Chapter 808 The Dust Settles

As a result of the collusion between these people, Portugal became the biggest victim. Not only that, Aenthal's previous proposal to reduce Portugal's compensation was also rejected by Salisbury.

After all, eight million pounds is not a small sum. Anyway, it is East Africa that is the "bad guy" and Britain that is taking the money, so there is naturally no need to ask Portugal to pay back less. Salisbury even thought unscrupulously that East Africa's previous asking price for Portugal was too low, and if the price was doubled, Britain would make a lot of money.

This idea was despised by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and East Africa. It turned out that being an ally of the British did not end well.

It was Aenthal who spoke up again: "Forty-eight million pounds may be the limit that Portugal can bear. If it doubles, the Portuguese government will probably simply default on the debt. They are no longer the Portuguese colonial empire that once dominated the world."

In the changes in the world pattern in the 19th century and before, various countries were actually snatching food from the mouths of Portugal and Spain. After all, these two countries occupied the vast majority of colonies at that time.

Spain still has some strength now, while Portugal is completely in decline, so the situation Portugal will face in the future will definitely be more difficult. However, most of the colonies left by Portugal are not of much value. Portuguese Goa, East Timor, and Sao Tome and Principe are all small colonies with small areas.

As the East British and East British sides reached a settlement, the subsequent negotiation meeting was just a formality, and the Portuguese representative Gers also noticed the changes in Salisbury.

Most of the time, Salisbury was debating with East Africans, and the scene was very intense. However, when it came to the issue of Portugal, Salisbury became vague and sometimes even just watched the show.

And Gers naturally had no power to resist East Africa. This was the difference in national strength. Everyone could give face to East Africa, a new rising power, but who was Portugal? I had never heard of it.

Of course, this is also related to the close relationship between Portugal and Britain. In everyone's perception, Portugal is a vassal of Britain, so it is not their turn to intervene in Portugal's problems. Didn't they see that the British were not anxious? So they were even more reluctant to speak for the Portuguese.

While the Venice Conference was going on, the East African government also had many private exchanges with Britain. Selling out the Kingdom of Portugal to preserve Britain's interests in South Africa had been recognized by both countries. Britain could also make a lot of money at the same time, so why not do it?

As for the huge military expenditure in the past, it was ultimately reaped by Britain's own military-industrial interest groups, so Britain did not lose money at all. Although the South African War did not meet the optimistic expectations before the war, being able to exit with dignity is the best outcome for the current British government.

The Venice Conference lasted until June. Although Britain and East Africa had determined the basic ideas in March, in order to save face for Britain's two allies, Portugal and the Boers, Britain and East Africa launched a fierce war of words.

At the end of March, the East African government began to stop military operations in Cape Town in accordance with its previous commitment and began to repatriate captured British soldiers.

The first batch of British troops, totaling 523 people, returned to the British mainland on April 26, 1889. This greatly restored the popularity of the British government. The British prisoners of war were greatly welcomed by the local people. After all, the United Kingdom is not large in area, and more than 60,000 prisoners of war can be distributed to almost every region.

Therefore, the living conditions and safety of these prisoners of war have received great concern from the British people, as this involves more than 60,000 families.

In fact, there should be more than 80,000 families. After all, East Africa will not be resurrected, and the 20,000 dead British soldiers cannot be resurrected and handed over to Britain.

Moreover, a large part of the 20,000 British soldiers who died did not die in the war, but due to diseases and other problems. Among them, the number of missing people reached 1,008. Even East Africa did not dare to say that it was familiar with itself, let alone the British troops fighting as foreign troops in the South African battlefield.

In fact, the British army's casualty figures were relatively good compared to those of the Allied forces. A total of 170,000 Allied forces were killed, and the number of wounded and sick exceeded 300,000, which was enough to cause a plague in South Africa.

And indeed, East Africa is still cleaning up the mess in Angola and Mozambique, especially with drug spending reaching new highs, which was presented to the Venice conference in June.

East Africa's claims against Portugal increased instead of decreasing, directly exceeding 50 million pounds. This forced the Portuguese government to speed up the negotiation schedule. If they stayed any longer, the 120,000 captured Portuguese troops would be like a Pi Xiu, only taking in but not giving out.

Unlike Britain, Portugal really couldn't afford to be tossed around, especially the issue of prisoners. The total population of Britain was close to 40 million, so the importance of 60,000 prisoners of war to the British government was almost negligible, and it was not as troublesome as the workers' riots.

The population of Portugal is only over three million, and the 120,000 prisoners of war can basically connect a large part of the people in Portugal.

Therefore, the Portuguese government must ensure the safety of 120,000 Portuguese prisoners of war, otherwise the angry people could directly overthrow the Portuguese government.

With Portugal's compromise, the Venice Conference finally came to a conclusion on June 28, and the three parties involved in the war signed an armistice agreement under the witness of the international community headed by Count Ehrental.

According to the armistice agreement:

The conflict between East Africa and Britain was to cease immediately, with the armies of both sides withdrawing back to the pre-war borders between the two countries. Britain was required to compensate the British prisoners of war for their expenses and medical treatment in East Africa, totaling three million pounds.

Portugal ceded Angola and Mozambique to the East African Kingdom and paid East Africa a war reparations of 40 million pounds.

Due to Portugal's financial pressure, this part of the war reparations was paid by Britain. Of course, the original two million pounds was converted according to the value of Angola and Mozambique. In other words, East Africa obtained Portugal's two colonies at a value of two million pounds, which completely confirmed the ownership of Angola and Mozambique.

Legally, Angola and Mozambique no longer have any connection with Portugal.

Finally, there was the Boer issue. The Boer Republic was abolished and incorporated into the East African territory. Orange became part of the East African Kingdom, with the Orange River and the Tugela River as the boundary. The south was Britain, and the north belonged entirely to East Africa.

As for the Boers' opinions, they were completely ignored by the two Eastern British countries, and the Boer Republic could not even retain its government in exile.

After all, the premise of the government in exile is that the popular base of the Boer Republic still exists. Just like Poland, although it was occupied by Tsarist Russia, it was indeed Poles living on the land. Therefore, the Polish government in exile in Britain was very useful and could incite nationalism in Tsarist Russia at any time to achieve the purpose of deterring Tsarist Russia.

However, what East Africa did in the former Boer Republic, namely the Orange region, was too decisive, which directly drained the local Boer popular base. Therefore, even if the Boer Republic's government-in-exile was retained, it would be meaningless. It would not only bark at East Africa across the Orange River, but also consume more British taxpayers' money.

Of course, the British government had deeper considerations, that is, there were too many Boers in the Cape Colony. If the Boer Republic's government-in-exile was retained, it would not only not threaten East Africa, but might instead stimulate local forces that were not conducive to British rule.

The Boers accounted for more than 60% of the population of the Cape Colony, so the Boer Republic, this "serious threat", naturally could not be kept for long.

(End of this chapter)