Chapter 1632: Enemies in East Africa
This is just under normal circumstances. If necessary, a Ju52 transport plane can accommodate more people. In addition to German aircraft, Italy also sent more than a dozen aircraft to support Franco, and Morocco itself also has some military aircraft.
Therefore, the German and Italian air forces were fully capable of sending the African Corps, including personnel and equipment, to wherever Franco wanted to go.
…
Late July 1936.
While the Spanish Civil War was raging, Germany, the main sponsor of the rebellion, was enjoying peace and prosperity.
The German capital of Berlin is making final preparations for the Olympic Games, an international event with symbolic significance for peace.
More than 60 countries and regions have confirmed their participation in the Berlin Olympics. Africa has an unprecedented five participating countries and regions, namely East Africa, the Kingdom of South Germany, Egypt, the Abyssinian Empire, and South Africa.
In the previous Berlin Olympics, only two African countries and regions participated, namely Egypt and South Africa, and both places were considered British colonies.
At the newly built Berlin Olympic Stadium, Adolf himself is personally inspecting the construction progress of the venue.
"Your Excellency, the Berlin Olympic Stadium has been fully completed. It is a super stadium that can accommodate 100,000 spectators and was designed by designers such as Werner Mach."
"It is also equipped with the most advanced facilities, including changing rooms, lounges and press rooms, reflecting our German care for athletes and spectators..."
Speer, the supervising builder of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, followed Adolf and showed him the various facilities and grand design concepts of the stadium.
Speer can be regarded as Adolf's official architect. Many of Germany's iconic buildings were completed by him over the years, including Adolf's official residence.
Adolf turned around and said to Speer, "Albert, you have done a great job. The construction of the Berlin Olympic Stadium is amazing. I believe it will be a witness to the outstanding achievements of our Aryan athletes in the upcoming Olympic Games in the Reich."
"It also allows the world to see Germany's outstanding achievements in many fields, including architecture, art, and technology."
"The construction of the venues and supporting facilities for the Berlin Olympics has proven that you are an outstanding German. After the Olympics, I will give you an important task, which is to make the entire Berlin a unique city in the world."
Adolf was not satisfied with Berlin's current urban construction. In his opinion, Berlin lacked artistry and was not majestic enough. It was far inferior to Paris and Vienna. Berlin's buildings were like a pile of objects pieced together in a haphazard manner.
So, in Adolf's view, Berlin was just a big city, but not a truly world-famous metropolis.
Speer was very excited about Adolf's promise. He calmed himself and said firmly, "Rest assured, Prime Minister, in our hands Berlin will become the greatest and most artistic city in the world, the center of the German nation and even the world."
With Adolf's instructions, the major project of transforming Berlin may officially start this year. After all, the government led by Adolf is very efficient.
At the same time, Germany's national strength at this time was unprecedentedly strong. After annexing the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany's population exceeded 100 million, its total economic output ranked among the top three in the world, and its industrial strength was unmatched in Europe.
In addition, Germany itself suffered very little loss after the First World War in this time and space, which gave Germany stronger economic strength than in the previous life.
Therefore, a major project like the transformation of Berlin is not a big problem for Germany today, and Speer also hopes to use this opportunity to leave a significant mark in German history.
Just as Adolf and others were immersed in the magnificence of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, his secretary came over and whispered.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, this is the battle report from Spain. Our planes have arrived at Melilla and other airports, successfully assisting Franco in transporting part of his troops to southern Spain."
Adolf took the document and read it carefully, then nodded with satisfaction and said, "Our Air Force performed well. They have made a great contribution this time. I will have Goering award them medals and bonuses later."
Adolf was not stingy with his praise for the excellent performance of the Air Force. Now that they could airlift Spanish soldiers to the Spanish mainland, they would be able to deploy the imperial army to the enemy's rear and attack the enemy by surprise.
At this time, Adolf said: "At the same time, let Goering prepare. The upcoming Spanish War may still require the Imperial Air Force to contribute. The Spanish Labor Party still has the upper hand and controls most of Spain's resources."
