Chapter 1619 German Winter Olympics
Compared to East Africa, Alaska obviously cannot reach the status that Canada and Australia have among British colonies.
At the same time, due to historical and geographical reasons, Alaska does not want to separate from East Africa.
Historically, the main concern about Alaska was the Soviet Union. As we all know, Alaska was purchased by the Rhine royal family from the Tsarist royal family. During the Tsarist era, the Russians did not care much about Alaska, but now some people in the Soviet Union do not recognize it.
This was not the idea of the Soviet government, but it could not withstand the support of a very small number of "imperial Russian" elements within the Soviet Union who believed that the transaction between the Tsar and the Rhine royal family was illegal, and that the Tsarist royal family could not represent the Soviet (Russian) people and sell out national interests.
At the same time, the military significance of Alaska has been clearly recognized by various countries in recent years. Especially after the emergence of aircraft, Alaska has become a key "stepping stone". Whoever controls Alaska means whoever controls the initiative in the airspace of the North Pacific region.
If the Soviet Union obtained Alaska, it would gain air superiority over Canada and the United States. Therefore, some "knowledgeable people" in the Soviet Union are now clamoring to take back Alaska.
Therefore, Alaska was very wary of the Soviet Union.
Geographically, Alaska is wary of even more countries, including the Soviet Union, Japan, the United States, and Canada, so Alaska needs East Africa's military support for its national defense.
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Anchorage is the capital of the Alaskan colony and the most populous area in Alaska.
The coastal lowlands centered on Anchorage are also the most densely populated area in Alaska. In fact, before the 19th century, Alaska's population was more concentrated in southeastern Alaska, which is a temperate maritime climate area.
After entering the 20th century, with the growth of population and the construction of railways, Anchorage and its surrounding areas rose rapidly.
Up to now, the population of Anchorage city alone has reached 230,000, making it the largest city in Alaska. This population size is not bad even in East Africa, let alone Alaska.
Anchorage can gather such a large population thanks to the development of local agriculture. Anchorage and its surrounding areas can also develop planting industry. The main crops include potatoes, barley, beets, radishes and other cold-resistant crops.
In the 19th century, due to climate and environmental constraints, it was difficult for East Africa to effectively develop the Anchorage area. Later, with the industrialization of East Africa and the advancement of mechanical manufacturing, land reclamation in this area was accelerated.
Although it is close to the Arctic and has a non-temperate maritime climate, Anchorage and its surrounding areas are not as cold as imagined. The winter temperature here generally does not drop below minus ten degrees Celsius. However, the summer temperature in Anchorage is also unlikely to rise.
"...For a high-latitude area, Anchorage benefits from the influence of the ocean and the mountains, with neither severe winter cold nor extreme summer heat."
"The ocean brings us warmth, while the towering mountains prevent most of the cold and humid air from moving south. Therefore, Alaska is definitely an ideal viewing destination for tourists from the mainland of the empire and other regions."
Anchorage's tour guide Ma Xuesen is introducing Anchorage to a tour group from the empire.
These newly arrived tourists were very excited. They wore thick down jackets and had a lot of fun walking on the snow on the roadside in Anchorage.
"Anchorage is such a magical place!" exclaimed Richard, a tourist from Cabinda. "Cabinda is hot and humid all year round, which is completely different from Anchorage."
"The cityscape here is also very different from that in mainland China. It looks a bit like the Soviet architecture in pictures."
The architecture in Alaska is indeed in the same line as that of the Soviet Union, or more accurately, the former Tsarist Russia. You can even see many onion-shaped roofs.
Ma Xuesen explained: "Alaskan architecture is indeed very similar to that of the Soviet Union, or the two are the same thing. Of course, over the years, we in Alaska have also developed some of our own characteristics."
"Alaska itself was once a colony of Tsarist Russia, so when the first imperial immigrants arrived here, they continued the architectural style of the Tsarist era."
"There are still some descendants of Tsarist Russia in Alaska itself, but they have now been completely integrated."
To be more precise, when the Rhine royal family took over Alaska, the main local residents were Creoles.
