Chapter 1635 Territorial Exchange
The East African governments did not pay much attention to the performance of the German government after the Olympics, but the East African people were directly excited about the results of the Berlin Olympics.
In fact, the 1936 Berlin Olympics was not the first time that East Africa participated, but the East African government did not attach importance to the previous Olympics and only sent a small number of athletes to participate symbolically.
Because before the Berlin Olympics, the Olympics was not a very popular sporting event.
The 1936 Berlin Olympics was an important turning point, as it became a political tool for many countries to play games.
Germany's Adolf government saw it as an unparalleled global propaganda stage and an excellent opportunity to present Germany's "peaceful and powerful" image to the world.
To this end, the German government invested huge resources and adopted the most cutting-edge technology and media means at the time to build momentum for the Berlin Olympics.
This made the Berlin Olympics the first time that a regime systematically used the Olympics as a national propaganda tool. This "politicization" itself, due to its controversial and impactful nature, attracted even more global attention.
For example, in order to counter Germany's racist remarks, East Africa and the United States also increased their support for the Olympics, which directly made the Berlin Olympics a game arena for the world's three superpowers.
East Africa, Rhine City.
At this moment, Ernst was happily summarizing the gains from the Berlin Olympics.
"I think Adolf must be very satisfied with the gift we prepared for him this time. I'm afraid he's furious and gnashing his teeth right now."
Seeing his father gloating, Crown Prince Friedrich asked, "Father, have you been harboring this evil idea for a long time to cause trouble for Germany?"
Ernst did not deny it. He said: "When I knew that Germany wanted to use the Berlin Olympics to build momentum for Germany, I had a plan."
"In fact, sports have become a political propaganda tool. However, before the Berlin Olympics, the influence of the Olympics was not so great, so I didn't rush to play this card. The benefits would not be high enough, and the impact on the world would not be enough."
"Ordinary people prefer comebacks or surprises. This time, we used the stage set by Germany to demonstrate an unexpected comeback for our national image."
Before the Berlin Olympics, East African sports had already been highly developed, but the influence of East African sports at the international level was relatively limited.
Therefore, the world's perception of East Africa's sports development is that East Africa is a sports power, but it is not much different from countries such as Britain, France, Germany and the United States.
This successfully paved the way for East Africa to achieve a "stunning success" at the Berlin Olympics.
On the contrary, if East Africa had been in the spotlight in previous Olympics, it would not have achieved the same effect as the Berlin Olympics. Moreover, if East Africa had performed too strongly in previous Olympics, it would have become an unknown whether Germany would have been so active in hosting the Berlin Olympics.
After all, the purpose of Germany hosting the Berlin Olympics was to demonstrate Germany's own strength and racial superiority, not to make East Africa, a country they looked down upon, shine.
It was precisely because of East Africa's previous low profile that Germany made a misjudgment, which resulted in Germany not getting the expected success at the Olympics.
Even without East Africa, Germany might still be embarrassed this time, because the United States is enough to give Germany a headache.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Through the Berlin Olympics, we have indeed achieved a stunning effect and greatly enhanced East Africa's influence in the international community."
"We also want to thank the Germans for their tremendous efforts in preparing for this Games. Without Germany, this global stage would not be possible."
If East Africa hosted the Olympics, it might also make a global sensation, but it would not be cost-effective.
Ernst said: "The Olympics is a good platform to showcase national development and enhance the international image. East Africa will also bid to host such international events in the future, but at least in the next five years, we have no such plans."
"Because World War II could break out at any time, all the focus would be on the war."
“Speaking of war, how is the transformation of Gwadar going now?”
Ernst suddenly changed the subject and mentioned an important strategic area, the Gwadar Port in East Africa.
Crown Prince Friedrich responded: "Our transformation of Gwadar Port is in progress, but there is a big problem that needs to be solved."
"What's the trouble?" Ernst asked.
Crown Prince Friedrich said, "It's the problem of water resources in Gwadar. After all, Gwadar is located in a place where rainfall is very scarce. Gwadar itself is not very large, so water resources are extremely scarce."
