Chapter 1029 Defense Industry
This structural change is the inevitable result of East Africa's development in line with its own national conditions. In the past, East Africa planted a large amount of wheat, which was actually affected by the source of immigrants.
The early immigrant population of East Africa came from Europe or the northern part of the Far Eastern Empire (mainly the Huanghuai Plain). The food ration traditions of these two places greatly influenced the development of the early planting industry in East Africa.
But as a tropical country, East Africa has the same conditions for growing wheat as India, but in the final analysis it is more suitable for rice cultivation, but rice cultivation is very dependent on water.
The early territories in East Africa were mainly in Tanzania and Kenya in the previous life. Because many places were relatively dry or had poor water conservancy facilities, it was naturally more reasonable to plant drought-tolerant crops such as wheat and millet.
Now East Africa's water conservancy construction has been relatively complete, and as Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, or areas with relatively abundant water in the Great Lakes region are merged into East Africa's territory, it is natural for the scale of rice planting to expand.
Similarly, the planting area of high-yielding crops such as corn and potatoes is also expanding in East Africa. The overall latitude and climate of East Africa are actually similar to those of South America, so the two main South American food crops are also widely planted in East Africa.
Potatoes, although Siberian potatoes are more famous, the home of potatoes in the world is still South America. Peru and Chile are both famous potato kingdoms. There are thousands of potato varieties alone. East Africa Naturally, some potato varieties were also introduced, and it must be said that Native Americans made important contributions to modern agriculture.
In contrast, among the African indigenous people, apart from the Egyptians, only the Abyssinians have cultivated teff suitable for large-scale cultivation.
This also shows from the side that the African latitude is not an excuse for African agricultural crop cultivation to necessarily lag behind other continents. It is just that Africa, as a chosen land, has made the most rudimentary forms of hunting and gathering agriculture too deeply rooted. As a result, African indigenous people have no motivation to develop plantation industry.
This also resulted in a large number of early food crop planting industries in East Africa being introduced from other regions, with almost no native food planting varieties available.
Generally speaking, the changes in the grain production structure in East Africa are, on the one hand, changes in the domestic agricultural production situation, and on the other hand, positive feedback on international food demand. The current agricultural development in East Africa has developed from eating enough to eating well. .
Under this general situation, it becomes very reasonable for East Africa to introduce high-quality wheat or livestock products from Eastern Europe and South America.
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In addition to light and heavy industry and agriculture, the development of East Africa’s defense industry also achieved outstanding results during the First Five-Year Plan.
During the First Five-Year Plan, the East African aviation industry officially started. From 1901 to 1904, the East African government invested in the construction of three aircraft manufacturing plants. This was one of the biggest highlights of the national defense industry. The current aircraft manufacturing industry clearly fully meets military needs. Lord.
As for the civil aviation industry, even in the East African spending line, it is estimated that no one dares to fly, at least not Ernst himself. We have to wait until the technology matures, and the current passenger capacity of the aircraft is not up to standard.
In addition to East Africa, other countries in the world also have aviation industry development. The early aviation industry development was mainly represented by France. As early as 1784, the French Robert brothers built the first airship in human history. In 1851, The Frenchman Giffard solved the power problem of airships and became the inventor of powered airships. In 1884, the electric motor airship "France" completed the first landing back to the take-off site, and the hot air balloon before the airship was also the first Frenchman to do so. developed.
Of course, it was Count Zeppelin of Germany who brought airships to the pinnacle of the aviation industry in his previous life. Zeppelin can be said to be the only practical airship used on a large scale in the civil aviation industry before the advent of airplanes. In other words It is not an exaggeration to say that the emergence of the Zeppelin opened up the emerging industry of civil aviation.
At present, the development direction of aircraft in the world's mainstream industrial countries is still dominated by airships, while East Africa is the first to turn to aircraft. This is because they have chosen different technology trees, and the gap between the two will be reflected in a few years. At present, the main customers of aircraft in East Africa are other government departments besides the military. Currently, the Meteorological Bureau or the Ministry of Agriculture are very interested in the aircraft, but they have only purchased two to test the waters. The bulk depends on the military, so now aviation The industry is entirely under the control of the defense industry sector.
The second highlight of the defense industry is the development of automobiles and armored vehicles. East Africa's automobile manufacturing industry has developed to a relatively large scale, ranking first in the world, and leading other countries by a cliff.
As for the progress of research and development of armored vehicles, it is worth mentioning that the current development of armored forces in East Africa is still relatively conservative. Although the products are relatively mature, they are somewhat expensive, so they are only equipped on a small scale in the army. This also makes the East African cavalry still the mainstream of mobile troops.
However, as the army infantry is equipped with vehicles on a large scale, the disadvantage of the cavalry has become more and more obvious. There are currently only three armored forces in East Africa, and they will definitely replace the cavalry units completely in the future.
In addition to these black technologies mastered by the East African Army, East Africa is also getting better in military industrial production such as rifles and artillery. This is mainly because the widespread use of alloys has greatly improved the upper limit of the quality of East African military industry. Originally, East Africa was in The gap between the Army's basic military industry and Europe and the United States is not big. With breakthroughs in East Africa's military-industrial scientific research field and abundant talent advantages, the East African Army can now be said to be the most advanced in the world.
The only negative factor limiting the development of the East African Army is "peace". Without the promotion of war, the military changes in East Africa will naturally not be too radical. This is also the main reason why the East African cavalry units can be retained.
Compared with the army, the development of the navy seems to be less leisurely. The navies of all countries around the world are developing rapidly, and shipbuilding technology is also changing with each passing day. This makes East Africa not participate in the naval arms race, but the naval technology competition has always been No interruptions.
Furthermore, the East African shipbuilding industry has developed relatively late, which also makes the East African shipbuilding industry have a lot of lessons to make up for. The same is true for the military shipbuilding industry.
The military shipbuilding industry in East Africa has developed relatively independently, but it has only been in recent years that it has truly bridged the gap with the major powers. It has also enjoyed the dividends of the explosion of science and technology in East Africa.
The Navy is already at the world's top level in the manufacturing of its two main military vessels, submarines and battleships. However, the research and development of East African battleships is now affected by the Russo-Japanese War and is temporarily in a stagnant stage. It requires the navies of Japan and Russia. Provide more data to infer the direction of future naval technology development.
However, this time will not be too long. According to the estimates of the naval department, the decisive battle between the Japanese and Russian navies should be around May to June this year, which is the approximate time when the Russian navy enters the East Asian waters.
The development direction of battleships has been tested by the navies of Japan and Russia. There is no clear reference object for submarine construction. Benefiting from the first-mover advantage, East Africa’s domestically produced submarines are currently the most advanced in the world. Among other countries, France and Germany are most interested in the submarine role.
In Germany, the top brass of the navy wanted to find another way to assist the battleships in fighting the British navy. It was easy to achieve results with the strong strength of Germany in the field of science and technology, while France felt a little inadequate in the naval competition.
The cost of building battleships is high, and France's opponents, the United Kingdom and Germany, have advantages over France. As for other countries, they do not pay much attention to submarine research and development, or they are unable to do so.
After all, military research and development has technical and financial thresholds, and basically only the powerful countries in the world can afford it.
(End of this chapter)