Chapter 1445 Kemal
The city roads in Mombasa were crowded with traffic. Although they had seen such a spectacular scene in Dar es Salaam, the Soviet delegation was still shocked.
They also noticed that luxury cars were more common on the roads in Mombasa than in Dar es Salaam.
In fact, Soviet people did not have much concept about luxury cars, because cars, regardless of their price, were rare in the Soviet Union.
Karimov analyzed the gap between the two countries and said: "Although we in the Soviet Union also have an automobile industry, the gap with East Africa is too great. I am afraid that the number of cars in Mombasa alone can easily exceed that of our entire country."
In response to Karimov's sigh, comrades from the Soviet Ministry of Industry were relatively clear about their country's industrial data.
Sheldar of the Ministry of Industry said: "I have some understanding of our country's automobile industry. Currently, the total number of cars in our country is less than 40,000, and the annual output is less than 200."
"In fact, as early as 1902, my country had already produced its first domestically produced gasoline car, which was manufactured by the Fraser Manufacturing Plant in St. Petersburg, now Leningrad. However, this car was hand-made and could not be mass-produced."
"Later, around 1909, the Russian-Baltic Vehicle Factory became the first real automobile manufacturer in our country, but at its peak, it only produced 600 vehicles."
"This output is still due to the fact that during the World War, the Russian government piled up orders for the needs of the army. my country's automobiles still rely mainly on imports."
"Although related industries have already appeared in my country during the Russian Empire era, most of the parts are completely dependent on imports, such as engines, bearings, tires, etc."
"East Africa's automobile industry was already relatively developed in the last century. It is no exaggeration to say that East Africa is 50 years ahead of us in this field."
Today, the Soviet Union's automobile production has dropped significantly compared to the Tsarist era, with only less than 200 vehicles produced each year. This is already the limit of the Soviet automobile industry today.
The Soviet automobile industry itself was not well-funded. After all, during the imperial era, Russia only had one real automobile factory.
Moreover, this automobile factory encountered many problems after being taken over by the Soviet Union. For example, the original foreign parts suppliers tore up the supply contracts because of the establishment of the Soviet Union.
This made many important components unavailable, and the Soviet Union's own underdeveloped heavy industry was unable to produce its own substitutes.
In addition to the problems with materials and parts, foreign capital also withdrew its original technical support. At the same time, the Russian Empire's almost negligible automotive industry experts and engineers also fled the country because of the Soviet Union.
Therefore, the Soviet automobile industry is facing a situation where there is no one available. This alone makes the development of the Soviet automobile industry very difficult today.
Sheldal went on to say: "The gap between our country's passenger cars and East Africa is even greater. The Leningrad Automobile Plant mainly produces trucks, which were previously mainly supplied to the Russian army, but they did not play a big role."
“Most of the main vehicles of the Imperial Russian Army during the World War were purchased from East African countries.”
East Africa did sell a lot of military vehicles to the then Russian imperial government, especially in the early days when the Suez Canal and the Black Sea routes were still open.
And now there are still many military vehicles produced in East Africa serving in the Soviet army.
Karimov sighed and said, "We are heavily dependent on imports not only for cars but also for agricultural machinery such as tractors. In the field of transportation, perhaps only our railways can barely keep up with the world."
"However, the gap between our railways and those of imperialist countries is also very prominent. I heard that East Africa is now promoting the electrification of railways on a large scale, which may further widen the gap between our railways and those of imperialist countries."
Sheldar also said with a heavy face: "We have some basic knowledge in railways and ships, but in terms of emerging transportation tools such as cars and airplanes, our country is almost blank."
"It's no wonder that Joseph and other high-level comrades in the country are worried about the current situation of the Soviet Union. The gap between us and the imperialist countries is too great."
"If a war breaks out between the imperialist countries and the Soviet Union at this time, it will inevitably pose a fatal threat to the alliance."
"But fortunately, the imperialist countries are not united. If they really unite, it may even be a disaster for us. After all, their current blockade of our economy and industry has made the development of the Soviet Union somewhat difficult."
