Chapter 969 Limited Cooperation
“The current national strength of East Africa is not enough to support the construction of an ocean-going navy. Moreover, traditional maritime powers such as Britain and France, as well as the rising star of the United States, have great advantages in their navies. Unless there are unexpected circumstances, our increase in naval construction will only trigger a naval competition between countries. This kind of chasing each other will not narrow the gap between the navies of various countries. Therefore, every fund for the East African Navy must be Save money and not get involved in a never-ending naval arms race," East African Defense Minister Felix told Tirpitz.
If it is cooperation between two countries, under normal circumstances, the stronger the ally, the better. This means that one's own camp will be stronger. Just like Italy, the ally chosen by Germany in the previous life, even if it does not hold back, it may have a negative impact on the world structure. Huge impact.
The East African government is obviously only willing to conduct limited cooperation with the German Navy in the fields of military technology, conventional exercises and training.
Tirpitz was naturally a little disappointed with the lack of ambition of the East African government. In his opinion, East Africa was fully capable of becoming a powerful helper for the German navy in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
"East Africa is a two-ocean country, or even a three-ocean country (including the Pacific, and East African colonies are mainly distributed in the Pacific region). You have also defeated the United Kingdom. If you get the full support of our Germany, you can definitely gain a greater say in the Indian Ocean and become a "One of the founders of the new international order." Tirpitz still tried to drag East Africa into trouble, so he tried to make trouble for East Africa as much as possible.
Germany and East Africa are extremely complementary. One of them is in the northern hemisphere, and the other is in the southern hemisphere. There is no conflict of interest, and the culture and race are similar. If East Africa can be tied to the German tank, Germany will The government can laugh out of its dreams.
Not to mention anything else, if the East African Navy expands, the most nervous thing will be the British in the Indian Ocean, who can greatly share the pressure of the German Navy.
Of course, this is Germany's idea. The East African government has three routes to choose from. One is to stand completely on the side of Germany, the other is to remain neutral, and the third is to side with the British.
If you choose one, it means that East Africa is very likely to embark on the path of joining forces with Germany to fight the Allies in the future. This is too risky for Ernst. In the previous life, the Allies and the Allies led by Germany were militarily inferior. In fact, in part, if a country the size of East Africa joins the war, can it change the outcome of the war?
The answer is not necessarily. Although it seems that siding with the Allies in East Africa can increase the Allies' winning rate, East Africa actually does not play a big role in the European War.
This also starts with the geographical location of East Africa. There are three main communication channels between East Africa and Europe, namely the Suez Canal controlled by the British, the British Colony of Gibraltar and the English Channel.
So even if East Africa wants to support Germany, it cannot be done in the short term. Moreover, Britain and France also have a big blood package, the United States, as the logistics support center, which adds to the uncertainty of the war.
As for option three, it is not very realistic at the moment. The relationship between East Africa and the UK is too poor, and the possibility of cooperation between the two countries is very small. Of course, it is not impossible. After all, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. , if the British offer a high price, East Africa will not be able to side with the British.
Finally, there is the neutral route. This route is also attractive to East Africa. In the previous life, the United States followed this route in the early and middle stages of the war. However, this also made the United States unable to change the original world order after the war and could only continue Look at Britain and France dominating the world situation.
All three routes are feasible, but as far as Ernst is concerned, he prefers neutrality, mainly because it has the lowest risk, and the first two may drag East Africa into the abyss of war.
Of course, in the end, the national policy for East Africa must be chosen based on the actual situation. In Ernst's mind, the possibilities of these three routes are three to four to three.
However, currently East Africa will definitely not join the conflict between Germany, Britain, and France. This involves Ernst's judgment that a war will not happen in the next ten years. So Ernst said: "The world structure will be affected by various factors, and we in East Africa are too backward and weak to participate in the game of world power. Of course, in terms of national emotions and interests, we I am definitely more willing for Germany to dominate the future world structure.”
Anyway, there is no problem in complimenting Germany. If it were to face France, Ernst might say something similar. .
Ernst's words finally had a certain effect. Although they did not meet Tirpitz's psychological expectations, there is no doubt that the current close relationship between East Africa and Germany is an ironclad fact. The two countries have great cultural, political and economic differences. More common interests.
As for East Africa not being keen on the struggle for world power, it is understandable. Although East Africa is developing well, there is still a big gap between it and European and American countries. At the current stage, East Africa mainly focuses on developing domestic economy and industry. We need to reshape the world structure as urgently as the United States and Germany do.
The development of the United States and Germany is close to the limit that their local countries can accommodate, so they urgently need more markets and raw material origins. However, their domestic markets and raw material supply are close to their limits. The comprehensive national strength of the two countries has reached a level that can compete with any other country. The standard for national competition on the same stage.
East Africa has obviously not yet reached this stage of development. There are still a large number of undeveloped areas in East Africa, the degree of industrialization is not high, the national economy and population distribution are also uneven, and there is still great potential that needs to be developed.
So East Africa’s current demand for external markets is not as strong as that of Germany and the United States, and East Africa itself is a resource-rich country. At least in the current stage of industrial development, it does not lack any raw materials, so its demand for raw materials is not as strong as that of Germany. So exuberant.
Therefore, the current main energy in East Africa is still focused on the local area. After East Africa completes its own resource development and economic construction, more far-reaching issues will be considered.
Although the East African government's attitude towards cooperation between the two countries does not satisfy Germany's appetite, it is not yet useful, so Tirpitz can only reduce the huge plan he made when he came to comply with the requirements of the East African government. .
Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for Germany to fully support East Africa. In fact, it cannot do so. East Africa is too big, and Germany can at most only serve as the icing on the cake.
In this way, a castrated version of the "East-German Naval Cooperation Plan" was released. Tirpitz stayed in East Africa for another week before returning to Germany to begin drastic reforms.
East Africa, the German naval cooperation program mainly realizes the sharing and development of some technical equipment in the field of technical equipment. At the same time, East Africa provides certain conveniences for Germany and supports future German naval activities in the Pacific and other overseas regions.
Regarding the sharing and development of technical equipment, East Africa is interested in German battleship technology, while Germany, or Tirpitz, is more interested in East African submarine technology. Scientific researchers from the two countries will carry out exchanges and cooperation in related fields.
The main purpose of supporting Germany's activities in the Pacific and other overseas areas is to provide port conveniences to the German Navy. However, as an independent country, East Africa only supports it and cannot allocate its own territory to Germany for use as a military base. , at most, it provides temporary foothold and maintenance services for the German Navy.
East Africa, the German naval cooperation plan can only be regarded as limited cooperation. Under this cooperation plan, the East African navy still adopts a conservative policy, but the communication with the German navy is smoother, which is conducive to the country's navy to learn from each other's strengths and offset weaknesses, and avoid working behind closed doors. .
(End of this chapter)