Gwadar, a piece of land purchased from the Omani royal family in East Africa, covers an area of only about 800 square kilometers. This area is not too small, but the environment in Gwadar is too harsh. The area is basically desert or bare mountains.
Gwadar is backed by the Makran Mountains, which can also be called the Makran Coast Mountains. Gwadar is located in the narrow area between the Makran Coast and the Indian Ocean.
From this perspective, Gwadar is still quite safe. After all, it has the Makran Mountains as its support, which can isolate Gwadar from the extremist forces in the Balochistan region.
However, the Balochistan region is now relatively stable under British control, and there is also a Kalat Khanate that can represent local forces.
An important reason why Balochistan was often in turmoil in the past was the lack of a regime that represented local interests, which led to it becoming a region of fierce confrontation between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Therefore, the weak Kalat Khanate could at least be considered a relatively independent country and maintain stability in the region.
However, the more important reason is that the British behind the Kalat Khanate do not want to conflict with East Africa here.
It is true that as a world-renowned "troublemaker", Britain often has ill intentions towards countries like East Africa, but in the Indian Ocean region, no matter how many calculations Britain has, it will choose to be tolerant.
Because East Africa's comprehensive influence and strength in the region have far surpassed that of the United Kingdom and have reached an unshakable level, some conspiracies and tricks will not only fail to weaken East Africa, but may instead become Britain feeding food into East Africa's mouths.
For example, Britain is now the actual manipulator behind the Khanate of Kalat, but they will never be so foolish as to hide behind the scenes and provoke confrontation between the Khanate of Kalat and East Africa.
Because doing so would be equivalent to giving the reason for war to East Africa, and East Africa could naturally expand the Gwadar area.
Of course, Britain was not really worried that the Khanate of Kalat would be eroded by East Africa, but was afraid that East Africa would turn the table and attack the Pakistani region behind the Khanate of Kalat, which was one of Britain's core interests in India.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Gwadar is not a small area, and there is enough land for construction. However, if the water problem cannot be solved, then even if we build more military facilities in Gwadar, they will be completely useless."
"Gwadar's annual rainfall is less than 100 millimeters, and groundwater resources are not abundant. If the water problem is not solved, even large-scale personnel deployment in Gwadar will be impossible."
Ernst was well aware of the problem raised by Crown Prince Friedrich, and he himself had some understanding of world geography.
Gwadar is located on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. Its climate is not much different from that of the coastal areas of Oman and Iran, and may even be worse. After all, Oman and Iran still have some oases.
"Do you have any solution to the water problem?" Ernst asked.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "After research by our personnel and surveys by water conservancy experts, we now have a feasible plan. However, its implementation is quite difficult. Not only does it require a large investment, but it also requires overcoming some political and territorial obstacles."
Ernst gestured for Crown Prince Friedrich to continue.
"The plan is to build a reservoir in the Makran Mountains north of Gwadar, so as to store a large amount of fresh water during the rainy season in Gwadar and then supply it to Gwadar Port through pipelines."
"Although rainfall in Gwadar Port is extremely scarce, the mainland to the north, especially the Makran Mountains, can still intercept some moisture due to the influence of topography."
One thing that needs to be explained here is that the location of Gwadar Port is actually very much like an open umbrella, extending deep into the Indian Ocean. Gwadar Port is on the tarpaulin of this "umbrella" and is connected to the mainland through the umbrella handle.
In other words, Gwadar Port is located on a very small peninsula. The rainfall in this tiny peninsula is extremely small, but the mainland part of the Gwadar area, especially the Makran Mountains, can even reach 200 mm of local rainfall at certain times.
Of course, if this rainwater is not collected, it will basically seep into the ground or evaporate and therefore cannot be used.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Now, we are planning to build reservoirs in the low-lying areas where rainwater from the Makran Mountains gathers to collect the meager rainfall in Gwadar."
"Our experts have found three suitable locations for building reservoirs. They also suggested that we divert water from some rivers into the reservoir area, which will basically meet the water needs of Gwadar Port."
