Chapter 1599 Province Merger
Whether in terms of material or personnel, the Nationalists have a greater chance of achieving ultimate victory. At the same time, if the Soviet Union's attitude towards the Spanish Civil War is the same as in the previous life, it will only further increase the Nationalists' chances of winning.
Although Germany and the Soviet Union were external forces to Spain in the past and did not sincerely support Spain's development, the cooperation model between the two sides and Spain was also an important interference factor in the outcome of the Spanish Civil War.
The Soviet Union cooperated with the Spanish Republicans more from the perspective of geopolitical security, which is understandable. However, it is well known that the Eastern Slavs prefer to do nothing when dealing with others, have a strong desire for control, are self-righteous, and are unwilling to listen to opinions.
Whether it was the previous purge of the Far Eastern Imperial Labor Party, the failure of the Hungarian regime, or the subsequent defeat of the Greater Austrian Coalition Government, the Soviet Union's blind command and interference were important reasons.
The Soviet Union was very fond of copying its own experience to deal with the labor party movements in other countries. At some critical moments, it failed to see the situation clearly and dragged down the labor parties of other countries. This was fully verified in the Far Eastern Empire and Hungary.
If the Soviet Union subsequently applied this approach to Spain, it would likely further weaken the already chaotic Republican faction.
On the other hand, Germany's attitude towards Spain is better, because compared with the Soviet Union, Germany is more likely to put Spain on the same footing in dialogue and will not be so domineering.
Because Germany hopes that Spain can cooperate with Germany and become its ally to directly threaten the French rear. At the same time, Spain controls the Strait of Gibraltar and faces Britain to the north. If the Spanish navy is strong, it can even cooperate with Germany to threaten the British navy.
Economically, Germany also has demands on Spain. For example, Spain's copper, iron, mercury and other resources are highly valued by Germany.
Even though Germany has now annexed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, greatly easing the pressure on resources, compared with other superpowers, Germany's resource situation is still at the bottom.
East Africa, the United States and the Soviet Union are all extremely vast and resource-rich mineral powerhouses, while Britain and France also have huge overseas suppliers of raw materials.
Therefore, Germany's resource pressure still exists, and some of Spain's minerals have become an important supplement to Germany. In addition, after Germany gained access to the Adriatic Sea, the import of Spanish mineral resources has become more convenient and the cost is lower.
In contrast, the Soviet Union did not have much economic demand on Spain. After all, the Soviet Union itself was one of the countries with the largest mineral resources in the world, and it could even be said that it had nothing in short supply.
In short, Ernst was not optimistic about the Republicans and their foreign aid, the Soviet Union.
He said: "For Spain's internal problems, we can contact the Nationalists in advance, especially Franco. Although Franco appears to be an extreme nationalist, he is actually a master of balancing the two."
"Spain and Portugal are two countries that love to produce such bizarre leaders. However, as long as they can guarantee the interests of East Africa, no matter how much trouble they cause at home, it has nothing to do with us."
Here, Ernst mainly refers to Salazar of Portugal and Franco of Spain. Their thoughts and actions can be said to be completely disorganized.
However, in Ernst's eyes, these two dictators are more "lovable". At least their rule will not have any negative impact on East Africa.
Whether Salazar or Franco, they could at least guarantee the neutrality of Portugal and Spain in Europe. For East Africa, a neutral Iberian Peninsula would obviously be more beneficial for East Africa's participation in European affairs and trade.
Crown Prince Friedrich also said: "As long as Spain and Portugal do not completely turn to other European camps, their influence on East Africa will not be significant. However, Franco himself is still questionable."
It is no wonder that he thought so. After all, Franco did rely on Spain's extreme populist parties. Before he actually came to power, who could guarantee that he would not be the next Adolf?
"Franco certainly needed the support of Spanish ultranationalists, but that doesn't mean he was an ultranationalist himself, at least not completely," Ernst said.
"Moreover, even if he really is an extremist, our connection with Europe cannot bypass Spain."
"So, we can adopt the same approach towards Spain as we did towards Italy. These two countries have no conflict of interest with East Africa and pose no threat to the region."
"At the same time, given the current economic situation, cooperation with Spain will also allow us to more easily circumvent the tariff restrictions of some European countries."
