Chapter 1586 New Power Goalkeeper
A powerful Germany is terrifying, which is an objective fact, so it is impossible for countries like Britain and France not to impose restrictions on Germany. However, in the 20th century, the Soviet Union was a country that the capitalist world feared even more than Germany.
As a result, Britain and France had to allow and acquiesce in the growth of Germany's strength.
In Adolf's worldview, France is a "degenerate nation", a mixed-race nation similar to East Africa and Italy. In fact, the status of the French is higher than the latter two. After all, France has a deep honor in European history and is also Germany's old rival.
Therefore, Adolf had a certain respect for France, and mainly criticized France's "internationalization", "liberalism" and "ethnic mixing". For example, France's attempt to integrate with North Africa, in Adolf's view, weakened France's "racial purity".
Therefore, as long as France does not sink deeper and deeper into the "wrong path", it can still be "whitewashed", while countries like East Africa with complete racial integration are completely hopeless in their eyes.
If East Africa itself had not been too powerful, Adolf would have wanted to publicly expel East Africa from its "German citizenship".
As for Britain, it was a thoroughly Germanic brother of Adolf, who, in his writings and private conversations, repeatedly expressed admiration for the British Empire, seeing it as proof of the superiority and ruling ability of the Aryan race. He saw the British Empire as a colonial model that he hoped Germany could emulate and even surpass.
Even if Britain and France were defeated by Germany, their ruling class could easily change sides. However, falling into the hands of the Soviets, there would obviously be no such opportunity.
It was the existence of the Soviet Union that led to the whole of Europe's lack of correct understanding of the German threat, including many people in East Africa. This was completely wishful thinking. After all, Adolf and Germany looked down on East Africa in their hearts.
As the rulers of East Africa, the Rhine royal family and East African senior officials are well aware of this.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Now that Germany has access to the Mediterranean, we have more opportunities to deal directly with them. Especially after the opening of the North African railway, this will further increase our trade and exchanges with Germany."
"However, Germany may also take this opportunity to extend its influence into East Africa and incite some less intelligent extreme democratic believers and fanatical converts to German culture. We should be vigilant against such behavior."
The penetration of extreme nationalist ideas into the world is no less powerful than that of the Labour Party. In South America and the Middle East, it has cultivated a large number of German supporters.
As a German country, even if it is not a pure-blooded German country, East Africa cannot help but be influenced by this ideology.
In East Africa, a kind of abnormal extreme nationalist thinking has even emerged, and the supporters of this thinking are what Friedrich called cultural converts.
Ernst said: "This really needs to alert the government. While it's impossible to completely eliminate this dangerous ideology, it needs to make the supporters of this dangerous ideology public and make them the rats that everyone wants to see and punish."
"Of course, some people just blindly follow the trend. They don't have the ability to distinguish right from wrong. So this kind of political movement is not suitable for expansion. Otherwise, we will really become a totalitarian country like Germany and the Soviet Union."
The early Soviet Union was indeed a pure democracy, but as time went on, it inevitably moved towards authoritarianism. Just like now, Joseph has actually become the Red Tsar of the Soviet Union. Even if this was not his original intention, he could not avoid the development of this trend.
There was actually no problem with the Soviet Labor Party's institutional design, but the Soviet people were completely unable to match this idealized political system, which involved many issues such as human nature and literacy.
As for a completely idealized political system, only countries that have truly realized it can experience it. The early Soviet Union had this prototype because the Soviet Labor Party had not yet degenerated.
Compared with the Soviet Union, Germany was practicing tyranny without any cover, openly oppressing non-German ethnic groups and dissidents in the country.
Of course, both the Soviet Union and Germany are targets that must be strictly guarded against in East Africa. The father and son did not continue to discuss this issue.
After getting the topic back on track, Friedrich continued, "Now, Germany has acquired almost the entire shipbuilding industry system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This system still has great potential for development, because in the past, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not attach importance to the development of its navy."
"And Germany may undergo some changes. Under their leadership, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's shipbuilding industry may undergo a qualitative change. Germany has sufficient funds, talents, and technical reserves to digest and improve the former Austro-Hungarian Empire's shipbuilding industry."
