable to get fresh blood. supplement, so decline is inevitable.
(End of this chapter)