Chapter 1692 Population

In late 1938, a massive military exercise was launched in Eastern Europe. Along the 1,200-kilometer left side of the Soviet border, from the Black Sea coast to the Baltic Sea, the Axis powers, led by Germany, were all mobilized.

The four major powers, including Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire, as well as other vassal states of Germany in Eastern Europe, all mobilized troops to participate in this joint military exercise.

Germany alone mobilizes more than a million troops.

The actions of the Axis powers instantly caused panic in the Soviet Union. In order to prevent Germany from launching a surprise attack on the Soviet Union under the guise of exercises, the Soviet border troops also set up a strong defense along the border.

With millions of people on both sides, the atmosphere of war and intrigue instantly enveloped the whole of Europe.

At the same time, Germany began inviting political leaders from various European countries to Warsaw, the capital of Poland, to witness the might of the German and Axis forces.

...

While war clouds loomed over Europe, the statistical work in East Africa had been underway for some time. This nationwide statistic involved not only the mainland but also the colonies in East Africa.

The scope of the statistics is also quite complex, including various fields such as population, industry, and agriculture.

The census data was particularly rigorous and complex, with a focus on screening criminals, unemployed individuals, and reservists. Meanwhile, the East African government also conducted population statistics for its colonies according to local standards.

It is clear that this statistical work in East Africa is all about preparing for one core issue: "preparing for war".

East Africa, Rhine City.

Crown Prince Frederick is now holding the population statistics for East Africa, and his feelings are understandably complicated.

"Father, according to the current summary and screening of various aspects of the Empire, the current population of the Empire is more than 230 million, and the population of the colonies is more than 10 million."

"The empire's population growth has slowed somewhat, but it remains at a high level, with the colonies showing particularly strong growth."

In reality, the colonial population in East Africa was even greater than what Crown Prince Frederick claimed. The colonial figures provided by Crown Prince Frederick refer to those areas that were legally part of the East African colonies.

Clearly, there were many East African colonies that were not legally recognized, such as the Kingdom of South Germany and the Empire of Abyssinia.

Ernst is not surprised that East Africa's population is still growing rapidly.

"Although we do not have policies to encourage population growth, the Empire's focus on people's livelihood, the continuation of traditional social thinking, and immigration are all driving forces that allow the Empire's population to continue to maintain a high growth rate."

East Africa is inherently a "conservative" country, especially in the realm of thought, where it is far less open and progressive than the United States. This has resulted in East Africans' current views on childbirth being relatively lagging behind the development of East Africa.

Moreover, East Africa's industrialization level still had a lot of room for improvement; in 1938, the urbanization rate in East Africa was only 60%.

Based on East Africa's current population, meaning that the rural population still numbers around 100 million, even if the urban population in East Africa stops growing naturally, the rural population can continue to drive the population of East Africa forward.

Of course, rural areas in East Africa are still very different from rural areas around the world. With economic development and investment in infrastructure, rural areas in East Africa are no longer the same as those in underdeveloped countries.

Especially given the highly developed transportation infrastructure in East Africa, the boundaries between some rural areas and towns have become quite blurred.

Some rural residents may have their household registration in the countryside, but they work and study in the city, and naturally they will be exposed to urban ideas.

Ernst said, "So our task remains quite challenging, especially the economic pressure from population growth. However, this is not all bad for us. Population growth represents new demands, which in turn further drives the rapid growth of the Empire's economy."

"Moreover, the empire's population growth rate has slowed down with the development of the times. Once the empire's urbanization rate exceeds 70%, the empire's concept of childbearing will inevitably change drastically. It may even change significantly after it exceeds 60%."

Crown Prince Frederick said, "I hope so! Rapid population growth is also a pressure on the Empire, which is reflected in our economy, where the Empire's industrial output per capita is not very impressive."

Crown Prince Frederick did not have the same experience as Ernst in his previous life. In the present world, apart from France, the population growth rate of most major powers is not weak.

Ernst said, "Sooner or later, maybe in another thirty or forty years, we should be able to understand the situation of population growth in France."

