Chapter 1612 Military Regions and War Zones
The North African Free Trade Area is Crown Prince Friedrich's vision for the future of Darfur. For a place like Darfur, the only right way forward is to develop commerce. As for agriculture and industry, Darfur can do very little, and Darfur cannot resolve the limitation of water resources.
At the same time, service industries such as tourism are not active worldwide, so it is difficult for Darfur to gain another source of income through this route.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "The anchoring of the North African railway and the future highway connecting the southern German kingdom with the Sudanese region are the main avenues for sustainable development in Darfur and will become a meeting point for the four surrounding countries."
"At the same time, Darfur's current population should also be increased, at least to over one million, so that it will be easier to increase the population and market size along the southern end of the North African railway."
"Regarding the development of Darfur's mineral resources, we encourage Darfur to attract domestic companies to engage in development through low taxes and more flexible economic policies, thus laying the foundation for Darfur to obtain the funds it needs for development."
Darfur's mineral resources are only suitable for development by domestic East African companies. In places like this, the technical requirements for mineral development are higher, so only countries with strong industrial capabilities can do it.
For example, the uranium mines in Darfur are obviously of economic significance only to East African countries with nuclear industries. At the same time, the transportation of Darfur's minerals also requires the construction of transportation in the desert, overcoming natural disasters such as wind and sand, and water shortages.
That is to say, Darfur is controlled by East Africa. If it were just a neighboring country with no relationship with East Africa, it would have no chance of development at all.
Darfur in the past was a typical example. It was not only poor but also very turbulent.
At the beginning, Ernst was unwilling to incorporate Darfur, a land completely connected to East Africa, into the mainland because the basic conditions in Darfur were too poor. Instead, he kept it as a colony to avoid an economic burden.
Even with the North African Railway now in place, East Africa's attitude towards Darfur has not changed much.
The North African Railway seems to be very important to East Africa and has great strategic significance. It connects the large local market of East Africa and the Mediterranean market, and at the same time facilitates East Africa to strengthen its influence in the North African region. However, in reality, the North African Railway is only an insignificant branch line in East Africa's global transportation and trade network.
In the era of maritime transportation, the scale of maritime transportation can never be compared with that of land transportation, and the situation faced by East Africa in ocean transportation is definitely much better than that of most countries in the world.
At least now no country can block East Africa’s maritime trade routes, and merchant ships from East Africa can travel to various continents without being restricted by straits.
The hidden dangers in East Africa's maritime security are more regional. Take Europe as an example. To travel from East Africa to Europe, starting from the west coast, you can reach the west coast of Europe directly without passing through any straits.
However, if East Africa goes to central and eastern Europe, it may be clamped by the enemy and have to pass through choke points such as the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar.
In addition, there are no barriers between East Africa and Asia. For example, it is very convenient to travel to the Middle East and South Asia. However, if you want to go to the Far East of Asia, you have to pass through the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait. This means that East Africa's maritime security exists at a regional level rather than a continental level.
In this respect, East Africa's situation is similar to that of the United States, naturally possessing the foundation for becoming a maritime empire. Therefore, East Africa's maritime security is relatively stable, and in this context, the role of the North African railway is very limited.
If any country tries to use this branch line, which is not very important to East Africa, to threaten East Africa, it will be impossible to do so.
The opposite case is the former Far Eastern Empire’s Silk Road Economic Belt. The Far Eastern Empire’s maritime security was very unstable, especially when its opponent was the United States.
The Far Eastern Empire's coastline conditions are far superior to those of East Africa, but East Africa is a two-ocean country. If overseas colonies are included, East Africa even has a share of the four oceans, while the Far Eastern Empire has only one ocean, which is the Pacific Ocean.
In other words, the Far Eastern Empire can only develop maritime trade by going east along the Pacific route. However, even within the Pacific region, the Far Eastern Empire's maritime security is not secure. There are threats such as the Korean Peninsula and Japan nearby. At the same time, it has lost control of the first island chain. Now the entire coastal area has almost become "high seas", and ships from various countries can enter and exit without restraint.
Even if the Far Eastern Empire breaks through the first island chain, its maritime trade will still be restricted by the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal. If these key nodes cannot be controlled by itself, it will be controlled by others. Moreover, because these areas are too far away from the Far Eastern Empire, even at the same level of development, it will not be easy for the Far Eastern Empire to seize these throats.