There are some rivers in the northern part of Gwadar, especially in the Makran Mountains and the north, but these rivers are dry most of the time. Only when heavy rains come will there be water in the river channels for a short period of time.
"This raises another issue: many of these rivers are not located in the Gwadar region, but belong to the Kalat Khanate."
"We may need to communicate with the Kalat Khanate on this point. Of course, the best way is to merge the areas where these rivers are located into the jurisdiction of Gwadar Port to solve the problem once and for all."
"This is the political trouble I mentioned. Although East Africa can ignore the attitude of the Kalat Khanate and directly occupy the northern region, this is ultimately a bad strategy. It is best to achieve our goals through negotiation."
"At the same time, the British are behind the Kalat Khanate, so we also have to consider the British attitude. If they really want to make a fuss about this issue, it will indeed cause us some unnecessary trouble."
Ultimately, the area of Gwadar is not large enough. If the area of Gwadar was not 800 square kilometers but 8,000 square kilometers, East Africa would not have to worry about this problem at all.
The reason why Oman was able to obtain Gwadar was because it failed in the domestic war and an Omani prince fled here in exile. The then monarch of the Kalat Khanate gave Gwadar to him as a refuge.
As for why the Kalat Khanate did this, the reason was very simple. At that time, the Omani prince still had the possibility of successfully turning the tables, so the monarch of the Kalat Khanate wanted to make a political investment in the prince.
This involves another thing, that is, Oman back then was not what it is today. At that time, Oman was a regional hegemon with great influence in the entire Indian Ocean and had the strength to compete with Western colonizers.
Therefore, the monarch of the Kalat Khanate hoped that after the prince successfully ascended the throne, he would use Oman's powerful strength to seek greater benefits for the Kalat Khanate.
This is similar to the Spring and Autumn Period in the Far Eastern Empire when Duke Huan of Qi came to power. During his reign, Duke Xiang of Qi was licentious and immoral, and the political situation was chaotic. His younger brothers were afraid of being killed, so they fled abroad for refuge. Prince Jiu fled to the State of Lu, while Prince Xiaobai, who later became Duke Huan of Qi, fled to the State of Ju.
Later, Duke Xiang of Qi was killed by his ministers. Both Lu and Ju took immediate action to escort the princes they supported back to their country to succeed the throne.
The actions of the Kalat Khanate at that time were no different from those of the Lu and Ju states, and Oman was equivalent to the powerful Qi state.
In fact, this is similar to the current practice of countries taking in exiled governments from other countries. For example, the United States took in Polish nationalists. If Poland succeeded in restoring its independence, the United States could establish a chain of interests in Poland through those who were grateful to the United States and seek political and economic benefits for the United States.
East Africa also took in the Tsarist Russian government in exile. Although Ernst did not expect the Tsarist remnants to successfully restore their country from the beginning, he also used the exiled government to attract a large amount of capital and wealth brought by the former Tsarist remnants to contribute to the construction of East Africa.
Gwadar was originally just a refuge provided by the Kalat Khanate to the Prince of Oman. Naturally, its area and environment were not much better. In fact, in the eyes of the Kalat Khanate at that time, Gwadar had no value at all.
Even though Gwadar has excellent conditions for deep-water port construction, the Kalat Khanate does not have the corresponding port construction capabilities. Now Gwadar Port has become East African territory. It is impossible for the Kalat Khanate to take back Gwadar Port. After all, this is the legal land purchased by East Africa from Oman.
Ernst said, "Since the project is feasible, we can first try to contact the Kalat Khanate. If they are willing to accept our proposal, that would be great. But if they don't agree to our conditions, we can reconsider it."
"We attach more importance to the strategic value of the Gwadar region rather than building a larger city and accommodating more people there."
At this time, Crown Prince Friedrich said, "Father, our experts have proposed a suggestion, which is to exchange territory with the Kalat Khanate and obtain the water source we need."
"After all, we are more concerned about the water supply issue, and the land in Gwadar, except for the area where the port is located, is not very important to us."
(End of this chapter)
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