Chapter 1340: Preparing to Intervene in the European War
And this only applies to East Africa. You have to know that when Punta Arenas was first established, the exchanges between East Africa and Chile were not close. On the contrary, Chile and the British were very close. After the end of World War I, whether Britain would return to Chile was also something that should be considered.
Most of Punta Arenas' industries, in addition to support from the Chilean government, were built by the UK. What Luanda needs to do now is to eliminate these industries and replace them with its own equipment and industries to obtain more economic orders, so that Punta Arenas will become economically dependent on Luanda.
However, if the city of Luanda wants to convince the Punta Arenas government to agree or take the bait, it will obviously need to pay some price or bait first.
Mayor Horngren said: "In the next few days, we will arrange for you to visit our city's enterprises. In terms of industrial strength and technology, we are not inferior to other cities in the world. Moreover, Luanda's industrial equipment and products are considered to be of good quality and low price worldwide."
At this stage, other powers are basically at war, which has increased East Africa's industrial capacity to a terrifying level. The expansion of industrial production has also contributed to the reduction of production costs. In normal times, this would probably have triggered an economic crisis long ago.
Now, East Africa can take advantage of this and continuously dump large quantities of products to other parts of the world, thereby injecting blood and vitality into East Africa's industrial development while enhancing East Africa's influence.
Mayor Balteviha responded: "Of course, Mayor Horngren, my friend, we have also brought a lot of local specialties this time, especially woolen textiles and handicrafts. I hope you like them."
Horngren wants to turn Punta Arenas into a market for Luanda, and Valdivia naturally wants to profit from East Africa. For a typical resource-rich and agricultural country like Chile, the goal is to obtain more mineral and agricultural product export orders.
For Chileans, there is not much difference between selling their copper mines, saltpeter and other products to Britain, the United States or East Africa.
For the city of Punta Arenas, even if East Africa really has ulterior motives, it does not matter. The location of Punta Arenas means that Punta Arenas will inevitably be the beneficiary in the trade between Chile and East Africa. Therefore, for the business cooperation with Luanda, the city government members represented by Mayor Baltimore not only do not oppose it, but strongly support it. Local companies in Punta Arenas are even more interested in investment and trade in East Africa.
…
While East Africa and Chile were holding friendly exchanges and meetings in Luanda, the city of Rhine, the political center of East Africa, also paid close attention to the exchange.
Defense Minister Pripyat held a baton and pointed the tip of the baton at the world map and said: "If we can tie Chile to the chariot of the empire, it means that we have completed the last piece of the global strategic puzzle, and the navy can sail and shuttle freely in any ocean in the world."
He moved the baton to the Strait of Magellan and said, "Before and even now, we do not have a stable foothold in the entire Americas to communicate with the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans."
"We have a strong navy in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. We also have many colonies and spheres of influence in the Pacific Ocean. We even have Alaska on the coast of the Arctic Ocean to ensure the navy's need to enter the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean, even if this need may have to wait until a long time in the future."
Even in the 21st century, the shipping value of the Arctic Ocean is almost negligible. Apart from aviation and Russia's strategic nuclear submarines, there is almost no attention paid to it.
However, the East African Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are more optimistic about the future strategic value of the Arctic Ocean. Of course, they are optimistic, not to mention the addition of the word "future".
So the reason why Defense Minister Pripyat mentioned the Arctic Ocean was just to further illustrate the importance of controlling the Strait of Magellan.
He said: "This means that our navy can enter the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, enter the Pacific Ocean through the Sunda Strait or other places, and even enter the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait. We have military support bases in these three oceans."
"However, we do not have a direct sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, so the Strait of Magellan can be seen as the last piece of the puzzle for our navy to become a truly global navy."
"With the Panama Canal in American hands, the Strait of Magellan became our only option, unless we were willing to take the risk of crossing the more dangerous Drake Passage."
"But this risk is something we cannot afford. The Strait of Magellan is very different. Even if we pass through it, unless Chile becomes our enemy, it is still very safe."
"As for the Pacific direction, especially the eastern Pacific region, if there is an emergency, the Strait of Magellan is the fastest and most convenient channel for our navy to support the eastern Pacific from the Atlantic Ocean or even the Indian Ocean."
The main forces of the East African Navy are basically deployed in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. If a war breaks out suddenly, it is natural to dispatch troops from these two regions for reinforcement.