"If we don't make immigration, the empire's population may stagnate or even turn negative. This could lead to a series of new problems, so expanding the population base now is not entirely a bad thing for the empire."

A decrease in population will lead to a decline in social vitality and trigger other social problems. Of course, Ernst's biggest concern is that East Africa will face the problem of "immigrants" from the former European and American countries taking over its territory in the future.

"Of course, for us right now, rapid population growth also represents our confidence in facing war in the future."

With World War II about to break out, East Africa would certainly suffer considerable losses even if it ended up in the war.

In this situation, a larger population means a larger pool of soldiers, which also means a significant increase in the ability to withstand war.

Crown Prince Frederick also strongly agreed with this point: "Given the current size of the empire's population, which is not even inferior to the entire Axis powers, we would not have much to fear if we went to war with them directly."

Overall, the Axis powers certainly had a larger population than East Africa, but they were not the same country after all, so if we were to compare population, we could only say that each had its own advantages and disadvantages.

Ernst said, "The population of the Axis powers, especially with the addition of Japan, has exceeded 300 million, but they are not completely united internally, divided into different countries and ethnic groups, with huge cultural differences."

The combined population of Germany, Italy, and Japan exceeds 200 million. If you include Spain, the Ottoman Empire, and other countries, the total population easily surpasses 300 million.

However, as Ernst pointed out, this military and political group of 300 million people was itself very complex. Germany represented Europe, the Ottoman Empire represented Arab religion, and Japan was clearly part of the East Asian cultural sphere.

East Africa's population, including those overseas, exceeds 240 million, yet these 240 million people share a high degree of cultural and national identity.

Therefore, the fighting power that East Africa could unleash was more advantageous than that of the Axis powers, and this was even more true when other factors were taken into account.

Ernst continued, "Right now, Germany is conducting military exercises in Eastern Europe, and relations with the Soviet Union are extremely tense, so war between Germany and the Soviet Union is inevitable."

"If the Axis powers want to wear down the Soviet Union, the Axis powers will probably be exhausted by then, and our chances of winning will be even greater."

East Africa was planning for the future with the intention of reaping the benefits, and therefore would not become an enemy of the Axis powers at the beginning of the war.

By the time the Axis powers and East Africa became adversaries, their strength had already been significantly diminished by the Soviet Union, France, and the Far Eastern Empire.

However, Ernst, out of caution, said, "We must also accelerate the research progress of the Reich's nuclear weapons, and at the same time keep a close eye on the research of other countries in this area, especially Germany. Once they make arrangements in related fields, we cannot sit idly by."

Nuclear weapons are undoubtedly strategic weapons capable of directly altering the world order, and both the United States and Germany conducted research on them during World War II.

Therefore, while accelerating the progress of nuclear weapons research in East Africa, Ernst also needs to keep an eye on whether other countries are making efforts in this area, especially Germany.

Crown Prince Frederick said, "According to our intelligence, no related facilities have been found in Germany. At the same time, the European academic community is also much slower than us in its research on radioactive materials."

Although Germany is more powerful than in its previous era, it is still not on the right track in nuclear weapons research.

While East Africa's progress in nuclear weapons research has been relatively "steady," it is certainly still in first place in the world. East Africa has taken many steps ahead of other countries and was the first to mobilize national resources for research.

Ernst was quite convinced by what Crown Prince Friedrich said, since East Africa had access to most of Germany's intelligence.

This was thanks to the intelligence network that East Africa had established in Germany, especially since many high-ranking German officials had close ties with East Africa, including German nobles and former Austro-Hungarian officials, which allowed East Africa to directly obtain a lot of German secrets.

The German nobility naturally had close ties with East Africa, since the Rhine royal family itself originated from Germany, and the two sides had always had exchanges.

After Adolf came to power, the German nobility further strengthened their ties with East Africa. The reason was simple: Adolf had previously suppressed them. After all, even Wilhelm II had been sidelined, and the situation of other German monarchs and nobles was not much better.