Italy is a newly emerging power after all, and its light industry sector is relatively well-known in Europe, while Spain's industrial development as a whole is relatively lagging behind in Europe.
It is precisely because of its industrial backwardness that other European countries will not be too strict in their trade with Spain and restrict the influx of Spanish industrial products. East Africa can take advantage of this and expand the scale of its trade with Western Europe through Spain.
…
September 4, 1935.
East Africa has made an adjustment to the administrative divisions in the north. This adjustment mainly involves the Azande Plateau region and its surrounding areas, which is considered a relatively large reshuffle.
At a working meeting chaired by Crown Prince Friedrich in Rhineland, he told East African officials, "This administrative division adjustment primarily involves integrating local resources to better meet the needs of regional economic development after the future opening of the North African railway."
The North African railway will be completed by the end of this year, which also means that this new trade route from East Africa to Europe will be activated.
It is precisely for this reason that the original administrative divisions along the railway in East Africa have become an obstacle.
"For a long time, the entire Azande Plateau region has been one of the most economically backward areas in the empire, and the four provinces there have become the low point of the northern economy."
"The northern part of the empire itself lags behind in the national economic landscape, so boosting the Azande Plateau's regional economy has become an urgent issue."
In recent years, as East Africa has tilted its policies towards the South and the Great Lakes region, the economies of the two regions have improved significantly, which has made the economic problems in northern East Africa more prominent.
The North has in fact become the last weak link in the East African regional economic bucket.
Crown Prince Friedrich continued, "The Azande Plateau itself is a key node in the empire's northern economic landscape. If we can develop it, we can open up the Ren and Du meridians of the northern economy and transportation, thus forming a new economic distribution belt connecting the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic coast."
The Azande Plateau is connected to the Great Lakes region in the southeast and is close to Cameroon and Gabon provinces in the northwest of East Africa in the north. It is a natural hub for the economy of northern East Africa.
If this hub is not utilized, the northeast and northwest of East Africa will not be connected. For example, if inland products want to be exported through western ports, they will have to pay more costs and reduce the efficiency of cargo transportation.
There is no alternative route to connect the economy of northern East Africa except through the Azande region, because the Azande region is bordered by the vast and difficult-to-develop Congo rainforest to the south and the Sahara Desert to the north.
Therefore, the economic interactions in northern East Africa cannot bypass the Azande region. At present, most of the major transportation routes in northern East Africa, including the Northern Railway, connecting the east and west coasts, are concentrated through the Azande region. It is impossible for East Africa to build a railway at a huge cost to replace the Azande Plateau and cross the rainforest and desert.
After all, northern East Africa is vast and sparsely populated, with extremely uneven population distribution and not very important political status, so it is not worth the fuss.
Therefore, the development of the Azande Plateau and surrounding areas must revolve around the Azande region.
In this regard, we can use the Hexi Corridor of the Far Eastern Empire as an analogy. The Far Eastern Empire connected to the Western Regions, and the Hexi Corridor was the best channel. This is also the transportation status of the Azande region in northern East Africa.
Of course, East Africa’s attention to the Azande region is certainly far less than the Far Eastern Empire’s attention to the Hexi Corridor. After all, the Hexi Corridor is related to its national security. Although the Azande Plateau belongs to the East African border, the national defense pressure faced by northern East Africa itself can be described as extremely small.
At the same time, East Africa’s military deployment in the northern region does not have to rely entirely on here. It can be fully realized through the West Coast Railway to provide support and troop transportation to the northern region.
Crown Prince Friedrich: "As a border region, the Azande region can also take advantage of land trade with Europe, West Africa, and North Africa to appropriately develop certain industries and focus on developing commerce."
Even with the opportunity of the North African Railway, East Africa will still tend to adopt a conservative development policy for developing industry in the north.
After all, East Africa's industrial production capacity is basically saturated now, so there is little point in building new large-scale industrial zones in the north, and the resource shortcomings in northern East Africa are still quite prominent.
The Azande region is roughly the area where the Central African Republic was located in the previous life. The more prominent resources there are diamonds and gold. Although these two minerals are of great value, their importance to industrial development is far less than that of energy minerals and metal minerals.