However, if it involves Alaska or East Africa's colonial interests in the South Pacific, it may be much closer to pass through the Strait of Magellan than to pass through the Indian Ocean and then enter the Pacific Ocean.
This is mainly because the Pacific Ocean is so vast. The area of the Pacific Ocean alone accounts for one-third of the entire world. Even the areas of the other three oceans combined can only be compared with the Pacific Ocean.
A large area also means a long range, so even for the main force of the East African Pacific Fleet located in the South Pacific region, it would be difficult to provide nearby support to Alaska and other regions, and it might have to pass through islands controlled by the enemy, such as Japan or the U.S. Hawaiian colony.
Therefore, from the perspective of strategic security, the East African Navy will also actively support the acquisition of the right of passage through the Strait of Magellan, which is equivalent to adding a layer of insurance to the East African Navy's Pacific strategy.
Cristiano said: "We want to strengthen our control over Chile. The economy is the anchor. By binding and Chilean interests, we can cultivate our own representatives. At this point, we should take advantage of this opportunity to speed up the exclusion of Chilean companies with American and British backgrounds."
“We will be able to complete the military use of the Strait of Magellan in the future when we sign a military agreement with pro-East African governments.”
"Of course, the Strait of Magellan is controlled by the Chileans after all, so we cannot give up the study of the Drake Passage. We should also pay attention to Argentina. The eastern exit of the Strait of Magellan is sandwiched between the Argentine territory, and the relationship between Chile and Argentina has always been bad."
"If Chile makes a decision that is not beneficial to the empire in the future, we can teach the Chilean government a lesson by supporting Argentina."
The East African military clearly outlined the arrangements for the Strait of Magellan, which was approved by Ernst.
Ernst said: "Let's do it this way. No matter what, we must obtain a stable shipping route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This will effectively protect the Empire's interests on the west coast of Central and South America."
After all, military strength is the key to free trade. Free trade without the support of military strength is nothing but a ridiculous joke.
Britain was able to become the world hegemon by defeating a series of competitors, such as the Netherlands in the past. When the Netherlands was still the Sea Coachman, wasn't the Dutch's trade more free than that of the later British?
However, after the defeat in the Anglo-Dutch naval war, the Netherlands had to voluntarily give up its maritime hegemony. This was secondary. What really made the Dutch sad was the huge economic benefits represented by the maritime hegemony.
After all, even in the most powerful era of the Netherlands, its ambitions were no match for the imperialist countries in the world today.
This is why East Africa attaches great importance to the route of the Strait of Magellan. With this route, East Africa can radiate its military influence to the west coast of Central and South America, and further expand East Africa's overseas markets and raw material production areas.
"In addition to the progress in the Strait of Magellan, our construction activities in Qatar are also progressing steadily," Pripyat said.
"At the same time, according to our intelligence, the situation between Britain and the Allies in the Persian Gulf is not good. After the Austro-Hungarian Empire entered Iraq, the situation facing Britain has deteriorated sharply."
"Although the British army has more than one million soldiers, the Indian army is not strong enough to fight against the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian armies. Even the Ottoman and Romanian soldiers have a great advantage against the Indian army."
"Currently, under the command of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Allied forces have begun to help the Ottoman Empire regain lost territory. If the current progress continues, it is only a matter of time before Basra and other Persian Gulf ports return to the hands of the Ottoman Empire."
East Africa has always been paying attention to the changes on the southern battlefield. After all, the southern battlefield is closest to East Africa, especially the Beibu Gulf and Qatar colony in East Africa are right next to the battlefield.
Ernst asked, "So how do you think the war in the Middle East will develop?"
Pripyat replied: "Personally, I am not optimistic about the progress of the Allies in the Middle East. Since the British failed to seize the Dardanelles, the balance of the war has tilted towards the Central Powers. Now the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Central Powers have enough energy to continue to support the Ottoman Empire."
"In the previous stage, the Allies successfully stabilized the declining situation along the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coasts, and even turned defeat into victory in the Persian Gulf region."
"And the Allied Powers' focus is in western Europe, so if the situation on the southern front really deteriorates to a certain extent, I'm afraid the Allied Powers' previous blockade of the Central Powers will become completely nonsense."
Cristiano also said: "On the southern front, the Allies basically had no chance of turning the tables. In order to conquer the southern front, even the Austro-Hungarian Empire relaxed its offensive on the western front."
