Chapter 1514 The Tsar in East Africa
This situation is not surprising. After the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the monarchy in Hungary was briefly restored. This also confirmed Hungary's economic backwardness, which made him a supporter of the stability of the Habsburg royal family, or he was not averse to the continued existence of the monarchy.
On the contrary, because Austria has a higher level of industrialization, the national party, the bourgeoisie, the labor party and other groups are dissatisfied with the current monarchy.
…
Germany has a national party, Austria has a national party, and East Africa, which is also "German", is naturally no exception. However, just like the Labor Party, the German National Party of the Rhine Empire is not very influential.
The reason is very simple. With the full implementation of the Seventh Five-Year Plan in East Africa in 1931, the start of a series of major projects such as the Zambezi River reconstruction, North African railways, colonial construction, etc., was like a strong medicine that directly revitalized the sluggish East African economy.
For a time, the East African economy seemed to have returned to the past 20 years. During the first two five-year plans, various large-scale projects were implemented one after another, and they were even larger in scale and more financially powerful. The unemployment rate in East Africa was pushed down to an extremely low level.
As a result, the people of East Africa are busy making a living and have no time to join this political party or that political party, or other groups, like people in other countries, and try to overthrow the current government.
Dar es Salaam city.
A car was driving on a spacious asphalt road and entering the city of Dar es Salaam in summer. It was the short rainy season, the temperature was relatively warm and comfortable, and the air was relatively fresh.
The only thing that might be annoying is the construction noise that comes from the streets from time to time. In 1931, the Dar es Salaam City Government began to renovate the original old city.
Dar es Salaam is one of the oldest cities in East Africa. There are many urban buildings left over from the last century, many of which are more than 50 years old. Also demolished were the government-run opium dens, gambling houses, and prostitutes that were once the favorite places for sailors on the West Indian Ocean route.
In the past, before the Suez Canal was opened, the red-light districts in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa were particularly prosperous, with Persian beauties, Oriental horses, and distinctive black people... which could meet the needs of most passengers on the Indian Ocean route.
This should also be considered the difference between East Africa and the Soviet Union. Although both are about accumulating funds, East Africa's lower limit is very low. However, it must be admitted that this blatant gray industry does make a lot of money every day and has extremely low costs.
However, as a "civilized country", East Africa has long banned these gray industries, and is now erasing these dark histories along with the old buildings in the urban area.
As a result, the citizens of Dar es Salaam suffered. During the day, the East City District was filled with the sounds of crushers, bulldozers and other vehicles working, making people feel uneasy.
"There is large-scale demolition and construction everywhere in Dar es Salaam this year, and construction is going on everywhere. I don't know when this situation will end." A middle-aged man in his twenties or thirties sitting in the driving seat of the car, holding the steering wheel, looked at the streets ahead that were blocked by road construction, and said helplessly.
The person sitting in the passenger seat should be his wife. She said: "All the old towns in Dar es Salaam are included in the renovation this time. It will probably take one or two years to complete."
"This has indeed affected citizens' travel, but Dar es Salaam is no longer what it used to be. In the past, the empire only had two important port cities, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. Now, with the rise of other towns in East Africa, Dar es Salaam's position in the national economy is no longer as important as before."
It can be said that ever since Mombasa surpassed Dar es Salaam to become the largest city in the empire, the morale of the people of Dar es Salaam has declined a lot.
Twenty years ago, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa were almost the two most dazzling cities in East Africa, but today, there are more than a dozen large cities in East Africa with a population of over one million.
Moreover, the situation on the east coast of East Africa is completely different from that on the west coast. Luanda and Cabinda on the west coast can rest easy because of their geographical location and natural environment. As long as nothing goes wrong, they have almost no competitors on the west coast.
The positions of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa on the east coast are not so solid. Beira, Maputo and others are not much worse than them. Other eastern coastal cities such as Pemba, Quelimane, Nacala and Porto Novo Hamburgo are also quite strong.
Of course, the hottest city on the east coast of East Africa right now is the city of Shinde at the mouth of the Zambezi River. Some East African economists believe that Shinde may even become the most economically developed city in East Africa in the future.
