Chapter 350 New Players in Africa
While the Far East Assistance Group was staying in Dar es Salaam, new changes were taking place on the African continent.
May 13, 1871.
After gaining the support of the British, the Kingdom of Italy embarked on the road of repaying its debts. However, the Kingdom of Italy was so poor that it only had debts left, so it could only transfer the debts through colonization.
An infantry division of the Kingdom of Italy landed at the port of Assab on the Red Sea coast, and the Italian government officially embarked on its own colonial journey.
This is very important for the Kingdom of Italy. If the anger of the people cannot be eased through the colonial route, the Kingdom of Italy may explode at any time.
Port of Assab.
After a brief intimidation, on the morning of May 13, the Italian Royal Government drove the Egyptians out of the city of Assab.
After all, Eritrea is too far away from the Egyptian mainland. It is easy for the Egyptian defenders of Assab to deal with colonial gangs like the Rubatino Company. However, when the Italian Royal Army landed, the defenders of Assab immediately gave up their defense. The entire Assab defenders had only one battalion of troops, and the gap was obvious compared to an Italian division.
And the worst thing was that the Rubatino Company in the city and at the docks launched a timely rebellion and occupied a series of important facilities including the docks, buying precious time for the landing of the Italian Kingdom Army.
The First Division of the Abyssinian Expeditionary Force of the Kingdom of Italy won the first battle and seized this important stronghold from Egypt.
After the First Division entered the city of Assab, Sapeto, the owner of the Rubatino Company, came to greet them personally: "General Samuel, hello, I am Giuseppe Sapeto, the owner of the Rubatino Company!"
Samuel, commander of the First Division: "Mr. Giuseppe Sapeto, thank you for your support to the motherland. The Italian people will never forget your contribution."
Samuel was the general with the most outstanding record in the Italo-Austrian War. He was promoted from company commander to brigade commander through his military exploits. He did not lose a single battle from the beginning to the end of the war. However, due to the incompetence of his friendly forces, the Kingdom of Italy still failed.
After the war, when reviewing the war, the Italian Royal Army found that Samuel, a general of civilian origin, was much stronger than those Italian aristocratic officers who were content with their positions. Although, almost all the high-ranking officers of the army were of aristocratic origin, it did not prevent them from attributing Italy's defeat to the enemy being too powerful. And why was Samuel able to perform so well against the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
Yes! Why? It is definitely not because the Italian army is incompetent. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is the world's top power, so it is normal that the Italian Kingdom cannot defeat it.
As for Samuel, he could win continuously because he was a natural military talent like Albrecht. By elevating the enemy and colleagues, the army could get rid of its own guilt.
Sapeto: "No, General Samuel, compared to me, you are the real hero of the Kingdom of Italy. It's a pity that you appeared too late. If you had become a senior general earlier, you would have led the Kingdom of Italy to victory!"
Sapeto was not flattering, he really believed that after being packaged by the Italian Army, Samuel had become a national hero of Italy, used to restore the remaining pitiful self-esteem of the people of the Italian Kingdom.
Samuel: "No, no, Mr. Sapeto, if Italy wants to get out of the crisis, it needs the joint efforts of all Italians. No one can be lost. I am just an Italian with better luck, but the fate of our entire country is not as lucky as mine. This is painful for every Italian, so we should unite and fight against Italy's tragic fate together!"
Samuel has always been a humble person in front of outsiders, so he remained unknown before the war.
He was not good at packaging himself, which was not friendly to his path to promotion. If it were in peacetime, he would definitely not have made a fortune, but he encountered war, and it was at the most tragic time for the Kingdom of Italy.
The reason why Samuel was able to become a company commander before the war broke out was because of his talent. His junior high school education automatically made him a company commander when the army was expanded in Italy.
Although he was born into a civilian family, Samuel's family was not very poor, and was even a little wealthy, which was why he was able to complete junior high school education.
Although Samuel was touted as a famous general, with some of the packaging of the Italian Army, he actually had real abilities.
When they were fighting against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they were generally more cautious. When the enemy was strong and they were weak, they would never take risks easily. However, once they found the flaws of the Austro-Hungarian army, they would immediately bite the enemy like a lion, and at the same time, they would quickly slip away before the enemy reinforcements arrived, and would never fight to the end.
Sapeto: "General! You are too modest. Our enemy this time is not an invincible existence like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but just an indigenous country in East Africa. So I believe that the Kingdom's army will easily defeat Abyssinia."
Samuel shook his head and said, "We cannot underestimate any opponent, even the natives. Just like in Europe, before the war, no one would have thought that Prussia could easily defeat the powerful France. If we don't pay enough attention to the enemy and attack rashly, we will only leave loopholes and be defeated by the enemy. This is the experience I learned from the Austro-Hungarian Army!"
Sapeto began to doubt Samuel's ability. "In fact, the British used only a small number of colonial troops to tear the Abyssinian Empire apart and the emperor committed suicide. So Abyssinia is not strong, or rather very weak."
Samuel: "Just because the British can do it doesn't mean Italy can do it, because our two countries have different goals. The British started the war for demonstration, while we Italians do it for the living space of the entire nation. There is an essential difference. The war started by the British will only make the ambitious people of the Abyssinian Empire cooperate with them to drag down their own emperor, while the goal of our Italian nation is to gain land, which is life-threatening for the Abyssinian Empire. They will unite and fight us throughout Ethiopia, even if they fight to the last man. So we must be careful with every step we take, and we must overturn in Abyssinia. Italy has already bet its future destiny here."
Samuel knew very well that the invasion of Abyssinia by the Kingdom of Italy was fundamentally different from that by Britain. The British only sought hegemony, while Italy was simply carrying out national and genocide activities against the "enemy" in order to vacate the land and feed the Italian mainland.
Every next step of the Kingdom of Italy must be carefully planned. The Kingdom of Italy must not let the Abyssinian Empire discover its true intentions. It must ensure that the Abyssinian Empire remains divided and cannot unite. Only in this way can the Kingdom of Italy defeat the forces of the Abyssinian Empire one by one.
(End of this chapter)
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