"At present, Germany and Austria-Hungary have clearly realized the importance of the empire, and the theory of a quick victory in the war has become a joke."
"With the intervention of the Americans, Britain and France can continue to fight the Allies even if they lose the southern front."
After hearing this, Ernst understood that if East Africa did not intervene, the Central Powers and the Allied Powers would still have a fight. Now it depends on how East Africa chooses to stop the war with what outcome.
Ernst asked, "What's the news from Russia and Japan?"
Cristiano said: "In Russia, it is basically certain that the Russian Labor Party is in power. I didn't expect that their fighting power, especially their fighting will, is very tenacious. According to our information, the Russian Labor Party has basically consolidated their control area in Europe, and other Russian forces have now retreated to the Far East."
"This means that they are not far from defeat. The reason they can continue to resist is entirely due to Japan's support."
"Japan is very concerned about the situation in Soviet Russia, and according to our intelligence, Japan is currently the only country intervening in the Russian Civil War and providing substantial support such as weapons to the enemies of the Labor Party."
"Even the Russian White Forces in the Far East replaced most of their weapons with Japanese-made ones, and Japan also sent some troops to try to control Russia's sphere of influence in the Far East."
It can be said that the delay of World War I has led to a huge change in the situation of the Russian Labor Party today.
In the past, World War I ended completely as early as 1918. Afterwards, Britain and other powerful countries could not wait to send troops to intervene in the Russian Civil War, which directly led to the subsequent three-year Soviet-Russian Civil War.
Although this war lasted only three years, it caused enormous damage to Russia's population and industry. The population loss was nearly 10 million, a large number of production facilities were destroyed, and nearly 3,500 railway bridges alone were blown up. Countless livestock and raw materials were plundered, mines were flooded, and machines were destroyed.
It can be said that the purpose of the great powers' interference in Soviet Russia was very clear. This was very similar to a war launched by the Far Eastern Empire against a country in the south in the previous life. When the expected results could not be achieved, the enemy's production facilities were destroyed, thereby plunging it into economic difficulties and cutting off its future development potential.
However, the Central Powers and the Allied Powers are still fighting fiercely, and the situation faced by the Russian Labor Party is very different from that in the past.
The only two powers that had the energy and ability to interfere in Russia were East Africa and Japan. With East Africa making no effort, Japan's support for the Russian White Army was simply not enough to change the situation in Russia.
Ernst asked, "So when do you think the Russian Civil War will end?"
Cristiano replied: "If nothing unexpected happens, the Russian Civil War will basically be over before the end of this year. Of course, according to the current progress of the Russian army, the war may be completely over in a few months."
"Although the Russian White Army in the Far East has the support of Japan, the Russian Labor Party has inherited the rich family foundation of the Tsarist Russia era. Its industrial strength is completely incomparable to Japan. At present, the Russian Labor Party has resumed production activities in Europe."
From Cristiano's words, we can see how well the Russian Labor Party is doing nowadays. In the absence of funding from external forces, the Russian Labor Party can more smoothly eliminate the Russian reactionaries and take over state assets.
Although Russia lost a lot of territory due to the Treaty of Kiev, its basic base still existed, especially important industrial bases such as the St. Petersburg Industrial Zone, the Central Industrial Zone or the Moscow Industrial Zone, which were still controlled by the Russian Labor Party.
Backed by the powerful military-industrial base left by the Tsarist government, and an army that had undergone initial ideological transformation and had a strong will to fight, it was naturally not too difficult for the Russian Labor Party to quickly spread across the country. In fact, if there had been no interference from other countries in the past, other Russian forces would not have been able to spread within Russia and cause huge damage to the Russian economy.
Ernst said: "It seems that we can't wait any longer. If the war in Russia ends quickly, a terrible regime will be born in Europe. If we continue to let European countries fight, the Russian Labor Party will really control Europe in the future."
Ernst was not exaggerating when he said this. Europe itself is an active area of the Labour Party. After experiencing such a long war, the lives of the European people can be said to be very difficult. This makes it easier for the European Labour Party to incite more people. If Europe continues the war, it may repeat the same mistakes and repeat the old events of Tsarist Russia in the future. However, Russia, under the leadership of the Labour Party, took the opportunity to develop and is likely to successfully reap the fruits of the whole of Europe. Then the United States and East Africa will completely become jumping clowns.
(End of this chapter)
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