Chapter 1070 The Conflict between France and Germany
The core of the German government’s discussion on East Africa is still to bring East Africa into its own camp. If it can bind a large country with a population of over 100 million and a land area of over 10 million square kilometers, , the benefits to Germany are self-evident.
William II said with some dissatisfaction: "We have always shown goodwill to East Africa in the past, but the attitude of the East African government is ambiguous. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should think of more ways to make East Africa's attitude biased towards us as much as possible. It is best to Sign an alliance."
Prime Minister Bateman is also troubled by the slickness of the East African government. He said helplessly: "In recent years, we have been trying to infiltrate East Africa. However, the results have been minimal. Unlike countries in Central and Eastern Europe, East Africa has more restrictions on investment even if it accepts our investment.”
“This is not what I am most worried about. The biggest problem in East Africa is theirs. The economic system is inherently exclusive, and it is almost impossible to influence domestic public opinion in East Africa through the economy, and it is impossible to effectively support forces that favor us.”
Economic aid and loans are never free, especially aid and loans from great powers, and unlike the UK, Germany's economic aid is more concerned with political returns and is less concerned about returns than the UK.
In Central and Eastern Europe, due to the relatively backward economy, it is difficult to accumulate funds for industrial development, even in semi-industrialized countries like Austria-Hungary.
By penetrating into these areas, German capital has achieved a certain binding of interests with local forces. In this way, national decision-making will naturally be biased towards Germany as the sponsor, especially for these free market countries.
East Africa is obviously different from these countries and regions. East Africa has never been a free market country, and the state-owned economy is ridiculously strong, so it is almost impossible to kidnap the East African government through the economy.
Even the vast majority of German investments in East Africa can only be achieved through joint ventures. In this case, German capital cannot even take full dominance of these joint ventures, let alone influence the domestic politics of East Africa. .
William II's face was a little gloomy. This is what William II couldn't understand the most. In other words, the East African government obviously didn't know what to do.
Culturally speaking, the root culture of East Africa is the same as that of Germany. From a royal perspective, everyone belongs to the Hohenzollern family. From an economic and geographical perspective, they are also highly complementary, so under William II In the eyes of the world, East Africa should naturally join forces with Germany.
William II: "No matter what, East Africa is a country that cannot be ignored. Even if a country of this size cannot be used by me, it must not be allowed to fall to France and other countries. I heard that France People and East Africa are also very close economically."
Bateman nodded and said: "The East African government may be motivated by the need for checks and balances, but the Rhine royal family does not have much enmity with France. It is not unusual to cooperate in the economic field. Not to mention France, even if East Africa has had bad relations with Britain and Portugal, East Africa still has trade relations with them.”
William II: “East Africa’s location is still too big. Feel comfortable! If we in Germany were the same geographically as East Africa, we wouldn’t be so passive.”
East Africa can engage in balanced diplomacy and achieve a win-win situation. In the final analysis, East Africa has a huge geographical advantage. East Africa, like the United States, is far away from disputes in Eurasia. There are few powerful countries around the region to compete with it, so it has great flexibility and autonomy. powerful.
This is not good news for Germany. Its strong autonomy means that Germany cannot successfully control East Africa, even if the economies of Germany and East Africa are deeply bound.
In the economic and trade between the two countries, there is no question of who is dominant. Germany is an important market in East Africa, and in turn East Africa is also an important market for Germany, and East Africa is also the main supplier of raw materials to Germany. East Africa has little need for Germany in this regard.
So Germany’s economy is very strong, but it cannot form a huge advantage over East Africa. From the perspective of economic size, East Africa is actually similar to Germany. However, East Africa also has a large population, so its per capita data is not as good as Germany’s.
Bateman: "In short, for East Africa, we can only use win-win methods, but we must also put a certain amount of pressure on East Africa, at least to make them realize that without the help of Germany, East Africa wants to complete it alone Industrial construction is more difficult, so East Africa needs more from us. ”
……Paris.
Compared to the German government, the French government is more concerned about the future direction of diplomacy in East Africa.
The then French President Fallier said: "We must not let Germany and a populous country like East Africa join forces, otherwise it will be a disaster for the world and France."
"Just imagine, if East Africa joins the German camp, then our rear and the colonies in Asia and Africa will be threatened by the East Africans."
As the most powerful country in Africa, East Africa is a mountain that weighs heavily on any African country or colony. This is the political influence extended by East Africa's strong strength in Africa.
Even though most of France's colonies are not bordering East Africa, France does not dare to underestimate the country of East Africa. France's Gabon colonies, Djibouti and Madagascar colonies face the threat of East Africa.
As for the colonies in West Africa and North Africa, they cannot effectively cut off the influence of East Africa. After all, the naval strength of East Africa is not weak, and East Africa’s development of the west coast has become a reality at a speed visible to the naked eye over the years. In front of people all over the world.
The trade between East Africa and France is mainly transited through the west coast of East Africa, so France is no stranger to the development of the west coast of East Africa.
If the East African Navy moves north along the west coast of Africa, it can threaten almost all West African countries and colonies. If it goes to the extreme, the East African Navy can also follow the Atlantic Ocean and reach the coast of France.
Just from the map, you can see the significant impact of East Africa on the world structure, and now the exposure of East Africa's population data has further strengthened Falier's idea.
“A big country with a population of 100 million, even if we add our own mainland and overseas colonies, we don’t have that many. At the same time, the military strength of East Africa cannot be ignored. Its navy has always been one of the important forces of the world’s navy, with four of the largest ships. The advanced dreadnought fleet, if East Africa and Germany are allowed to reach partial cooperation, attacking at any point in East Africa may cause us huge troubles.”
As of this year, France has only begun to build its first ship. Dreadnoughts, while East Africa has built four dreadnoughts and is equipped with a quasi-dreadnought. From this perspective alone, the East African Navy has surpassed the French Navy.
So Britain, the United States, and Germany can look down upon the East African Navy, but France cannot. In recent years, France has actually fallen behind in naval construction.
“We must try our best to get East Africa on our side just like we did with Britain and Russia, and at least ensure neutrality. The relationship between East Africa and Germany is far from comparable to that of Britain and Russia. They are inherently We belong to the same culture and language, so we need to pay more attention to East Africa.”
"Especially monitoring the small actions of the Germans. Nowadays, most of our energy is concentrated in the eastern interior. Any unstable factors that may affect our future decisive battle with Germany must be resolved first."
法President Lière's major contribution to France was the significant improvement in relations between Britain, France and France and Russia during his term. In his previous life, he directly created the Allied Powers and completed the final victory in the war against Germany.
So it can be seen from Falier's methods that he attaches great importance to cooperation in the diplomatic field, thereby uniting all forces that can limit Germany's development.
(End of this chapter)