Chapter 809 Afterwards

"Count Ehrental would like to thank the Austro-Hungarian Empire for its mediation at this meeting. It has made our work here much easier," von der Leyen said to Count Ehrental.

After the peace talks, von der Leyen felt very good. East Africa’s basic goals had been achieved, even better than East Africa’s psychological expectations.

The psychological expectation for East Africa is Angola and Mozambique, and when Orange is completely incorporated into the East African territory, the tasks of von der Leyen and others will be over-fulfilled, not to mention getting 6 million pounds in war reparations.

Of course, compared with the sky-high compensation of more than 100 million pounds that East Africa had previously demanded, 6 million pounds was not even a fraction of it.

However, being able to get the money has already made the East African government quite satisfied. East Africa had previously estimated that Britain would definitely not give a penny. After all, as the world's number one power, ceding territory and paying compensation are both unacceptable.

As for the 6 million pounds, it was actually obtained in the name of British military expenses and medical expenses in East Africa, and was not war reparations. After all, it was impossible for East Africa to let these prisoners of war eat and drink for free in East Africa and waste medical resources.

In fact, six million pounds, not to mention the British army, even the Portuguese army, is enough to cover the living expenses of the Allied prisoners of war in East Africa. The two countries together are close to 200,000.

After all, as a backward agricultural country, East Africa has a very low actual price level, and treating prisoners of war does not require too much investment, and the bulk of the expenses are basically medical expenses.

Moreover, the income from East Africa is not just the 6 million pounds. East Africa has also acquired a large number of industries in Mozambique and Angola. Although they cannot be converted into cash, they save a lot of costs for future development.

Moreover, the coalition forces also left behind a large number of military weapons in East Africa, including more than 630,000 rifles alone, thousands of artillery pieces and countless other weapons and equipment. Most of these are left in Angola and Mozambique, and can be sold for a good price if they find a buyer.

The weapons of the coalition forces, especially those of the Indian troops, are in very good condition with low wear and tear. With a little maintenance, they can be sold at a good price even if they are second-hand.

Of course, the biggest gain in East Africa is the more than 6 million acres of developed land owned by the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique.

Portugal is indeed poor in this regard. Six million acres of arable land is equivalent to the arable land area of ​​Israel in the past. You must know that Angola and Mozambique are not small places, and their water and soil conditions are far better than Israel.

Moreover, Portugal's colonial history in Angola and Mozambique exceeds 300 years, which is equivalent to the development of about 20,000 acres of land every year.

Especially in Mozambique, the farming conditions in Mozambique are among the best in the world. In Africa, perhaps only the Great Lakes region and Nigeria can be compared.

From this we can see that the Portuguese really don’t like “farming”. Of course, it is definitely not true that the Portuguese don’t like to develop land, it’s just that they prefer high value-added cash crops.

Of the six million acres of arable land in Angola and Mozambique, the vast majority is plantation industry, and most of them are slave plantations.

This is also the main reason why the Portuguese population in Angola and Mozambique is sparse. After all, blacks can get things for free and have free labor, so plantation owners do not need to introduce a large number of people from their own country.

A typical example is Brazil. As a former colony of Portugal, Brazil's population directly surpasses that of Portugal. The most important reason for this is Brazil's lack of labor force, so Brazil was also a country where the slave trade was once prevalent.

Of course, Brazil is still engaged in the slave trade, as slavery was not officially ended in Brazil until May last year (May 13, 1888).

This is indeed a blow to East Africa. Brazil has always been one of the most important destinations for black exports from East Africa. Last year, due to the war, the export of slaves to Brazil and other countries almost stagnated.

Now East Africa has acquired Angola and Mozambique, and most of the residents in these two lands are still black, so the black population in East Africa may increase by at least three million.

This means that East Africa's efforts to export blacks in recent years have basically been in vain. Before the war, there were probably about 18 million blacks in East Africa. If the blacks in Mozambique and Angola are added, the number would probably return to more than 20 million. These were the figures for blacks in East Africa in the 1970s.

Of course, this matter will ultimately be a headache for the Immigration Department, but based on East Africa's current capacity, the ability to export blacks continues to increase, especially after the 1980s, when the number of immigrants from East Africa decreased significantly.

Of course, these things are just "happy troubles" for East Africa, which has gained nearly one million new land areas, and it is not worth telling to outsiders.

People like von der Leyen and Hermann are in a very happy mood now, and Count Ehrental is quite envious of this.

"This time, you have added nearly one million square kilometers of territory in East Africa, which is almost equal to the area of ​​the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The land in Africa is really easy to take!" Count Aylenthal said with emotion.

Count Hermann said, "My old friend, you are overthinking. The value of African land is too low. Even if it is in our hands, it is not easy to develop it. In addition, we in East Africa paid a painful price to win the South African War. We mobilized millions of people across the country, and the number of casualties was astronomical. The number of enemies was almost twice ours. The combat effectiveness of Britain and Portugal was not weak. It lasted for a year and had a significant impact on our economy."

During the entire South African War, the number of military and civilian casualties in East Africa was over 40,000, and the death toll was around 8,000, with the port city of New Hamburg suffering the most serious losses.

Of course, although the South African War was massive, its intensity could not be compared with the wars on the Eurasian continent. Apart from the British Army, East Africa basically encountered no decent opponents.

However, the South African War has been recorded in the history of the African continent. The Second Congo War, the largest war in Africa in the past, is not worth mentioning compared to the South African War.

Nine countries participated in the Second Congo War, including more than 20 armed forces, but it was of little value.

The strength of a bunch of African countries, many of which are probably not as strong as the current Boer Republic in terms of combat effectiveness. Of course, the Second Congo War was extremely destructive to Congo, killing at least five million civilians.

In comparison, the South African War can be called a "civilized" war. Of course, an important reason for this result is that Africa's population is sparsely populated today. The Second Congo War mainly took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and at that time the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was probably much larger than the total population of southern Africa.

Another reason for the low number of civilian casualties in the South African War was that the coalition forces were slow to enter the core areas of East Africa.

In the 19th century, the military had no discipline or morality. Countries like Portugal and Britain were immoral countries that had committed genocide.

The methods used in East Africa are relatively "mild", but the regime is one that only cares about killing and not burying. The impact of war is multifaceted. Few people die directly in the war, but a large number of people are definitely indirectly affected, especially black civilians in Angola and Mozambique.

During the war, a large number of black soldiers carrying hot weapons flowed into the civilian population of Angola and Mozambique. They were far more destructive to the local black people than the East African Defense Force and the Allied Forces.

(End of this chapter)