"Of course, if Germany vigorously develops its navy, it will certainly not just be the Soviets who will be nervous. After all, the Soviet Navy is not worth the full force of the German Navy at the moment."
In the past, the Tsarist Russian Navy was a force that could not be ignored in Europe. Even after the Russo-Japanese War, the Tsarist Russian Navy's assets were still considerable.
With the change of the Tsarist regime, the original Tsarist navy suffered heavy losses, mainly due to personnel loss, poor management, strategic changes and other reasons.
Now, the strategic thinking of the Soviet Navy is the theory of small-scale warfare, which means that it only operates near the Soviet coast. To put it bluntly, even the Austro-Hungarian Navy is stronger than the Soviet Navy.
If Germany strategically prioritizes the Soviet Union, it will not need to invest too much in the navy. However, if Germany then vigorously develops its navy, then the enemy it will have to deal with first will be worth considering.
Anyway, East Africa is happy to watch the fun. No matter how the German navy develops, it is difficult to pose a threat to East Africa. If German warships want to reach the East African waters, they must pass through the Red Sea channel or take a detour to West Africa.
It is impossible to achieve this through the Red Sea channel because it is too narrow and has many joints. Take the Suez Canal as an example. It can be easily cut off tactically, especially after the development of the air force.
After crossing the Suez Canal, the Red Sea region is not safe either. It is also within the radiation range of the East African Air Force. Behind it are the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. Finally, it is necessary to bypass the Somali waters before breaking through to the core area of East African maritime security.
As for going around the West African coast from the Atlantic direction, it is not easy either. Although the difficulty is much less than the Red Sea route, Germany lacks military base support along the route. If it takes a military risk, it may repeat the old Russo-Japanese naval battle.
This geopolitical and strategic advantage of East Africa for Germany is actually valid for all other powers, even the United States cannot do this.
As a country that faces two oceans, East Africa has no powerful countries to the east and west. The United States is different. Its east may also be attacked by the navy of a powerful European country, although the possibility is extremely low.
For example, if the British Navy is determined to go to war with the United States, it is hard to predict who will win. And across the Pacific Ocean to the west of the United States, there is also a powerful Japanese navy. The attack on Pearl Harbor in the previous life was a masterpiece of the Japanese Navy.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "No matter how the German navy expands, East Africa can sit back and watch the situation unfold. The threat to East Africa is not even as great as that posed by countries like Britain and the United States."
The threat posed by the British Navy to East Africa mainly comes from its colonies and overseas military bases. With these strategic fulcrums, if Britain suddenly declares war on East Africa without declaring war, it is capable of striking the coastal areas of East Africa.
There are no island chains to provide defense in the waters near East Africa, which also makes it easier for the East African Navy to take the initiative.
Moreover, due to the dual-ocean nature of East Africa, it was impossible for Britain to launch a heavy attack on the main fleets of the two oceans in East Africa at the same time.
Especially in the South Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the UK also has fulcrums such as the Middle East, India, Seychelles, and Maldives.
But in the South Atlantic, Britain's colonies could not play a role. In the South Atlantic, Britain's two most important colonies were Nigeria and South Africa.
If they wanted to attack the west coast of East Africa through South Africa, they would have to pass through the long coast of Namibia. By the time the British warships entered the core Angolan waters, East Africa would have been prepared through Namibia's early warning system.
The same applies to Nigeria. It must first avoid the coastal areas of Cameroon and Gabon in the northwest of East Africa. Most of the areas in Cameroon and Gabon are tropical rainforests, and the population and industry are not dense, and do not have high value.
Therefore, it is tactically impossible for Britain to directly destroy the East African Navy, and once East Africa reacts, it will have to face an even more fierce counterattack from East Africa.
As for East Africa and the United States, the situation of the two navies is rather special. Neither side can overwhelm the other. It is not easy for the US Navy to attack East Africa, and the same is true for East Africa to attack the United States.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Now, after Germany annexed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its military and industrial capabilities and mobilization capabilities are the most terrifying."
