Chapter 1213 Achievements of the Third Five-Year Plan
When East African black slaves poured into West Africa and embraced freedom and the civilized world, the East African government did not actually pay much attention to this small matter.
After all, a large part of the 800,000 black people are old, weak, sick and disabled. This has obviously become a burden rather than a wealth, so sending these black people away is in line with the wishes of the East African government.
As for the immoral act of driving more than 800,000 black people to the British and French colonies in East Africa, the East African government did not care at all. It can be said that at this time, both the Upper Volta and the Gold Coast were in a state of being freed by France and the United Kingdom. They simply couldn't care about the life and death of the West African colonies.
Of course, the influx of 800,000 black people will not pose a threat to the colonial rule of the two countries. The real headaches are the black protectorates and vassal forces in their colonies.
It is conceivable that the sudden increase of 800,000 black people is bound to cause a bloody storm in the Upper Volta and the Gold Coast.
After all, during more than 20 years of exploitation and oppression in East Africa, these black slaves have long forgotten the skills of survival in the wild, and the dry food distributed to them in East Africa can only last for two or three days at most. , three days later, black people faced with food shortages had only two options to choose from, either to seek refuge with local black people or colonial forces, or to rob them directly.
The British and French colonial governments could only choose to stare blankly. The food rations for more than 800,000 black people were not something they could solve. Even physical eradication would not be possible.
Take France’s Upper Volta Colony as an example. All the French people together only number a few hundred. Even with thermal weapons, facing the sudden appearance of hundreds of thousands of black people, they can only do be thrown off balance.
So the East African government can fully imagine that the Gold Coast and Upper Volta will become a mess in the future.
Compared with the minor issue of releasing more than 800,000 black people, what the East African government is really concerned about is the adjustment and implementation of the country's Fourth Five-Year Plan and the New Economic Policy.
In 1915, the East African Third Five-Year Plan officially ended. In the past year, the East African economy has made brilliant achievements.
It was more optimistic than East Africa's estimates. At the end of 1915, East Africa officially cleared its debts to the Allies.
Due to the intensification of the British and French blockade, the Allied camp once again placed a huge order for East Africa at the end of 1915. The completion of this order directly transformed East Africa from a debtor country to Germany and Austria. creditor countries.
In the last century, Germany and Austria have been the first and second creditor countries in East Africa for many years. They were not surpassed by France until the beginning of this century.
Before the outbreak of World War I. The four major creditor countries in East Africa, in order of total debt size, are France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Germany and Austria-Hungary ranked third and fourth respectively. Now East Africa has finally achieved the reversal of its debts to Germany and Austria-Hungary for the first time, and it is still less than 100 meters away from completely paying off the debts of Britain and France. It will take a while.
Last year, East Africa exported nearly 200,000 tons of finished steel products to Germany and Austria-Hungary in December alone, and its overall steel exports to the Allies reached 470,000 tons.
This is a quite incredible number. You must know that the Allies basically have no shortage of coal and iron ore. After all, among the four Allied countries, Germany is completely self-sufficient in coal and steel. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire The production capacity is not as good as that of Germany, but it is enough to deal with the Eastern Front battlefield. Although Bulgaria is relatively small, coal and iron ore are also distributed, not to mention the Ottoman Empire.
The main reason why East Africa was able to export so much steel to the Allies was still a matter of time.
Although the Allies did not lack resources and had barely enough workers, the production of steel took time, especially because the German and Austro-Hungarian military industries had considerable demand for special steel.
Purchasing finished steel products from East Africa not only saves time, but also allocates more industrial workers to other production industries, or simply supports the frontline battlefield.
In the early days of the war, Germany and Austria-Hungary tended to purchase raw materials from East Africa. However, as the war transitioned into a stalemate, the two countries began to learn from Russia and purchase finished and semi-finished products directly from East Africa. The Basra Railway was also opened at the end of last year, which will further ensure smooth trade channels between East Africa and the Allied Powers.
In 1915, East Africa produced 36 million tons of steel and exported nearly four million tons, of which more than two million tons were exported to European countries, especially France and Italy account for the bulk, while the rest are sold to countries and regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The export of other industrial products, such as automobiles, electrical equipment, rubber, weapons, medical equipment, etc., has reached an all-time high, and the East African economy is experiencing unprecedented prosperity.
In terms of transportation construction, at the end of 1915, the total mileage of East African railways officially exceeded 260,000 kilometers, further narrowing the gap with Europe and the United States. By the time the Fourth Five-Year Plan is completed, the total mileage of East African railways will inevitably exceed 300,000 kilometers. kilometer.
Great achievements have also been made in highway construction in East Africa, especially in terms of asphalt roads. After the large-scale development of asphalt resources in Venezuela and other regions, East African cities and some main roads were quickly transformed.
The East African National Canal Plan is also 80% complete, at the cost of millions of black people burying their bones in East Africa. It can be said that every kilometer of the canal is built with the flesh and blood of black slaves.
In terms of maritime transportation, during the Third Five-Year Plan period, nearly 20 modern container ports were built or renovated in East Africa, and the total tonnage of East African merchant ships also climbed to more than 6.1 million tons.
In the civil aviation industry, the Third Five-Year Plan opened three civil air routes and built five large civil aviation airports in East Africa. The civil aviation industry in East Africa has officially started. There is no doubt that the civil aviation industry will occupy an important position in East Africa's future transportation construction.
Although East Africa has made brilliant achievements in railway and highway construction in recent years, some areas in East Africa are destined to be difficult to reach by land transportation.
For example, the southwest region of East Africa, that is, Namibia and Botswana in the previous life, has some vast desert and mountain terrain, very sparse railways and roads, and a very large area.
Airplanes are obviously a form of transportation that is very suitable for the southwest region, which is also of great significance to the defense of East Africa.
The land border in southern East Africa reaches directly along the Orange River, and the southwesternmost city in East Africa, Orange Mond, is almost isolated from the world. Its material supply and exchanges almost completely rely on sea transportation.
Although there are plans to build an Orange River Highway in East Africa to connect it with Upington in the east, it is only on the drawing board.
The hundreds of kilometers long area from Upington to Orangemond is almost no man's land. There are only a few border posts set up in East Africa. Land transportation relies entirely on two legs. Think about it. It is not easy to build a road here, and most importantly, it is difficult to recover the cost. Therefore, construction of this road has not started since the project was initiated in the last century.
Airplanes are different. With airplanes, it will become relatively convenient to travel from Orangemond to the interior of East Africa in the future, instead of relying entirely on sea transportation. Not to mention that the population of Orangemond itself is also small. Not much. If an airport is built, it can greatly meet the travel needs of local residents.
During the Third Five-Year Plan, transportation construction in East Africa still achieved very satisfactory results. These transportation constructions also made great contributions to the economic growth of East Africa.
In addition to outstanding performance in economy and transportation, East Africa's defense industry has also made great progress. In 1915, the size of the East African armed forces exceeded 600,000 for the first time, reaching 630,000.
This was mainly due to East Africa's sudden acquisition of a large number of colonies and the rapid expansion of its navy. Throughout 1915, East Africa deployed a large number of troops in the colonies, including East Kalimantan, Mindanao, Gabon, Cameroon, Togoland and many other colonies. The local resistance forces carried out large-scale suppression and suppression, and as many as hundreds of thousands of troops were stationed in the East African colonies.
Of course there is no need to say more about the navy. The number of warships has increased, and the number of East African naval personnel has also expanded in a short period of time to ensure the trade security of East Africa.
(End of this chapter)