Under this trend, the original German aristocracy was bound to be more worried about their future, and everyone knew that Germany, under Adolf's leadership, was bound to go to war, so they needed to find a way out.

In order to deal with political and war crises, they were not like Adolf, who was completely confident in the war, after all, war itself is full of uncertainty.

Clearly, there was no place more suitable for their development than East Africa, so many German nobles had already acquired properties there in advance.

At least they can be certain of one thing: Europe will certainly be turbulent in the future, while East Africa is a place where they can be welcomed, develop, invest, and live in peace and stability.

Secondly, there were former Austro-Hungarian bureaucrats who also had close ties with East Africa. After all, East Africa and Austro-Hungary had a good relationship before Germany annexed the country.

In the short term, their relationship with East Africa will not deteriorate directly just because they become German. Moreover, during the process of Germany's annexation of Austria-Hungary, there were already many people who were dissatisfied with Germany.

Crown Prince Friedrich said, "Through the intelligence services and high-ranking German officials who are on good terms with us, we can easily obtain a lot of German secrets."

"In addition, although Germany is much larger in area than before, it is still not a large country in terms of territory compared to us. Therefore, it is difficult for Germany to hide its nuclear test research from our intelligence agencies."

If Germany were to conduct a large-scale nuclear test, given its current land area, it would be very difficult to conceal it.

In contrast, East Africa and the United States have nuclear weapons research sites located deep in the desert, inaccessible to outsiders, a situation Germany lacks.

Moreover, Germany has a large population, which, given its land area of ​​just over one million square kilometers, results in an extremely high population density, making it even easier for Germany to find a suitable location for nuclear testing.

Not to mention the plains of Germany, the population in the mountainous areas of Germany is not small.

Ernst said, "We cannot relax our intelligence work on Germany, otherwise all our previous calculations will be rendered useless once Germany acquires nuclear weapons."

"In fact, if Germany does have relevant research, we must use some extreme measures to nip the relevant German personnel and research in the bud."

Crown Prince Friedrich nodded and said, "We certainly won't take this lightly. After all, if Germany possesses nuclear weapons, its position as the dominant power in Europe will be a foregone conclusion."

Ernst pointed out, "In fact, whether it was Germany or the Soviet Union, if they had mastered such a powerful weapon at this stage, it would have directly determined the situation in Europe, which is not what we want to see."

Whichever country, Germany or the Soviet Union, acquires nuclear weapons first, there would be no need for World War II. Of course, the Soviet Union doesn't need to worry about East Africa for the time being, as the Soviet leadership probably didn't even know what nuclear weapons were.

Germany, as Europe's technology hub, is most likely to make a breakthrough in this area, making it a primary focus for East Africa.

Ernst said, "I still hope that Germany can start the war as soon as possible! That way we won't have to worry about any unforeseen changes."

As long as war breaks out in Europe, the subsequent development of the situation in Europe will not be beyond the control of East Africa. Otherwise, if Germany continues to maintain peace, and Germany does indeed conduct nuclear weapons research, East Africa will have no excuse or opportunity to intervene.

Moreover, the absence of a stable research environment in the event of war would directly hinder Germany's scientific research progress.

Ernst said, "As long as other countries do not have nuclear weapons, World War II can proceed in the direction we envisioned and designed. Even if it goes off track, we can guide it back."

"Therefore, the Reich cannot afford to be complacent about Germany in this regard. In fact, when victory is assured, it can take some drastic measures against the German academic community."

Crown Prince Frederick asked, "Father, what do you mean?"

Ernst made a throat-slitting gesture and said, "That's it. Of course, it's best to do it very discreetly, without involving us. It would be best to shift the blame to the Soviet Union or other countries."

Assassinating German scientists directly is undoubtedly a feasible option, especially given that Germany has not yet realized the role of nuclear weapons.

Of course, Ernst was also worried about alerting the enemy, which is why he repeatedly emphasized that such measures should only be implemented when there was absolute certainty.

(End of this chapter)