The so-called Creoles are a new mixed-race group that was created by the intermarriage or union between Russians and local indigenous people. They are culturally no different from the Russians.
However, precisely because of this, the local Creoles later integrated into Alaska without too many problems. After all, Creoles, like East Africans, are a mixed race of yellow and white.
Moreover, their number was too small. When the Rhine royal family bought this land, there were less than two thousand so-called Creoles.
Ma Xuesen said: "Although there are not many descendants of the former Tsarist Russia in Alaska, we have learned some of their survival experiences in the local area and have survived the difficult period of the early development of Alaska."
"This included Russian architectural models and styles. Of course, later, as cities emerged, under the auspices of the government, we also sent people to Tsarist Russia to study in depth their cold-zone architectural construction methods."
"So if you've been to cities in the Soviet Union, you might be surprised at how similar Anchorage is to them."
"It wasn't until the 1920s that Anchorage began to further explore the architecture of high-altitude countries and regions such as Canada, Northern Europe, and even the Far East Empire and Japan. Combining this with Anchorage's own characteristics, they developed some new architectural styles."
In the early days of Alaska, the development of cities and settlements completely followed the Russian experience, as this was the fastest way to achieve the fastest results. After all, Tsarist Russia was the only powerful country that represented the high-latitude cold zone at that time.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia is close to Alaska, so Alaskans do not need to go to the European part of Tsarist Russia, but can "learn from it" in its Far East.
Canada, on the other hand, had not developed at all during the same period, so Alaska did not learn from Canada in this regard. Instead, it went far away and learned from Russia. Later, the relationship between East Africa and Britain deteriorated rapidly, which also led to the deterioration of relations between Alaska and Canada.
This situation continued until the early 20th century. As East Africa grew stronger, Britain had to accept its fate and could no longer stop the rise of East Africa. So it took the initiative to seek to ease relations with East Africa. Canada was already very independent at that time and would not directly offend another world power for Britain.
However, Canada also missed the best window to exert influence on Alaska at that time, making the "Russian style" completely become the mainstream in the field of architecture in Alaska.
However, with the strong rise of Canada's economy and industry in the early 20th century, especially in the 1920s, Canada can be said to be unrivaled in the world, and its economy can even be compared with some world powers.
During the same period, the economy of Tsarist Russia declined due to various reasons, and was later replaced by the Soviet (Russian) Labor Party.
Alaska experienced a "Canadian fever" in the 1920s. Of course, no matter whether Alaska learned from Russia or Canada, its cultural backbone has always been East African culture, or German culture, and other cultures are just embellishments.
In Alaska, German culture is the mainstream. In some hardware aspects, such as urban construction and architectural style, as well as agricultural crops, it is close to Tsarist Russia. In terms of cultural customs and lifestyle, it is greatly influenced by the Far Eastern Empire, and also has some cultural colors of Canada and the Inuit.
Ma Xuesen told the tourists: "Alaska is a very tolerant place, and its cultural differences from the mainland are relatively significant, making it the empire's only 'cold pearl'."
This so-called pearl of the cold zone does not have much value. After all, East Africa has only one cold zone colony, Alaska, especially in high-latitude areas.
Ma Xuesen went on to introduce, "In the next few days, in addition to enjoying the beautiful local snow scenery and ice sculptures, we can also participate in some of Alaska's ice and snow sports. Just at the Winter Olympics earlier this month, Alaska won two medals for the Empire, one silver and one bronze. This is an absolute honor in the Empire."
The Winter Olympics were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany from February 6 to 16, 1936, and were the fourth Winter Olympics.
East Africa won two medals, one silver and one bronze. There is no doubt that the winners of these two medals are athletes from Alaska, representing East Africa.
Even though East Africa didn't even win a single gold medal, this still surprised the Europeans.
After all, in the general impression of Europeans, East Africa is a tropical country. Even in most parts of East Africa, snow is a very rare sight.
"A total of 29 countries participated in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Olympics in Germany, and only 12 of them won medals. We in East Africa are one of them, and we are also one of the only three non-European countries to win medals."