Kaliakin comforted him, "Don't be discouraged. Capital only cares about profit. They will never truly unite together. They may even fight among themselves for the sake of profit."
"The world war proved that the emergence of the Central Powers and the Allied Powers showed that there were also irreconcilable contradictions among the imperialist countries. As long as we can make good use of these contradictions, we can open up a breakthrough."
"Moreover, I firmly believe that the Soviet Union will be able to surpass these imperialist countries in all aspects in the future. Our country is like the rising sun, with an infinitely bright future."
If Ernst heard this, he would probably add that dusk and night would eventually come.
…
Istanbul.
After the end, the Ottoman Empire did not wait for peace. In recent years, ethnic conflicts within the Ottoman Empire have escalated rapidly, and rebellions and local wars have occurred frequently.
At the same time, the struggle within the main body of the Ottoman Empire, that is, Türkiye, was also quite fierce, especially the young and middle-aged people were increasingly dissatisfied with the country's development.
A major event that occurred in 1926 further stimulated the internal conflicts within the Ottoman Empire.
Because of the Basra Railway and the Ottoman Empire's purchase of a large amount of military supplies from East Africa, the Ottoman Empire owed East Africa a large debt.
On October 4, 1926, the Ottoman government, unable to repay its debts, finally chose to sell all its territory on the east coast of the Persian Gulf to East Africa in order to reduce financial pressure.
This area is a desert area of nearly 140,000 square kilometers along the Saudi coast, south of Kuwait in the previous life.
From the perspective of the Ottoman Empire, this was a good deal. Although the area of 140,000 square kilometers was not small, this land had almost no output and the population was negligible.
Moreover, selling this land to East Africa would help alleviate the defense pressure of the Ottoman Empire. The core area of the Ottoman Empire was in the north, especially the Anatolian Peninsula.
With the continued decline of the Ottoman Empire in recent years, ethnic separatist activities have become increasingly frequent in various places, such as Armenia, Kurdish, the Arabian Peninsula and other non-Turkish areas under Ottoman rule.
Of course, the Ottoman Empire also had considerations about its attitude towards East Africa. If it did not sell the territory on the east coast of the Persian Gulf now, who could guarantee that East Africa would not take it on its own?
In recent years, the Ottoman Empire has lost a lot of territory, especially in North Africa and the Red Sea coast, such as Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli (Beljana), Egypt, Yemen, Hejaz, etc.
These regions were either directly occupied by other countries or chose to break away from the Ottoman Empire and become independent, so the Ottoman government had no confidence that it could keep the land on the east coast of the Persian Gulf.
Therefore, it is better to sell it to East Africa to pay off the debt, so that you don’t get nothing.
Compared with the land on the east coast of the Persian Gulf, what was of real value to the Ottoman Empire was the Mesopotamia region in the two river basins, namely Iraq and Kuwait.
The Ottoman government's repeated act of "selling out the country" further triggered unrest within the Ottoman Empire.
In particular, Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union were all unhappy with East Africa's further expansion in the Persian Gulf region, which was a rather rare scene.
After all, the three countries can be said to represent three completely different international interest groups, namely the Allied camp, the Central Powers camp and the Soviet camp.
In a house in Istanbul.
Ottoman general Kemal is plotting with his supporters to overthrow the current Ottoman government.
Kemal said with a sad and angry look: "Just yesterday, we completely lost the land on the east coast of the Persian Gulf, which further reduced the territory of the empire."
"Now, if the empire does not change, our country will continue to be divided by imperialist countries in the future, and the Ottoman Empire will completely disappear in the mist of history. This is definitely not the situation we want to see."
Ataturk, a supporter of Kemal and an officer in the Ottoman army, said: "Kemal Pasha, the empire is too weak. What's more hateful is that the rulers of Istanbul are too short-sighted. They even regard the sale of territory as a daily routine."
"Under the circumstances that do not threaten their wealth and glory, the entire country is like a cow. As long as they are not cut in the right part, they will remain indifferent. But don't they know that if they lose too much blood, the cow will eventually fall down one day?"