Because the city of Hinde is backed by the Zambezi River, once the transformation of the Zambezi River is completed, its basic advantages in economic development will be almost unmatched. It has a vast economic hinterland and is also the most important sea outlet in central East Africa.
In comparison, the cities of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa can only rely on railways and roads for transportation to the inland, which greatly restricts their development.
The man said to his wife: "Even the declining city of Dar es Salaam, looking at the world, is a city with a ceiling that many countries and regions will never reach."
"In East Africa, there are too many modern cities, so Dar es Salaam is not so dazzling. In the past, in Russia, perhaps only St. Petersburg could barely surpass it in size, but in fact, Dar es Salaam's industry, technology, and openness are far ahead of St. Petersburg."
"Of course, now St. Petersburg has been changed to Leningrad by the Labor Party. I don't know what the situation in Russia is like now."
The man spoke with a nostalgic tone, and it was obvious that he had a special feeling for St. Petersburg.
His wife consoled him, saying, "Alexei, we should accept reality. Although we don't want to admit it, the Soviet Labor Party has performed well in recent years, especially during this economic crisis. Not only was the Soviet Union not hit hard, but it was actually going against the tide."
"Looking at the whole world, perhaps only East Africa's economic performance is not as good as that of the Soviet Union. After all, Russia is just a childhood dream for us. I am afraid that the Russians now have long forgotten the existence of our country."
East African newspapers are relatively fair and impartial in their descriptions of the Soviet Union, especially in recent years, when East Africa did not cover up some of the Soviet Union's achievements in economic development like other countries did.
Of course, East Africa did not hide the good side of the Soviet Union, but its dark side was also exposed, especially the miserable conditions of Soviet farmers and the terrible purge.
However, East Africa's description of the Soviet Union is generally positive, but this has not aroused the same yearning for the Soviet system as the lower-class people in Europe and the United States.
The main reason is that East Africa and the Soviet Union have many similarities in their styles of doing things, political systems, and economic policies. As a result, some East African scholars have brazenly said that "the Soviet Union's economic achievements are the result of clumsy plagiarism from East Africa."
This is not completely without basis. For example, the Soviet Union's five-year industrial development plan was basically a system of industrial development copied from East Africa in the eyes of the world.
Of course, East Africa’s five-year plan is no longer as heavily industrialized as it was in the past, but is more inclined towards various economic fields, including finance, technology, agriculture, services, and so on.
In terms of finance, the Soviet Union had basically nothing. In terms of science and technology, the Soviet Union was a latecomer and its independent research and development capabilities were not strong. It even had to mobilize the Cheka organization to steal technology from other countries.
Of course, East Africa has done this many times, especially from the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, when East Africa's science and education industries were far behind those of Germany and the United States, East Africa's national security departments sometimes played the role of "technology thieves."
The situation in agriculture is rather special. The Soviet Union actually invested a lot in agriculture, but the final results were not very ideal.
In short, the focus of the Soviet Union's five-year plan is basically on the industrial field, especially the heavy industry. Even the light industry has not developed, so the gap between the Soviet Union and other industrial powers is still very significant.
Even so, by 1931 the Soviet Union's industrial output had already ranked second in Europe, second only to Germany.
However, this ranking is ultimately somewhat inflated, because at this time, other European countries were basically struggling in the economic crisis, with a large number of companies going bankrupt, factories stopping production, and workers losing their jobs.
Therefore, industrial activities in other countries have declined significantly, but this does not mean that their industrial strength is much worse than that of the Soviet Union.
After listening to his wife's words, the man said helplessly: "Unconsciously, I have been in East Africa for nearly ten years, but we can't see a glimmer of hope for our national restoration. Moreover, other countries have supported other forces. Even if the Soviet Union really collapses in the future, can we really restore the glory of the Romanov Dynasty..."
The person who spoke was "Tsar" Alexei. At this moment, compared to the ignorance when he first arrived in East Africa, Alexei was undoubtedly much more mature.
Moreover, his two sisters were already married, and Alexei himself had established a family in East Africa. Although he was of noble status, a phoenix without feathers was no better than a chicken. In the end, Alexei chose to marry a former Russian noble lady who had been exiled to East Africa.