"And through the efforts of our Alaskan athletes, the Empire State's two medal counts also ranked ninth, surpassing countries like Canada, France, and Italy."
At the 1936 Winter Olympics, medals were basically monopolized by Europe. Outside Europe, only the United States, Canada and East Africa won medals. Among them, the United States was the strongest. In addition to winning one gold medal, the United States also won three bronze medals.
Next is East Africa with one silver and one bronze medal, while Canada only has one silver medal.
Norway tops the list, significantly ahead of other countries with fifteen bronze medals and seven gold medals. Germany comes in second with a total of eleven medals, including five gold medals.
Of course, Germany's number of medals far exceeds that of its previous life, thanks to its annexation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The former Austro-Hungarian Empire contributed five medals to Germany, including two gold medals.
However, this Winter Olympics does not reveal much. For example, the Soviet Union, a powerhouse in ice and snow sports, did not participate. If it had participated, it would have had the strength to compete for the top spot.
In the past, the Soviet Union achieved a "blockbuster" when it participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time and topped the list. If the Soviet Union participates in this Winter Olympics, it will definitely be in the top three.
Richard said with a hint of regret, "It's a pity that the Soviet Union didn't participate in ice and snow sports. However, if the Soviet Union had participated, it would have been difficult for us in East Africa and other countries to get opportunities to perform."
Ma Xuesen remained noncommittal about this, but he emphasized, "Even if the Soviet Union participated, Alaska could still win honor for the Empire. Moreover, competitive sports in Alaska are just getting started. With economic development, Alaska will be able to train more outstanding athletes for the Empire in the future."
"It's not just the Winter Olympics. Maybe Alaska can also achieve something in this year's Summer Olympics."
In 1936, Germany applied to host two international events, the Winter Olympics and the Summer Games, which was obviously actively promoted by the Adolf government in order to demonstrate German superiority and for political purposes.
However, just looking at the recent Winter Olympics, the German government's goal was well achieved. Germany itself ranked second in the medal and gold medal lists, while Norway, which ranked first, and Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, which ranked high, were all of the so-called "Aryan" pure blood designated by Adolf.
Therefore, even though Germany only came in second, it successfully highlighted the so-called "superiority" of the Aryans.
Moreover, through international events such as the Olympics, Adolf was very successful in promoting "German peace" to the world. Although Germany did not suffer the humiliation of defeat in this time and space, Adolf still remained cautious, thereby paralyzing other countries' vigilance against Germany. This was also the political purpose of Germany's active hosting of the Olympics.
Talking about this year's Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Richard also became interested. He said, "Wait until August. That's when the Empire will really show its strength. By then, it won't be like the previous Winter Olympics where you Alaskans have to struggle to support them."
"The local sports industry is very strong in the world. Unfortunately, most of the country, including our own, is tropical, so we can't participate in the Winter Olympics."
"I dare to assert that the Empire will be able to rank at least in the top three in the medal table at the Berlin Olympics in August this year, even without including overseas territories."
East Africa has many overseas colonies, among which Alaska, East Kalimantan and Mindanao are well developed. If you are lucky, you may win a medal.
Of course, the probability of this happening is not high. After all, these places have small populations. Although their economies are well developed, they are only compared with other colonies or backward countries.
The sports industry in East Africa itself is very developed, not to mention that the local population of East Africa is as high as nearly 200 million. In this case, it would be unreasonable if East Africa could not squeeze into the top three in the medal list.
In fact, in the competition in the field of sports, there are only three countries that can pose a threat to East Africa. The first is the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union is unlikely to participate, so it can be excluded. Then there is Germany as the host country, and finally the United States.
Germany's sports strength is definitely much stronger than in the past. After all, Germany is now a combination of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while in the past, Germany was at the top of the list at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and had a huge lead over the second-placed United States. In this time and space, the competitiveness of German sports will only be stronger.
However, the emergence of this East African country has also brought major changes to whether Germany can continue its "myth".
(End of this chapter)
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