Chapter 765: The Unrecognizable History of the South African War

Due to the delays on the Western Front, Siewert had to change his plan temporarily, and the General Staff's plan was soon reported to Ernst.

After Ernst finished reading it patiently, he asked, "Is the southern battlefield now completely over?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the main forces of the Boers and British troops have withdrawn to the south bank of the Orange River. A number of Boer cities and important villages including Bloemfontein and Kimberley are basically controlled by our army." Sitt replied.

However, this did not completely convince Ernst, because the Boers had performed very well in South Africa in the previous life, so the de facto supreme ruler of East Africa always had a filter for the Boers.

Ernst said cautiously, "The plan can be implemented, but there are some details that need to be changed, especially the attack on the Boer guerrillas cannot be interrupted. After the Southern Military Region withdraws troops to the east, the rear will definitely be empty, and the southern provinces have always lacked population, so the armed forces will also organize militias in the central and eastern parts to support the Southern Military Region to cut off and eliminate the remaining forces of the Boers. The most important thing is to solve the soil for the guerrillas to survive."

Ernst was not attentive to the development of the Hechingen Province, or rather, he did so deliberately. After all, the Hechingen Province was too close to the British. If the gold and other minerals in the Hechingen Province were exposed under the eyes of the British, I am afraid that Britain would have already let go and fought the South African War.

It's not just the UK. I'm afraid the Portuguese's fighting capabilities can also be improved to a higher level. The pursuit of gold in the 19th century was extremely fanatical, just like oil in the 20th century, it has important strategic significance.

In the past, the British attacked the Boers for the sake of gold. Naturally, they had sufficient considerations of their own interests. If there were no South African gold mines to support them, the British would never have gone all out to deal with the tiny Boers.

In this life, not to mention the British, even the East Africans except Ernst did not know that the world's largest gold mining area was buried on both sides of the Far River.

This has also dampened Britain's current enthusiasm for the South African war. As of now, although there are more than 300,000 British troops in South Africa, more than 200,000 of them are Indians. The intensity of the situation faced by the Boers in East Africa is completely different from that in the previous life.

Of course, the British also sought help from Portugal and the Boers, which to a certain extent made the scale of this war larger than the previous Boer War.

However, in terms of the quality of the war, the South African War was not necessarily better than the Boer War, because the strength of the Boers in the previous life was far inferior to that of the British.

East Africa seemed to be on par with the entire coalition. The most important thing was that East Africa was fighting at its "doorstep". Although Britain and Portugal were strong, their power could not effectively support the South African battlefield.

This is also the most troublesome point for the British. If East Africa was the kind of "country bumpkin" that did not attach importance to coastal defense and had limited vision, it would be easy to deal with.

But therein lies the problem. East Africa is not short of broad-minded talents, and it also has rulers like Ernst who have received "nine years of compulsory education" and benefited from the "useless" knowledge dividends of the Internet explosion era.

Therefore, when East Africa had no money, it was keen on coastal defense, and when it had money, it actively expanded its navy. Therefore, even if the British could spare no effort to destroy the East African navy, it was unlikely that they could enter and exit the coastal waters of the Far Eastern Empire or even the inland rivers as unscrupulously as they did in the Far Eastern Empire.

Moreover, although Ernst acted very cautiously, he did not have the "Anglophobia" of that era, which led to the fact that East Africa did not waver in its attitude towards resisting the British army.

Don't think that "Anglophobia" does not exist. Germany, France, Tsarist Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the United States are all stronger than East Africa. However, they all developed secretly under the tyranny of the British Empire's maritime hegemony, just like other countries in the world.

The one who truly dared to openly challenge British hegemony was "William II". However, William II's challenge to British hegemony was more like a "rebellion" against his mother. His mother, Princess Victoria's "tyranny" of William II in his childhood made the monarch naturally dislike the British.

It is worth mentioning that William II came online more than two months ago and officially became the ruler of the German Empire.

Frederick III eventually died of illness. The Hechingen royal family could only send people to mourn for this German emperor who had a good relationship with the Hechingen royal family.

In fact, before William II, Germany had always been one of Britain's close allies, which is also an important reason why Germany has not intervened in the South African War until now.

But now William II's foundation is still unstable, and he is still competing with Bismarck in wits and courage. If the South African War had started a few years later, at about the same time as the Boer War in the previous life, then perhaps William II would have come to help.

All in all, history has now become unrecognizable, and I don’t know whether William II will continue to follow the old path of fighting against Britain and France as in his previous life.

At the same time, the attitude of Tsarist Russia is also worthy of vigilance, because the relationship between Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in this life is not as rigid as in the previous life.

There have also been some "small" changes in Europe's political landscape. For example, Italy, a "master" of repeated jumps, has lost the opportunity to become a "great power."

After the war, Portugal will probably be completely reduced to a third-rate country in Europe, and its situation will be even more miserable than that of Italy.

Italy will also be able to obtain a colony in Africa, while Portugal will most likely only have small colonies in West Africa and the Far East, and its economic level will be much lower than that of Italy.

Although Italy's last unification failed, its economy has actually been developing in a positive direction in the past two years.

In Italy's previous life, after its unification, its national power expanded, which led to it being too arrogant in Africa, so it was beaten up by the Ethiopians. In this life, due to the lack of national power, it adopted a steady and cautious strategy in Africa, so it did not fail.

Italy's Red Sea colonies have greatly alleviated domestic population pressure. At the same time, the existence of the colonies has also stimulated domestic economic recovery and has been able to restore blood to the homeland.

There is also the small European country of Belgium, which has changed a lot. After all, the Belgian Congo and the Belgian Congo in the previous life are two completely different concepts. Although the current Belgian Congo has more concentrated resources and is supported by excellent ports, its population and economic scale are far less than those of the Belgian Congo in the previous life.

Of course, the brutal rule of Leopold II did not change, and the black people in the Belgian Congo suffered even more appalling treatment than in previous lives.

The present-day Belgian Congo is the French Congo in the past. Although the French did not practice "benevolent rule" in Congo, they did not completely implement "tyranny" in the Belgian Congo like Belgium did.

And the worst thing is that in the past, people in the Belgian Congo could escape, but now the residents of the Belgian Congo can’t escape at all. The surrounding lands have been divided up in advance. East Africa will not let them run to the east bank of the Ubangi River anyway. These blacks in non-East African areas are not even qualified to be East African "slaves."

Although the black people in East Africa do not live a good life, they can still "endure". After East Africa exports them abroad, they may even gain "freedom".

In addition to Europe, East Africa has also made some changes to the Far East. In addition to the several colonies established in East Africa, the biggest achievement is that the Far East Empire has avoided Japan's coveting of "Egg Bay Island". Without the South Ryukyu Islands as a springboard, the Japanese have not yet had this idea.

Of course, as a price, the Pacific Fleet in East Africa came under pressure. After the start of the South African War, Japan made several rounds of attempts to so-called recover the "South Ryukyu Islands."

However, although East Africa has no way to teach "Japan" a lesson now, the South Ryukyu Islands are not an easy bone to chew. For East Africa, the South Ryukyu Islands are a strategic fulcrum used to contain the Far Eastern countries, so the construction of the South Ryukyu Islands was aimed at "war" from the very beginning.

The Japanese Navy is not yet prepared for a head-on confrontation in East Africa. After all, the outcome of the South African War is still unclear. If they are "retaliated later", it will be a loss.

(End of this chapter)