Chapter 1590: Fierce Confrontation between East and America
For a long time, East Africa did not make many moves in the direction of West Africa. Its only colony in West Africa was Togoland, which was purchased from Germany.
The reason why East Africa's expansion in West Africa was so slow ultimately stemmed from East Africa's strategic choices. Before 1935, East Africa had two main strategic areas, namely the so-called South Pacific and South America.
After the 1930s, East Africa's advantages in Southeast Asia and South America had basically been established, and it had also reached a bottleneck, so it began to turn its guns and attack other regions.
The northwestern region of Africa is an important resource-rich area in the world. Its oil occupies an important position in the world's energy minerals. There are regions such as Nigeria with amazing oil potential. There are also many other regions with oil development potential, such as Niger, Maunitania, etc.
Secondly, there are iron ore mines in northwest Africa. Guinea, Maunitania, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire all have huge development potential. They not only have large reserves but also high-quality ore.
Although East Africa does not lack iron ore, if it can control the iron ore resources in northwest Africa in the future, it will further enhance East Africa's international status and influence.
Finally, the bauxite resources in northwest Africa are particularly important for the development of the electrolytic aluminum industry on the west coast of East Africa.
The west coast of East Africa has the greatest hydropower potential in East Africa due to the presence of rivers such as the Congo River.
If the hydropower in northern Angola, Gabon, Cameroon and other places can be combined with the bauxite in northwest Africa, the position of East African aluminum industry in the world can be greatly consolidated.
Of course, there is another condition in northwest Africa that is quite attractive to East Africa, that is, these resource-rich countries are basically distributed along the Atlantic coast. With the extremely low cost of sea transportation, West Africa may become the most stable, safe and reliable supplier of raw materials to East Africa in the future.
The premise of all this is that the East African Navy completely expands its influence along the northwest coast of Africa, drives out European forces, and prevents Americans from infiltrating.
Therefore, the construction of Dakhla Port is extremely important.
East Africa, Rhine City.
Ernst pointed to a map of the northwest coast of Africa and said to Crown Prince Friedrich, "After the completion of the port of Dakhla, the Imperial Navy's control over the South Atlantic will be further strengthened."
"With Dakhla as the center, the Empire can strengthen its surveillance of the Northern Hemisphere, especially European countries. Most European ships heading to northwest Africa will prioritize passing through the northwestern coastal waters."
"Originally, what we wanted most was the Cape Verde Islands or other ports along the route, but unfortunately countries like Portugal didn't give us this opportunity."
Cape Verde is known as the "Crossroads of the Atlantic" and is located at the intersection of the shipping routes of Europe, Africa and America.
This location makes it a key node controlling the north-south and east-west shipping routes in the Atlantic.
It is an important transit point connecting the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic, Europe and South America, and North America and Africa.
Many transoceanic routes, especially ships sailing from South America around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe or Asia, pass through the waters near Cape Verde.
At the same time, the area is also an ideal "air refueling station", which can play a role similar to the air routes connecting Greenland and Iceland to Europe and North America.
It is both a crossroads at sea and an aerial refueling station. No wonder Ernst is obsessed with the Cape Verde Islands. Unfortunately, the historical grievances between East Africa and Portugal have now become an obstacle for East Africa to gain local dominance in Cape Verde.
Crown Prince Friedrich also felt sorry for the situation. He said bluntly: "If Cape Verde could be controlled by the Empire, the South Atlantic would almost become the Empire's inland sea."
This is not an exaggeration. East Africa has already established a naval base in Togoland, and also has naval branches in Venezuela and other countries in northern South America. The Atlantic Ocean between the two places lacks a strategic fulcrum that can connect East Africa's naval bases in the Atlantic.
Doing so, not to mention completely controlling and blockading the South Atlantic, will also prevent other countries from challenging East Africa's position in the South Atlantic.
Crown Prince Friedrich then pointed out: "Another crucial point is that if Cape Verde is under our control, we can suppress Liberia, the United States' frontier base in Africa."
"Cape Verde is an important transit point for the US Navy on its way to Liberia. Without Cape Verde, the cost of US support for Liberia would increase."
