Chapter 729: Formal Declaration of War

After the shelling, the old port of Mogadishu was in ruins, and the merchant ships operating there suffered considerable losses.

Alex, who escaped back to the port, luckily managed to survive, but his command ship and another gunboat were seriously damaged to varying degrees and would probably have to return to the factory for overhaul.

At the same time, of the "Andres" that was sunk in the open sea, only more than 20 survivors watched the lifeboat escape back to Mogadishu, and more than 100 others were missing.

…

Just four minutes after the Somalia naval battle, the East African Navy and the central government received the news. Although the result of the Somalia naval battle was reasonable, it still caused an uproar in East Africa.

Especially the navy department, Archduke Ferdinand was furious, and then Archduke Ferdinand was in no mood to explore the losses of the Mogadishu Navy. Now this British fleet was obviously heading for East Africa, and if nothing unexpected happened, it was very likely to reach the eastern coast of East Africa under the cover of night.

This means that the first battle of this war will be started by the navy, and then the East African Navy will begin to face a tough battle.

…

First town city.

"The British have launched an undeclared war. We are still counting the losses in Mogadishu, but the navy in Mogadishu has been declared scrapped. We will face a more severe situation next. The Ministry of Defense and the General Staff immediately began to deploy for a full-scale war. The entire East African country has entered a state of war. The embassy has directly submitted a declaration of war. We must win this war."

As the military order was issued, the East African army began to officially take over the railway and road transportation hubs, and the East African arsenal began to enter a wartime state to expand production capacity.

Before any major action took place in East Africa, Earl Roberts formally issued a combat order at the Allied Command in Maputo.

Britain, Portugal and the Boer Republic declared war on East Africa at the same time, and the military forces of various countries began to gather in South Africa.

At the same time, the world's attention was attracted by this "sudden" war in South Africa.

Originally, South Africa did not receive much attention in the international arena, but once the British took action, the world's attention was focused on the land of Africa.

Britain is the world's most powerful country, and its every move will be watched. Moreover, Portugal will obviously join Britain's war against East Africa this time, so the South African War is bound to attract worldwide attention. As for the Boers, because they are "too weak" in strength, they are not worthy of the attention of other countries.

Berlin, Paris, Washington, Beijing...all foreign countries are thinking about the causes and scale of this war.

The first town and city, Dar es Salaam, and the embassies of various countries in Zanzibar transmitted the war news to their countries in real time via telegram.

…

Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"What's wrong with the British? Why did they start such a war in South Africa?" This was the question Franz was thinking at the time.

As an ally of East Africa, Austria is now in a very awkward situation. East Africa has quietly declared war on Britain. Should Austria join or not?

Also, why didn’t the East Africans disclose the relevant information to the Austrian government in advance? Are they trying to directly drag the Austro-Hungarian Empire into this?

Regarding the war between East Africa and Britain, the Austro-Hungarian government took a neutral attitude. Although East Africa was weak, it had the advantage of local combat, and its strength was quite good, so it should not be defeated instantly by Britain.

That's right. No one, including the country headed by Franz, believed that East Africa had an advantage in the war. Even if it could repel the British and Portuguese coalition forces, it would come at a heavy price. Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not want to intervene in the war between the two countries now.

But after all, they are allies, so we still have to show some concern. Franz said, "Ask the East African government what's going on. Why did they go to war with Britain directly? There wasn't even a hint of such a big thing before!"

There were many people who were as confused as Franz, but although most countries were surprised by this sudden war and didn't even know the location of East Africa, they knew that the country that could make Britain and Portugal join forces must be a tough one.

However, everyone still treated this war with an attitude of "watching a show", because Africa's position in the world map was "not important". Except for North Africa and West Africa that was previously divided up by various countries, everyone was very unfamiliar with East Africa and South Africa. Moreover, if someone could cause trouble for Britain, it would be... great!

…

Berlin.

The newly crowned Frederick III did not expect that the East Africans would send him a great gift just after he ascended the throne.

Compared with William I, Frederick III was not familiar with East Africa, so he called Bismarck to help him find out the reasons for the outbreak of this war and what reasons led Britain and Portugal to join forces.

Bismarck: "The East Africans are too extreme. This war was probably planned from the beginning. Britain and East Africa each had their own calculations. They were ready to establish hegemony in South Africa from the beginning."

Although the name of East Africa has been fixed due to early national regional issues, for the African continent as a whole, East Africa is actually South Africa. The same is true for the several forces in the southern part of the African continent, including the war, so the war is also called the South African War.

Moreover, compared with other countries that were completely in the dark about the South African War, Germany immediately guessed the intentions of East Africa and Britain.

This is mainly due to the efficiency of the German intelligence system. As early as three years ago, Germany noticed the British troop adjustment to South Africa.

However, Germany did not think that Britain was preparing for this war at the time, but mistakenly believed that it was necessary for colonization. After all, Germany was not very active in colonization, and its intelligence system focused more on Europe.

Therefore, there was no in-depth analysis of the British troop deployment in South Africa. If Germany had conducted a careful investigation at the time, it would definitely have discovered that the British military force in South Africa was fully capable of supporting a large-scale war, which was obviously not something the natives could bear.

As for East Africa, a country also ruled by the Hohenzollern family, Germany is more optimistic about it. Regardless of winning or losing, East Africa will continue to have closer relations with Germany in the future.

Bismarck: "East Africa is actually not weak. Their army is trained completely in the same way as our army, and they have their own industrial system. This is probably an important reason why the Hechingen royal family dared to face the challenge of Britain and Portugal alone."

Frederick III served in the army for many years before he ascended the throne, and he did not know East Africa very well, so he asked: "Can East Africa ensure its own production capacity in the war? Moreover, their country was established so recently, and their industrial construction is probably not very good. If they rashly go to war with a world power like Britain, it is unlikely to have a good result."

"That's not our concern. We only need to pay attention to the direction of the war. If East Africa can withstand the pressure, it is worth our efforts to win it over. Germany and Austria-Hungary are in an awkward position. If we have a strong ally outside the region, it will be a good thing for us to deal with the situation on the European continent. Moreover, East Africa's economic strength is not weak. Many of our raw materials are imported from East Africa, so we need to help East Africa at a critical moment of the war, and we can test the strength of the British without having to do it ourselves." Bismarck said.

Bismarck's attitude can be summarized as "wait and see", but Germany must play a role. East Africa is an important German country, but the cooperation between the two countries is still not close enough. If Britain can teach East Africa a lesson and let East Africa know the importance of "allies", it will save Germany a lot of trouble. Of course, if Britain wants to destroy East Africa directly, Germany cannot sit idly by. When "necessary", Bismarck plans to mediate the war.

(End of this chapter)