Chapter 392 Strategic Security
The Fetter River is a tributary of the right bank of the Vaal River, a northern tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The confluence of the Fetter River with the Vaal River in the lower reaches is the Brunhof Reservoir in South Africa in the past. The upper reaches are the important city of Transvaal - Winborg. It is also the boundary river between the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.
Winburg is located on the plain in the middle of the Fetter River (the upper reaches of the Fetter River are Y-shaped). It was one of the Boer republics once established by Old Pretorius. In 1852, it was incorporated into the Transvaal Republic together with Boer colonies such as the Lydenburg Republic. It is the southernmost city in the Transvaal Republic.
The 513th East African Division occupied this place a few days ago. After losing Pretoria, the command system of the Transvaal Republic was actually completely out of control, which made the East African occupation of the Transvaal Republic very smooth.
"After we take Winburg, the area north of the Fet River will be completely controlled by us in East Africa. South of the Fet River is the Orange Free State. According to the order of the Crown Prince, after our troops occupy Winburg, we will control the north bank of the Fet River with Winburg as the center. Unless the Orange Free State takes the initiative to provoke, the East African army will no longer cross the Fet River to fight." Kerry Rhodes, commander of the 513th Division, pointed to the map and said to his subordinates.
After occupying Winburg, East Africa's combat mission against the Transvaal Republic was basically completed, or Ernst's strategic intention was initially completed. The original purpose of attacking the Transvaal Republic was to let the gold mines on both sides of the main stream of the Vaal River rot in the ground. After East Africa controlled the Fetter River, 99% of the gold distribution area fell into the hands of East Africa. As long as East Africa prohibits the development of the land between the north of the Fetter River and the south of Pretoria, these gold mines will not be discovered, including the Johannesburg in the previous life, which will not appear.
There are ready-made reasons to prohibit the development of this area, because it is located deep in the South African plateau, and Lesotho blocks the moisture from the Indian Ocean, making it very dry, the land barren, and the ecological environment fragile.
East Africa can completely use the excuse of protecting the ecology to prohibit any individual or force from developing this area. Ernst plans to establish a natural ecological reserve here similar to the Galenseti Prairie.
East Africa did not have much interest in the Orange Free State across the river. On the one hand, the Kingdom of East Africa declared war on the pretext that the Transvaal Republic supported the rebellion of the N'Debele people, but the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State were two countries, so there was no excuse for going to war with the Orange Free State.
Although the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic are like brothers, their interests do not completely overlap. Previously, Pretorius the Younger tried to promote the merger of the two countries, but was rejected by the Orange Free State.
Ernst thought that he could try to win over the Orange Free State. Ernst had no hostility towards the Boer state, but there was a conflict of interest and national security with the Transvaal Republic.
On the other hand, the Kingdom of East Africa needed the Orange Free State to act as a buffer zone between East Africa and the British Cape Colony. Because the Kimberley diamond mine had been discovered and developed, the British had tangible interests in the Orange Free State, and it was impossible for Britain to allow East Africa to annex the Orange Free State.
On the contrary, Ernst would never allow the Transvaal Republic to continue to exist. The existence of this country would be a huge disaster in the future. In the past, it was because of the discovery of a number of gold mines such as the Rand gold mine that the British were unprecedentedly enthusiastic about exploring South Africa.
Britain's increased military presence and colonial efforts in South Africa took shape, making South Africa the colony with the largest number of white people south of the Sahara. The number of Boers alone may reach 600,000 or 700,000. If the British, Irish, and Indians are included... the number of white people in South Africa can easily exceed one million, which will pose a huge threat to the security of East African countries.
After East Africa occupied the Transvaal Republic, South Africa only had interests in the Orange diamond mines apart from Cape Town's strategic position. However, East Africa was not short of diamonds, and its reserves were even the largest in the world.
If the Orange Free State, an inland country, only relies on diamond mines, it will not be able to complete industrialization. What's more, the Orange Free State is short of water, and its future development potential will be locked, even worse than Mongolia in its previous life.
At the same time, with the advancement of the East African Kingdom's policies, a large number of Boers from the Transvaal Republic took the initiative to migrate to the Orange Free State, which greatly strengthened the Boer power in the Orange Free State.
According to the population growth rate of the two Boer Republics in the previous life, the population of the Orange Free State will surely easily exceed 400,000 by then. If the Orange Free State is fully developed, it can at least become a good agricultural country, unlike in the previous life, when the two Boer Republics were fake.
In this way, the size of the Orange Free State could be similar to that of some small European countries, and it would not be easily annexed by the British.
Although because of East Africa's invasion of the Transvaal Republic, it is certain that the Orange Free State will not have a good impression of East Africa at present, and may even directly surrender to Britain.
But Ernst hoped that the Boers would be at odds with the British like in his previous life, and that a conflict would eventually occur. This was inevitable. After all, the only valuable diamond mine in Orange was in the hands of the British. Unless the British drove the Boers out of the Orange Free State like they drove out the Boers from the Transvaal Republic in East Africa, which was impossible for the British to do.
Finally, East Africa can ensure its own strategic security by annexing the Transvaal Republic. Once the gold mining area falls into the hands of East Africa, Britain will not be able to implement the 2C plan as it did in the past. In addition to the lack of attractive interests, even the South African colonies after annexing the Orange Free State are unable to compete with the East African Kingdom in terms of strength. In the past, the main economic body of South Africa was in the northeast, but now it is in East Africa.
Not only the 2C plan, but even the French 2S plan is completely impossible. The first mountain that the great powers have to defeat in order to divide Africa is the East African Kingdom, which has already firmly established its foothold in Africa.
However, it would be impossible to deal with a centralized emerging country like the Kingdom of East Africa relying solely on the power of Britain and France, unless they dared to use the energy they used to deal with other countries on the European continent on the Kingdom of East Africa.
The East African Kingdom is not doomed either. It can also win over Germany's second brother (Germany and Austria) to balance Britain and France. It's nothing more than the Hechingen royal family giving up more interests.
Besides, given the relationship between Britain and France, unless there is a world war, they will never see eye to eye, and their relationship in Africa may even be very bad.
The existence of the East African Kingdom means that there are not many blue oceans to be developed in East Africa and South Africa. Currently, the only region in Africa with large tracts of unowned land and favorable conditions is West Africa.
As long as the East African Kingdom develops stably and is strong enough, after 1880, all countries will have to fight each other in West Africa. The competitive pressure in West Africa will be unprecedentedly strong. It just so happens that Britain and France now have colonies in West Africa, so it is natural to attack West Africa. At the same time, it can be foreseen that other regions in the future, such as South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East will also face more violent colonial storms.
(End of this chapter)
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