"Therefore, Franco and his men will inevitably be outmatched by the Madrid Labour Party government in terms of weaponry. If necessary, we must not only support Franco, but even send troops to personally help him put down the Labour Party regime."
In Adolf's eyes, the current Spanish Republican government is no different from the Labor Party regime. After all, Adolf's own creed is that it is better to kill a thousand people by mistake than to let one go.
Since there are Labour Party members in the Spanish Republican government, there is no difference between this government and the Labour Party, and they are both targets that he must eliminate.
"The Air Force must be on standby at all times. Of course, we will not get involved in Spanish affairs during the Berlin Olympics."
"This sports meeting itself is intended to showcase the empire's external image, and also to confuse European countries and make them relax their vigilance against Germany."
It is true that in Adolf's eyes, other European countries are just a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp, but he is not so arrogant as to challenge the whole of Europe alone.
In order to achieve the conquest of Europe, Adolf had a clear plan in his mind. The first step was to deal with Germany's old rival France, and then turn around to deal with the Soviet Union. First weak and then strong, the overall situation in Europe would be basically determined. Then Germany would join forces with Britain and other countries to keep the United States, East African countries and other countries out and compete with them.
Now, Adolf still has illusions about Britain. After all, Britain is also part of his so-called Aryans.
Of course, if the French knew what Adolf was thinking, they would probably be furious.
They became what Adolf considered to be a soft target, but this was also the fact. Now there were only two countries on the European continent that Adolf considered to be a certain threat, namely France and the Soviet Union.
As for Poland, its strength has been greatly weakened compared to the previous life, and now it has become a younger brother of Germany. Although Adolf looks down on Poland, he will not completely overthrow it just because of Poland's Slavic ancestry. At least before Germany unified Europe, Adolf did not have this idea. However, if Germany really unified Europe, that's hard to say.
Adolf made no secret of his plan and said to the two men, "The battle in Europe must be swift, and our number one target is France. Once France is defeated, the Soviet Union will naturally no longer be our opponent."
"In fact, we can't say that we have a 90% chance of winning in Europe, but the chances of winning are over 70%. What really worries me is the attitudes of the United States and the two East African countries."
"But as things stand now, the US isn't very interested in European affairs. Instead, we should be wary of East Africa."
"Intelligence indicates that East Africa has interfered in Spain's affairs. Furthermore, East Africa is now cooperating economically with Italy, and its relations with France and the Soviet Union are also ambiguous. This is a very dangerous sign."
After nearly a hundred years of packaging by the United States, most countries have indeed become more friendly towards the United States. In addition, the American news media now likes to regard itself as "glorious isolation" all day long, so in the eyes of many countries, the United States really looks harmless.
East Africa certainly cannot do this because since the founding of East Africa, all its diplomatic and military actions have revealed an extremely exaggerated aggressiveness. Otherwise, East Africa would not have become the second largest country in the world while occupying so many overseas colonies.
Adolf said, "East Africa will inevitably become a major enemy of the Empire in the future. Their sphere of influence spans the entire Southern Hemisphere, and they are too close to Europe. After we unify Europe, conflict and even war with East Africa will inevitably break out."
East Africa's sense of oppression towards Europe on the map is second only to the Soviet Union, but East Africa's strength far exceeds that of the Soviet Union.
Adolf said: "If East Africa is allowed to extend its claws to North Africa, the Mediterranean in the future will no longer be dominated by Europe, but will be shared with this behemoth."
"At the same time, they will also pose a huge threat to the security of the Mediterranean coast. In addition, East Africa's own advantage in the Indian Ocean is too strong, which is something the empire cannot tolerate in the future."
After Germany came to rule Europe, what it ultimately sought was economic benefits, that is, trade with other continents. However, South America was controlled by East Africa and the United States. East Africa also had a strong influence in North Africa and West Africa. East Africa also had an advantage in the Middle East and South Asia. The trade routes between Europe and the Far East market also had to pass through East Africa's sphere of influence.