Therefore, the Far Eastern Empire must consider the possibility that its sea trade routes may be cut off by the enemy. In this way, developing land trade routes becomes a necessary option for the Far Eastern Empire in the future.
Reopening a land trade route is not an easy task, especially for the enemies of the Far Eastern Empire. They are obviously well aware of the importance of this route to the Far Eastern Empire, so they will inevitably intervene.
Therefore, if the Far Eastern Empire wants to open up a land trade route, it must face up to the difficulties, withstand the enemy's pressure and difficulties, and be prepared for a long-term struggle and game.
Of course, if the land trade route can be reopened, that is, the ancient Silk Road can be restored, the benefits that the Far Eastern Empire can obtain will be astonishing.
This benefit includes both economic and strategic levels. Economically, if the Silk Road Economic Belt led by the Far Eastern Empire becomes a reality, the Far Eastern Empire will then become the center of land transportation in Eurasia, which will accelerate the flow of resources and economy from the entire Eurasian continent to the Far Eastern Empire.
Strategically, it can integrate the resources of the Eurasian continent, thereby laying the foundation for its status and interests in becoming a world empire.
After all, reopening the Silk Road means that the Far Eastern Empire's military, economic, and political aspects will radiate to the areas along the route, rather than simply building a transportation and trade route.
This can be seen from the two most powerful dynasties of Han and Tang in ancient Far Eastern Empire. They dominated the ancient Silk Road not only through economic efforts, but also through a series of means including military, political and diplomatic means.
The Western Han Dynasty cooperated with the countries in the Western Regions and defeated the Xiongnu, making the Western Regions its territory. The Eastern Han Dynasty dominated the entire Western Regions and parts of Central Asia. The Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence extended even deeper into today's Persia and other places, making it a leader in regional international affairs.
Therefore, reopening the ancient Silk Road means that the Far Eastern Empire has completed the integration of the entire Eurasian continent. Once the Eurasian continent is integrated and a dominant force emerges, we can directly refer to the sense of oppression during the heyday of the Soviet Union in the past.
Although there were more powerful monsters like the Mongol Empire before the Soviet Union, civilizations at that time were basically distributed in Eurasia, and outside of Eurasia, only North Africa was considered a relatively civilized and enlightened place.
In short, for the national conditions of the Far Eastern Empire, if it wants to become the world hegemon, land power must be taken seriously. This is determined by its geographical location and situation. For countries like East Africa, sea power is even more important.
…
Regarding the issue of sea power, in early 1936, the East African General Staff made some new adjustments in order to more reasonably and fully play the military role of East Africa in the global military deployment.
Chief of the General Staff Dollfuss reported to Ernst, Crown Prince Friedrich, and others at the meeting, saying, "With the expansion of the Empire's global influence in recent years, the previous division of the Empire's global combat zones has become somewhat outdated. Therefore, new adjustments should be made in the navy."
"At the same time, the division of domestic military regions should also be changed. Since the 20th century, the empire's in-depth intervention in Africa has also caused drastic changes in the geography of the African continent."
The East African Army and Navy have their own areas of responsibility. The Army is mainly internal, while the Navy is mainly external. The former corresponds to the so-called local military region, while the Navy is the war zone.
"Regarding adjustments to the mainland military regions, the focus is on the western and northern military regions. In order to better respond to changes on the northern border, the Northwest Military Region should be split into two parts, with Gabon and Cameroon separated from the Northwest Military Region and incorporated into the Western Military Region."
"The former Northwestern Military Region will be responsible for the security of Ubangi, Azande, Bavaria, Nile Province, Turkana Province, and the Darfur Colony, and will be renamed the Northern Military Region."
The Northern Military Region was one of the earliest military regions in East Africa. Later, with the expansion of East Africa's territory, it was divided into two parts, becoming today's Northwest and Northeast Military Regions.
Dollfuss continued, "The original Northeastern Military District will remain unchanged and continue to be responsible for the security of the northeastern part of the empire."
"In addition to incorporating the provinces of Cameroon and Gabon into the Western Military Region, the Southwestern Military Region should also be abolished and merged into the Western Military Region."
The Southwest Military Region, also known as the Namibian region, was originally established to guard against the British Royal Navy in South Africa. However, the Southwest Military Region is no longer necessary. South Africa itself is weak, and Britain is no longer a target of fear in East Africa.