"At that time, not to mention national interests, even their own interests will vanish, so the rulers of Istanbul are short-sighted."
"We must overthrow this corrupt government, drive out the parasites in this country, and save the fate of the empire."
During the World War, Kemal successfully rose to prominence through military exploits and was given the honorary title of Pasha, which also increased his influence in the Ottoman army.
Especially for those young officers, Kemal was a national hero. Kemal not only had outstanding military capabilities, but also personal charm, a series of progressive ideas and the belief in reforming the Ottoman Empire.
As time went by, Kemal embarked on the path of overthrowing the current Ottoman government.
Kemal said: "Yes, as a soldier, I should not participate in politics, but now the country is in trouble both internally and externally, someone must stand up, even if I have to bear the blame, I have reasons to do it."
"Otherwise, if we continue to allow the current government to do whatever it wants, our great Ottoman Empire will eventually disappear from this world, which is something that every Turk does not want to see."
"So, are you willing to follow me and change this corrupt and backward country?"
Kemal's followers were naturally willing and expressed their loyalty and support for Kemal.
Kemal then said: "In this case, let us overthrow this corrupt government together. Of course, an uprising is not a trivial matter, but a major event that determines the fate and future of the empire, so before that, we should make a comprehensive plan."
“At the same time, we must consider whether external interference will occur in the internal politics of the Ottoman Empire today.”
Mustafa, the subordinate, said: "Kemal Pasha, there is no need to worry about this. It has only been a few years since the end of the World War. Countries around the world, especially European countries, are unable to provoke a war."
"There is no need to say much about Germany and the Soviet Union. They have always been restraining each other, and Germany is our ally. They have no reason to interfere in the internal affairs of the empire. In fact, to a certain extent, Germany has supported the Ottoman Empire and made some progress. Of course, the premise is that we continue to choose to cooperate with Germany."
"After all, Germany and the current government are relatively harmonious in overall cooperation, so we must get in touch with the Germans to ensure that they will not make misjudgments after we overthrow the current government."
"As for the Soviet Union, no one in the Ottoman Empire, except for those ethnic minorities, would risk the world's disapproval and choose to cooperate with them."
"Then there are Britain and France. Although Britain and France have very bad relations with the Ottoman Empire, this also means that they are dissatisfied with the current government. If we overthrow the current government of the Ottoman Empire, they will support it instead."
"Finally, there is East Africa. Although East Africa can intervene in the Ottoman Empire, their influence is very limited and is confined to the coast of the Persian Gulf. This also means that even if East Africa intervenes, it will not be able to affect the overall situation."
“Moreover, I believe that countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Austria would not like to see further expansion of East Africa in the Middle East.”
"After all, the Ottoman Empire has closer ties with Europe. Even Istanbul is in Europe. So, I think we don't need to worry too much about our attitude towards East Africa. As long as we have good relations with the four European countries of Britain, France, Germany and Austria, we won't have too many problems in the process of seizing state power."
The Ottoman Empire's attitude towards East Africa, like that of Germany today, is quite complicated. In particular, East Africa earned too much money from the Ottoman Empire, which made many Ottomans dissatisfied.
Not to mention that after East Africa entered the Persian Gulf region, its expansion actually infringed upon the interests of the Ottoman Empire, especially the latest territorial transaction between the two countries, which was considered a traitorous agreement by progressive people in the Ottoman Empire.
Of course, no matter how angry the opponents of the Ottoman Empire were, it was of no avail. The gap between the two countries was too great, and there was no hope of regaining these lands, at least in the short term.
Since the Ottoman patriots had no way to deal with East Africa, they still had the courage to deal with the Ottoman government, and Kemal was a representative of these people. Of course, Kemal's greater advantage lies in his influence on the army and the people.
As a national hero of the Ottoman Empire, if Kemal took the lead in overthrowing the current government, he would indeed be able to gain widespread support.
(End of this chapter)
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