There is no doubt that Adolf took these issues into consideration.
"A strong East Africa is one of the biggest threats to Europe, and this threat already exists. The Soviet Union also has such potential, but the Soviet Union is no match for Germany now, and we will not give the Soviet Union this opportunity in the future."
At this point, the atmosphere at the scene became somewhat solemn.
For any country in the early 20th century, East Africa was almost an insurmountable mountain. It had almost no shortcomings in any aspect, and it was constantly extending its tentacles and blood vessels outward.
This means that even if Germany ruled Europe, it would be almost impossible to find a way to get rid of East Africa. Ruling Europe would only get a ticket to confront East Africa.
If we put aside issues of blood and ideology, East Africa has actually become a country more dangerous than the Soviet Union.
"If no country integrates European resources in the shortest possible time, East Africa will become increasingly powerful over time, with no one to check and balance it, and will eventually completely marginalize Europe."
Europeans like to claim that they are the center of world civilization, but East Africa is currently the country most likely to cause economic and industrial decline in Europe. After all, the African continent where East Africa is located and Europe are already in close contact and there is a competitive relationship between the two.
This may lead to a shift in the center of gravity of the world trade network. The shift of the center of gravity of European trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic directly led to the decline of Mediterranean countries such as Venice, and allowed Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Britain and other countries to rise and become world powers.
This shows the huge impact of the shift in trade focus. If trade between continents no longer needs to pass through Europe but through Africa, then Europe will inevitably fall into decline.
In terms of economic size, one East African country can almost compete with the whole of Europe. In terms of population, the native population of East Africa is as high as 200 million. Together with North Africa and West Africa, Africa's population size can now reach about 70% of Europe, and Africa's population growth rate is significantly higher than Europe.
In terms of area, Europe cannot catch up with Africa, unless Asia is included. However, it is impossible for Europe and Asia to be integrated. In terms of resources, Europe is even inferior to East Africa. Almost all of the world's important oil and gas resources, iron ore and other producing areas have the shadow of East Africa, and East Africa itself is a resource-rich country.
Compared with the geographical location, although the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, the Cape of Good Hope and other channels are controlled by Britain, it is easy for East Africa to change the ownership of these areas.
In other words, if East Africa and Europe were enemies, East Africa could easily cut off trade between Europe and Asia and Oceania, and threaten its interests in South America.
However, it is difficult for Europe to balance East Africa in the global economic landscape. It is relatively convenient for the African continent to travel to other parts of the world, at least more convenient than Europe.
Therefore, East Africa has markets, scale, industry, raw materials, military, agriculture, and transportation.
How could Adolf like the existence of such a country? Moreover, in recent years, the trade competition and conflicts between Germany and East Africa have become increasingly fierce. This is because German industry is mainly characterized by high-tech and precision, and after East Africa completes its industrial upgrading, it will naturally deal a huge blow to German companies.
Now, East Africa is trying to occupy more European markets, which further intensifies economic competition with Germany.
In terms of world strategy, the relationship between Germany and East Africa has been deteriorating, with the focus on the competition in the Middle East and South America. In the Middle East, in order to balance East Africa, Germany supported countries such as the Ottoman Empire and Iran.
In South America, Germany is strengthening its penetration into countries such as Argentina and Brazil, and the geostrategic conflict between the two countries has become particularly obvious.
A new battlefield may soon emerge, that is, the Mediterranean region. In the past, Germany certainly did not pay much attention to the Mediterranean region. After all, Germany is not a Mediterranean country. But now Germany has obtained access to the Adriatic Sea and has the basic conditions for development along the Mediterranean coast.
Adolf said, "We have no way to deal with East Africa now, but once Europe's strategy is completed, we will become its most direct competitor. Moreover, while we are integrating Europe, East Africa will definitely encroach on more land."
Here Adolf was referring to the overseas colonies of countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands. In Adolf's view, these colonies should belong to Germany in the future, so he naturally would not allow East Africa to take advantage of the situation and encroach on them.
(End of this chapter)
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