Before East Africa entered South America in large numbers, the United States paid little attention to Liberia. But now, Liberia has almost become the front line of the confrontation between the United States and East Africa.
Especially since the United States implemented the "Good Neighbor Policy" and turned the table in Latin America, the relationship between East Africa and the United States became more tense. In order to counter the connection between East Africa and the Caribbean, in mid-1934, the Roosevelt administration further enhanced Liberia's status in the US global strategy.
Although France and Britain are the most powerful forces in northwest Africa, East Africa is well aware that the United States is its real opponent.
Both France and Britain are continuing to weaken, and their national strength is completely unable to compete with superpowers like East Africa and the United States. In fact, the expansion of France and Britain in West Africa has almost reached its limit.
Although this progress is slower than that of the Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions, initial signs have already appeared, such as the awakening of the independent consciousness of the colonial elites of the two countries.
If East Africa and the United States are willing to speed up this process, it will not be difficult to overthrow the rule of France and Britain in Northwest Africa.
The reason why West Africa can maintain stability is essentially because there are differences in interests between the two major powers, East Africa and the United States. As the two tigers fight each other, France and Britain become safer.
Neither East Africa nor the United States dares to break the balance in northwest Africa first, because whoever takes action first will inevitably lead European colonial powers such as France and Britain to side with the latter.
Ernst said, "We don't need to be impatient about northwest Africa. The longer we delay, the greater the empire's advantage will be. When the time is right, we will invest our energy and get the biggest piece of the pie."
"What we fear most now is being too aggressive and siding with France, Britain and the United States. Therefore, in northwest Africa, we must abide by the rules of the game and gradually penetrate the local economy and culture within the framework of the international order."
Breaking the rules of the game is the way countries like the Soviet Union and Germany play, because they have no way out or more options. The situation in East Africa is obviously not to this extent.
For example, Germany's previous conquest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused serious damage to the interests of East Africa's traditional largest market, the Central and Eastern European market, but East Africa did not make any big move on the surface.
If you put yourself in their shoes, this is similar to Britain losing the Indian market. If this really happens, Britain will definitely be furious and do everything it can to prevent the situation from worsening.
East Africa's confidence comes from the fact that its market is diversified. The losses in the Central and Eastern European markets can be compensated by the expansion in other regions, so as not to cause serious damage to East Africa.
Of course, this is also due to the fact that East Africa has been planning and building a moat for its own economy and market since the beginning of this century.
Judging from the market scope alone, East Africa's share in the world has been shrinking since the 20th century. For example, East Africa has been impacted by the three major markets of North America, the Far East and Europe.
However, the newly opened South Atlantic and Indian markets in East Africa, as well as the recently developed Mediterranean market, are all progressing steadily.
Moreover, among these three major markets, the first two in East Africa have already occupied absolute dominance and are not easily interfered with by other powerful countries. After the opening of the North African railway, the security of the Mediterranean market will be greatly enhanced.
The Far East, North American and European markets are more attractive, but uncontrollable. Once countries in the region target East Africa, it will be difficult for East Africa to safeguard its legitimate interests even if it has strong military strength.
The most typical examples are the United States and the Soviet Union. After the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929, the United States overturned its original economic policies and imposed tariff barriers, focusing on East African companies exporting to the United States, resulting in a significant reduction in East Africa's market share in the United States.
Apart from verbally condemning the United States, East Africa has no way to effectively counter the United States. It is impossible to send warships to the doorstep of the United States and force the United States to completely open its borders.
One thing to note here is that East Africa, as the world's largest industrial country, originally had an advantageous position in trade with the United States. Therefore, when the United States launched a tariff war, East Africa was the main loser.
This is just the economic field. Politically, the good-neighbor policy implemented by the Roosevelt administration of the United States also caused East Africa to suffer a loss.
Of course, from the perspective of East Africa, the United States' various actions are unkind and unjust. Conversely, the United States also believes that East Africa is not a good thing.
From the outbreak of the economic crisis in 1929 until Roosevelt came to power, relations between East Africa and the United States were at their worst in history.
Under the instigation of American public opinion and the government, some American people believe that East Africa's dumping of American industry and agriculture is one of the important reasons for the outbreak of the US economic crisis.
Therefore, when the United States significantly increased tariffs on East African goods, the American people generally supported this policy.