Therefore, it would be better to merge the Southwestern Military Region into the Western Military Region, reintegrate its resources, save defense spending, and at the same time be more conducive to the Western Military Region to deal with enemies in the Atlantic and ensure the security of the entire west coast of East Africa.
After entering the 20th century, East Africa's potential enemies, or competitors, were essentially the Northern Hemisphere countries, while East Africa had no rivals in the Southern Hemisphere. It was for this reason that the original arrangement of the West Coast being under the jurisdiction of the three East African military regions became illogical.
In other words, the threat posed by East Africa on the west coast has now been basically eliminated, and in the future more emphasis will be placed on proactive attacks rather than defense.
Crown Prince Friedrich said, "Now in the South Atlantic, East Africa has effectively become the maritime hegemon of this region. The South Atlantic is unlike the Indian Ocean. Although our navy is equally strong in the Indian Ocean, key nodes such as the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are not under the control of the Empire, so there are still certain security risks."
The South Atlantic lacks the key strategic nodes like those around the Indian Ocean, so the development of the East African navy will not be trapped by choke points such as straits.
Ernst nodded and said, "This way, the Empire's mainland military districts will remain at five, but they will be divided into the Central Military District, the Western Military District, the Northern Military District, the Northeastern Military District, and the Southern Military District."
"The expansion of the Western Military Region will reduce military administrative expenses and facilitate resource integration."
"The new Northern Military Region will primarily respond to threats in North Africa. After the opening of the North African railway, it has become a viable military route between Europe and East Africa. Of course, the control of this military route is now in our hands."
The North African Railway can naturally serve as a channel for transporting troops and supplies. In the future, East Africa can use the North African Railway to influence the entire North African region. Of course, the prerequisite is to drive out the European forces in North Africa. Now is not the time, and the North African Railway mainly performs economic functions.
Dollfuss said, "Your Majesty is right. The North African Railway actually strengthens our strategic initiative in North Africa. However, we cannot act rashly now. After all, this is a project between us and Italy."
"The above is our General Staff's opinion on the adjustment of the domestic military districts. In addition to the division of the domestic military districts, we also have some ideas for the division of overseas theaters. The focus is on strengthening the linkage between overseas theaters and the domestic military districts, integrating national security with the Empire's global strategy."
"We plan to adjust the original overseas theaters into the Atlantic Theater, Northwest Indian Ocean Theater, Eastern Indian Ocean Theater, South Indian Ocean Theater and Pacific Theater."
"Among these theaters, the Northwest Indian Ocean Theater is responsible for monitoring the Gulf of Aden, as well as several key areas in South Asia and the Persian Gulf, while also safeguarding the security of my country's northeastern waters."
"The Eastern Indian Ocean Theater is responsible for coordinating our naval forces near the Sunda Strait and the Strait of Malacca, and maintaining the security of the Empire and the Pacific Ocean."
"The South Indian Ocean Theater is the naval reserve, which can support the other theaters at any time. To the west, it can monitor South Africa while crossing the Cape of Good Hope to support the Atlantic Theater. To the east, it can provide support to the Eastern Indian Ocean and Pacific Theaters, and to the north, it can support the Northwest Indian Ocean Theater."
From the division of war zones in East Africa, it is obvious that East Africa attaches great importance to the Indian Ocean. For this ocean alone, East Africa has divided it into three war zones, and two of them directly deal with possible external threats.
As for the South Indian Ocean theater, the only enemy it may encounter is South Africa. However, unless South Africa is crazy, it will not take the initiative to provoke East Africa.
Dollfuss said: "Of the five overseas theaters, the Pacific Theater is the farthest from the mainland. The empire's territories and interests in the Pacific are very dispersed. In addition, both the United States and Japan have relatively strong naval forces in the Pacific, so it is not suitable to deploy too many naval forces."
"Although the Atlantic is also a theater of war, the situation is completely different from that of the Pacific because our colonies and overseas interests are more concentrated in the Atlantic."
In the Pacific direction, the colonial situation in East Africa is too complicated, with some parts in the east and some in the west. In the Atlantic direction, East Africa has only one overseas colony, Togoland, so there is naturally no need to subdivide the East African Atlantic Navy.
(End of this chapter)
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