His sisters did not choose to marry into the Russian nobility, but chose to start families with East Africans. And after Alexei came of age, they basically stopped participating in political affairs, or perhaps their ambitions had long been worn down.
Only the "Tsar" Alexei still insisted on the cause of restoring the country. After all, this was a responsibility he could not escape.
Alexei has lived in East Africa for more than ten years. When he arrived in East Africa, World War I had not yet ended. His wife and her family fled after the end of World War I.
The wife said: "The Soviet regime is completely stable, unless other countries intervene militarily. Even a powerful country like Germany cannot do so, let alone these overseas countries."
"Especially in recent years, the support from the East African government for us has obviously been decreasing. Now, this so-called government-in-exile is more like a place for a group of downtrodden people to gather and reminisce."
The purpose of East Africa in supporting the Tsarist Russian government-in-exile was not to cause trouble for the Soviet Union, but to use Alexei to attract former Russian nobles, wealthy people and their wealth to East Africa and contribute to the East African economy.
Therefore, in the first three or four years after the establishment of the Tsarist Russian government-in-exile, the East African government was relatively active, but after that, there was basically little attention paid to this government-in-exile.
After all, during this period of time, the Soviet Union had already seized power in the country and had confiscated the property and exterminated the families of the former powerful and wealthy. As for those who could escape, they had all fled before. Even if there were some Russian upper class people who escaped from the Soviet Union later, they were basically "paupers."
Of course, the East African government is not completely indifferent to Alexi and others. At least the East African government is still quite concerned about his safety.
However, in recent years, as the Soviet government's interest in the Tsarist Russian government-in-exile has greatly decreased, East Africa's investment in Alexei's safety has also become less and less.
As for why the Soviet Union gave up Alexei and other remnants of Tsarist Russia, the main reason was that Alexei and others no longer posed any threat to the Soviet Union.
On the contrary, the Russian bourgeois government-in-exile supported by other countries attracted the full attention of the Soviet security agencies.
Alexi sighed and said, "From the very beginning, the East African government has only used us. In fact, they have never provided funding to help us plan some major activities."
"Even the diplomacy between the East African government and the Soviet Union was not as strong as that between other countries and the Soviet Union. Therefore, expecting East Africa to help the Tsarist Russia restore its rule is worse than expecting pigs to climb trees."
East Africa's support for Alexei was very limited. In the early days of the Tsarist government-in-exile, they could still use Russian connections to carry out some sabotage activities. However, after the Soviet Labor Party completely took control of the national power, their former connections no longer existed, and they were either serving time in the Siberian Prison or sweeping the streets.
It was obviously impossible for the former supporters of Tsarist Russia who were exiled in East Africa to continue to support the restoration of the empire at their own expense. The East African government did not provide funding and even often restricted them from taking radical actions.
Therefore, the current Tsarist government-in-exile is basically a club for Russian losers.
Alexei's wife, on the other hand, was not interested in the so-called restoration of the country. She said: "This is also a good thing. At least our security is still reliable. Restoration of the country is just a mirage for us. Moreover, even if the country is restored, it is impossible for us to inherit the Soviet legacy in the end."
His wife was very open-minded because she knew that the Russians would never accept the rule of the Tsar again, and even the East Africans would not think that the monarchy was a good thing. It was just that the economy and society in East Africa were stable now, so most people did not care about it.
Basically, it is very difficult to restore a monarchy in a country, and it will become more and more difficult as time goes by. Only by being a mascot can you ensure the continuation of the monarchy.
Of course, Ernst’s uniqueness lies in the fact that he is the founding monarch, and under his rule, there have been no problems in East Africa. Therefore, the royal family can still hold power, but as long as Ernst dies, this situation will most likely change.
Therefore, the royal family of the Rhine Empire has been looking for a way out and finally completed a smooth transfer of power. This included the problem of the dispersion of royal personnel. In the past, the Rhine royal family was sparsely populated and many ideas could not be realized. However, after decades of development, Ernst's direct descendants now have nearly thirty people.
(End of this chapter)
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