"With the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany's industrial scale and size will be greatly enhanced. In extreme cases, Germany can even bring its military production capacity to the same level as us and the United States. Apart from the Soviet Union, no country in Europe can deal with an invasion from such a country alone."
The Soviet Union’s current strength is indeed not as great as the combination of Germany and Austria-Hungary, but it still has broad strategic depth to deal with Germany.
But theoretically, it would be difficult for other countries except the Soviet Union to resist Germany's first round of attack. Of course, if Germany stubbornly crashed into France's Maginot Line, that would be another story.
"However, in addition to the Anschluss of Germany and Austria, an important change in Europe that is easily overlooked is that Italy has achieved complete unification after this war. Now, Italy has actually become one of the new great powers."
Italy has become a true European power, which is indeed easy to overlook now because everyone's attention is on Germany.
Friedrich said: "Because the Austro-Hungarian Empire is about to be annexed by Germany, after Italy becomes a great power, the overall list of world powers will actually remain unchanged."
"However, there is indeed a lot of controversy about Spain. Spain has completely fallen behind the development of the international situation. Whether in terms of economic or military strength, there is a clear gap between Spain and Italy."
"Spain's current national strength and international influence are insufficient to support its status as a great power, and it can't even be ranked as a regional power."
Although Spain had declined greatly in the past, it still had its old capital to rely on, especially in Latin America where it had great influence.
However, Spain's strength is now not even as strong as Argentina and Mexico, the two former Spanish colonies, and Spanish-speaking countries are basically indifferent or even ignore their former colonial master.
Not to mention regional powers in Spanish such as Argentina and Mexico, even Chile, Cuba, Bolivia, etc. can ignore their relationship with Spain.
If Spain continues to maintain its status as a great power, then theoretically Argentina and Mexico can also do so. Argentina even surpasses Spain in military and economic terms, and has a certain say in South American affairs.
Therefore, Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Now Spain is not even a regional power, not to mention that Spain is in a place like Europe where there are many powerful countries. Overseas, Spain can only influence its few remaining colonies."
"Among these colonies, only Morocco has some value. Guinea and other places can be completely ignored."
It is not surprising that Spain maintains influence in Morocco, as Ceuta, across from Gibraltar, is Spanish territory, while Ceuta remains across from the port of Gibraltar.
The reason why Spain can control this place is simply because Morocco is too close to Spain and too weak.
"It has become a reality that Italy has replaced Spain among the great powers. Of course, this means that Italy has become the new goalkeeper of the great powers."
"Excluding Spain, the world powers are East Africa, the United States, Germany (Austria-Hungary), the Soviet Union, Britain, France, Japan and Italy.
"Economically, Japan and Italy are comparable, but Japan certainly has greater war potential."
Although both countries are resource-scarce countries, Japan has more colonies and a better geopolitical situation than Italy. Therefore, Japan's way of obtaining resources is more convenient and safer than Italy's.
Italy's advantage over Japan lies in the fact that Italy is located in Europe, so Italy has advantages over Japan in many industries. Europe is now the place where world technology and industry spread. Italy is easily favored by some international capital because of its cheap and abundant labor force and relatively convenient sea transportation conditions.
Moreover, Italy's accumulation of talent and technology is obviously deeper than that of Japan, which makes Italy stronger than Japan in the fields of automobile industry, machine tool manufacturing, aviation industry, chemical industry and so on.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Moreover, Italy has now taken over the two regions of Eastern Lombardy and Venice that were once ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
"Eastern Lombardy hasn't developed much in recent years, while Venice has become a key development area for Austria. Most of the local industries have fallen into Italian hands, including oil refining, chemicals, equipment manufacturing, etc."
"At the same time, Italy has gained a large part of the Po Valley, which will greatly ease land and population tensions in Italy."
After obtaining the entire Po Plain, Italy's food self-sufficiency policy can be better implemented, providing confidence for Benito's preparations for war.
Of course, it is also a great boost for Italy if the Austro-Hungarian Empire's investment industries in the above-mentioned areas fall into the hands of Italy. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has always been a traditional European power, and it has advantages over Italy in industry and industry.
(End of this chapter)
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