Of course, East Africa also has to consider one issue, which is that because it is close to the Sahara Desert, the ecology is relatively fragile and water resources are relatively tight, which makes it unsuitable for large-scale industrial construction.
Therefore, Crown Prince Friedrich set the tone and only developed appropriate industries in the local area.
The vigorous promotion of commerce is easy to understand. After all, the Azande region itself belongs to the East African border, adjacent to North Africa and West Africa. After the opening of the North African railway, it will also be able to trade with some countries in Europe and the Middle East.
However, even if business is developed, it can only improve the local economy. After all, the mainstream of East Africa's foreign trade is still the east and west coasts.
Fortunately, the population in northern East Africa is not large, so even if they can get a share, it will be enough to meet the economic needs of the local people.
"It is for the above considerations that in this administrative division change, the East Azande Province will be split, and its northwestern part and West Azande Province will form the new Azande Province, while most of the remaining areas will be assigned to the Province of Bavaria."
As a result, the original four provinces in the Azande region have become three, and are showing a trend of three-way balance of power.
Crown Prince Friedrich went on to say, "The new Azande Province will primarily connect with the Kingdom of South Germany and trade with West Africa, while the Bavaria Province will be connected to the North African Railway, becoming a new economic hub in the north."
"The subsequent transportation layout of Bavaria will be adjusted to become an intermediate link between the Great Lakes region and European trade,"
The Great Lakes region can support large-scale trade with Europe and activate the potential of North African railways. Therefore, in order to facilitate the subsequent connection between the Great Lakes region and North Africa, the new province of Bavaria has become the best choice.
At the same time, this will also integrate most of the resources of the original Bavaria and East Azande provinces, reduce administrative expenses, and promote the development and extension of the local industrial chain.
"The reorganization and merger of the New Azande Province and the Bavaria Province will not only help strengthen the Empire's trade with West Africa, North Africa, and Europe, but will also facilitate the Empire's coordination on issues such as environmental governance in the north and water resource allocation."
The climate in the northern part of the Azande region is relatively dry, so the water resource problem is more prominent. Now, the merger of the northwest part of East Azande Province and West Azande Province is intended to alleviate this problem.
For example, the Ok River in the north was originally occupied by East Azande and West Azande provinces respectively. Now the banks of the river are all included in one administrative region, avoiding disputes between the two provinces over water use.
At the same time, the Ok River, as an important tributary of the Shari River, also facilitates the coordination of water resources between East Africa and the Kingdom of South Germany.
There is no need to say much about the importance of the Shari River to the South German Kingdom. Its lower reaches can be said to be the most densely populated and economically developed area in the South German Kingdom, extending all the way to Lake Chad.
However, the upper reaches of the Shari River are in the hands of East Africa. The upper reaches of the Oke River were originally under the jurisdiction of two provinces. If East Africa wants to coordinate the allocation of water resources with the Kingdom of South Germany, it must consider the ideas of these two provinces. Now only one Azande Province is needed, which reduces the time for wrangling and improves efficiency.
In addition, one province is more convenient for regional river and environmental governance, which is conducive to maintaining policy uniformity and eliminating administrative barriers.
Of course, the merger of provinces will naturally encounter resistance. After all, personnel placement and transition pains must be taken into consideration.
However, as mentioned before, the Azande region itself is an economic depression in East Africa, so the resistance to promoting local administrative division adjustments in East Africa is not as great as imagined.
Friedrich said, "In the future, my hope is that the three provinces of Azande can become a comprehensive hub for trade between North Africa, Europe, West Africa, and even within China. Leveraging this locational advantage, we can fill the gaps in the empire's economic landscape and help the north catch up economically with other regions, or at least not fall too far behind."
From Friedrich's attitude, it can be seen that East Africa's administrative division adjustment of the current Azande region is largely intended to promote the coordinated development of East Africa's domestic regional economy.
However, the upper limit of northern East Africa is there. Even if East Africa strongly supports it, it is impossible for it to really surpass other economically developed regions in East Africa.
Therefore, the local economic development strategy does not necessarily have to be aligned with other regions in the country, but rather it should be tailored to local conditions and give full play to its own advantages.
(End of this chapter)
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