Chapter 596: Sense of Oppression

Ernst is not exaggerating; what he said is the truth. Just like the annual tribute that the Song Dynasty paid to the Khitan, if it was paid to a country the size of North Korea, it would be a huge income.

The United States' Marshall Plan and the Soviet Union's Warsaw Pact both had the same effect, except that the two countries were so powerful at the time that they were able to help a number of countries become rich.

The Far Eastern Empire in the 21st century also has this trick to win over other countries, especially Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Africa. From this point of view, the behavior of East Africa today is just a reverse version of the Far Eastern Empire, but both are anchored in Southeast Asia as a springboard.

It’s just that East Africa’s strength is limited now, and the only ones who have really become rich by relying on East Africa’s charity are the Zanzibar merchants. However, Zanzibar has been localized by East Africa, so the performance is not obvious. If Zanzibar is still an independent country, it would be no different from Japan and South Korea.

This is related to the issue of trade. If the United States does not open global market channels to Japan, Japan's proud automobile industry will not be able to export to Europe and the United States, and it will not even be able to get enough processed parts, after all, Japan lacks local resources.

Therefore, even when Japan was the world's second largest economy, it had to kowtow to the United States. The same is true for Zanzibar. Without its supply channels in East Africa, its decline would be instantaneous.

If the Suez Canal had not been opened before 1869, Zanzibar, as a must-pass place for the Western Indian Ocean trade, could still struggle. However, after the opening of the Suez Canal, Zanzibar's status plummeted.

Of course, after the opening of the Suez Canal, the economy of the East African coast has become more active, and this is all thanks to East Africa.

Because of East Africa's development of Africa, East Africa has become an emerging supplier and market of raw materials and has participated in world trade, which has created a hedge between sub-Saharan African shipping and the Suez Canal.

Moreover, the opening of the Suez Canal has further enhanced economic exchanges between East Africa and Eastern Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, which can be regarded as a mutual achievement.

If it were Africa in the previous life, let alone participating in world trade, it would not even be able to drink the leftover slop, and at most it could lick the bowl wall a few times.

In the past, except for South Africa and North Africa, there was a little industry in Africa, and agriculture was not even developed in the middle areas. Agricultural countries could save some money no matter how hard they worked, but Africa could only rely on ivory, leather or some specialties for agricultural exports.

This kind of export is actually the hunting and gathering of primitive society, and the by-products produced are used to exchange for money with other civilizations in the world.

Although East Africa cannot be considered developed, it has complete industrial and agricultural sectors, is large in size and scale, and carries out intensive production according to market demand. With the protection of the military, it can participate in world trade.

In comparison, East Africa was not comparable to the Orange Free State or even the entire Cape Colony. The only things the Cape Colony could offer were diamonds and average-scale agriculture and animal husbandry.

As a colony of the British Empire, there was nothing to brag about in the agriculture and animal husbandry of the Cape Colony, because Britain had too many colonies. If Transvaal were still there, it would naturally be different and it would have taken off relying solely on gold. But now Transvaal is an East African territory and East Africa is not developed, resulting in large areas of land being abandoned and its economic value further declining.

Without the backing of gold and mineral resources, the Transvaal Restoration Organization would have little value. It could only rely on its anti-East African passion to please the British, because the people of Transvaal had nothing but hatred.

Of course, the British did not see it that way. What was the most valuable thing left by the Transvaal Republic? Without knowing the existence of gold, it was naturally the population of the Transvaal. In Africa, the population was definitely a valuable resource, just like the French often went inland to capture or buy black people from tribes in order to develop colonies.

East Africa is a country where the well-fed do not know the hunger of the hungry. Relying on the two largest population overflow areas in the world, they have plenty to eat and can barely be three-quarters full. But in contrast, other African colonies are starving.

Of course, this is related to the concept of East African immigration. At this time, apart from East Africa and Argentina, black slaves were definitely the most popular immigrant group. Compared with the slave trade, the number of immigrants from India and the Far East Empire, the world's most populous countries, was far from enough.

In fact, the British colonies were also quite xenophobic. There were very few blacks in areas with slightly stronger control, such as Australia and Canada. Of course, this was also related to the late development of the two places, which did not catch up with the era of the prosperous slave trade. The development of Canada and Australia was almost simultaneous with that of East Africa. When East Africa was established, the slave trade was almost at a standstill, but East Africa gave the slave trade a new lease of life.

Although the Cape Colony was also in Africa, there were not many black people, otherwise there would not have been nearly a million Boers and other white people.

Britain has always had a tradition of sheltering separatist and independent forces as well as rebel parties in various countries. Therefore, as an enemy in East Africa, Britain naturally pays more attention to the Transvaal people.

Although some Transvaal people lived in the Orange Free State and joined their relatives and friends and became Orange people, more of them did not integrate into the Orange Free State, and this part of the population also amounted to more than 100,000.

A nation with a population of more than 100,000 and hostile to East Africa is the best weapon for Britain to deal with East Africa. Although Mozambique has a larger population, the last East-Portuguese War made Britain understand one thing, that is, the black vassal army is not worth using, and the white people are more reliable.

So the Governor-General in Bloemfontein continued to deceive: "After the Transvaal Republic regains its lost territory, it should naturally restore all its rights as an independent country, and Britain will guarantee the security of the Transvaal Republic after its restoration."

The key point is that after the restoration, it is a blank check. Of course, the promise made by the Governor of Bloemfontein is also very attractive. One is to guarantee the interests of the ruling class of the former Transvaal Republic, and the other is to guarantee the security of the Transvaal Republic after the "restoration".

Then Britain certainly would not provide security services for free. After the restoration of the Transvaal Republic, it would definitely move closer to Britain in all aspects of economy, politics and military. In this way, the new Transvaal government would become a comprador class and serve Britain.

In addition, the successful restoration of the Transvaal Republic would inevitably result in East Africa losing a large area of ​​territory in the south, which would weaken East Africa's strength. Britain could then re-establish a strategic buffer zone between East Africa and Cape Town in which it would have the initiative, thus ensuring the security of the Cape Town colony.

Independent countries like East Africa are very eye-catching for Britain. In Britain's global strategic landscape, apart from Europe, the first country to break away from Britain is the United States, and the Far East Empire is a tough nut to crack.

In other regions, Britain has always been in an advantageous position, but the emergence of East Africa has made the areas in Africa that Britain originally favored become a mirage.

There are French forces in West Africa and North Africa. South Africa, which Britain originally planned to acquire, is now mostly in the hands of East Africa. Britain can tolerate an East African that dominates the East African plateau.

But East Africa has stretched its hands too far, and Britain no longer has the arrogance it had in the past. Their minimum requirement is that East African forces retreat back to the north of Lake Malawi.

This is the same reason why some people in the past wanted to split the United States or Russia into several countries. The direct presentation of the land area can bring pressure to people.

Just like Tsarist Russia in the 19th century, with more than 20 million square kilometers of land, even Britain, as the world hegemon, could feel a sense of oppression.

(End of this chapter)