After Roosevelt came to power, relations between East Africa and the United States seemed to have eased. After all, he publicly expressed the friendly relations between the United States and East Africa.
However, this verbal statement has no practical significance. As a very resourceful politician, Roosevelt's attitude towards East Africa is more like "sweet words but a sharp knife in the heart", and he is better at using a soft knife to poke East Africa's soft spots.
However, this is not surprising. The rise and growth of East Africa in the world has in fact threatened the interests of the United States. Unless the United States really has a good guy like Carter, any American president will regard East Africa as the biggest threat.
Yes, now East Africa is America’s number one competitor, not the Soviet Union.
Although the Soviet Union was an enemy of the United States, the United States' fear of the Soviet Union was mainly due to the ideological threat posed by the Soviet Union.
However, East Africa and the United States have a real conflict of interests, which involves American industries and the issue of discourse power in the entire capitalist world.
Now, there are three leaders in the world capitalist world, namely East Africa, the United States and Germany. More than 90% of capitalist countries hope that these three countries can join forces to completely eliminate the Soviet Union.
Of course, countries around the world obviously do not want East Africa, the United States and Germany to really form an alliance and divide the world. This contradictory psychology is also an important variable in the current international order.
However, East Africa and the United States do have common topics, such as the issue of suppressing European development, especially the recent dominance of the Soviet Union and Germany.
The Soviet Union's second five-year industrial plan was being completed in full swing and the country's national strength was growing.
After Germany annexed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would also be at the peak of its power in Europe.
Next, no matter whether Germany or the Soviet Union wins in the end, both countries are likely to unify Europe and become a superpower capable of threatening East Africa and the United States. This is naturally not what East Africa and the United States want to see.
Therefore, compared with the fierce battle between East Africa and the United States in the Atlantic, the two countries have more common topics in competing for European interests.
As long as Europe's rise fails and this amazing market is freed up, East Africa and the United States can temporarily "coexist peacefully."
Europe alone supports six world powers: Germany, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and Italy, as well as a number of small and medium-sized economic powers that are not strong but live comfortably. This shows the amazing consumption capacity and level of the entire European market.
This is the world's largest consumer market with a population of nearly 500 million, while the combined population of East Africa and the United States is only 300 million, only three-fifths of Europe.
In addition, whoever rules Europe will be able to control North Africa along the Mediterranean coast, the Middle East, and Central Asia close to Europe, and basically influence most of the European continent and part of Africa.
Ernst said: "Our current deployment in northwest Africa generally serves the empire's world strategy."
"The ultimate goal is to turn northwest Africa into a springboard for the empire's advance into Europe. Once Europe's internal conflicts are thoroughly aroused and chaos reigns, we can then jump out and reap the benefits."
"At that point, our clear competitor is the United States. Obviously, the United States can more easily invade Europe due to its geographical location, while we are still restricted by geographical barriers and passes such as the Suez Canal, the Sahara Desert, Gibraltar, and the English Channel."
The United States is the clear future competitor for European interests in East Africa. As for the other competitor, the ultimate winner in Europe, it will most likely come from Germany and the Soviet Union.
However, even if Europe emerges as the final winner, East Africa and the United States will not allow this winner to completely swallow up the interests of the entire Europe. On the contrary, swallowing up all the European interests is also the goal that European countries such as Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom are trying to achieve.
Crown Prince Friedrich nodded and said, "Compared to the Red Sea route where the Suez Canal is located, it is obvious that expanding the Atlantic route and building a route from the empire to Europe will be the easiest."
"So, a series of policies on railways in northwest Africa and North Africa are all centered around the European pie."
"As for expansion in northwest Africa, the United States is the biggest obstacle to East Africa's development. Whether it's to maintain its position and interests in the Atlantic or to prevent East Africa from snatching the fruits of Europe's victory in the future, the United States will not remain indifferent."
"This also means that the dispute between us and the United States in the Atlantic will further expand. In the past, the main battlefield between the two countries was in South America, but now it has expanded to the Caribbean Sea and the waters northwest of Africa. Once we break through these two regions, it means that the North Atlantic may also become a battlefield for confrontation between the Empire and the United States."
(End of this chapter)
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