Chapter 463 Standing
When the German parliament met, nothing could be hidden. At least Britain, France and other countries already knew that there was a force in Germany that had improper ambitions for its overseas colonies.
Just as Bismarck said, the current German government cannot waste time on those bad places. The bad places are nothing more than the islands in Africa and the Pacific region. The good places include India, Indochina, the Caribbean coast, the Middle East, North Africa, and Australia, which are all under the control of Britain and France.
The Latin American region is quite special. It is now an independent continent and no one's colony. At most, it is a semi-economic colony of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States.
Latin America was previously colonized by Spain and Portugal. After the Spanish and Portuguese colonial forces were driven out of Latin America, a power vacuum emerged in Latin America. European colonial powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands tried to fill this gap, but they were strongly opposed by the United States and the former colonial powers Spain and Portugal.
In 1823, the United States issued the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that America was for the Americans and opposing European colonization and interference in American affairs. Britain, France and other countries were concerned about the power of the three countries, so they did not forcibly divide the country. When the United States' national strength grew rapidly in the 19th century, the European powers no longer had the strength to divide the country.
Now with Bismarck in Germany, the colonialists can be suppressed, but Bismarck is, after all, only a prime minister and can only represent this government.
Hohenzollernburg.
"Senator Klein is very grateful for your message. Please accept this as a small token of my appreciation." Tom skillfully took out a red envelope and stuffed it into Klein's pocket.
“Haha, you’re too polite. It’s just a small favor. But don’t worry, Mr. Thomas. I’ll keep an eye out for any useful information!” Klein happily stuffed the red envelope into his pocket and said, “Give my regards to His Majesty the King!”
“No problem!”
After seeing Klein off, Tom carefully sorted out the contents of the parliament and sent it to East Africa via telegram.
As Hechingen was part of the Hohenzollern Province of the Kingdom of Prussia, the local parliamentarians naturally had close connections with the Hechingen royal family.
In fact, it was not Constantine who went to East Africa. The Principality of Hechingen must have a seat in the upper house of the Imperial Parliament this time.
But it doesn't matter. With Sigmaringen next door in the Imperial Parliament, the Hechingen royal family will also get the news if there is any movement. Similarly, if the Hechingen royal family can get the news, then basically the content of this meeting will be known to other countries as well.
This aspect also reflects the reason why East Africa has remained unknown for a decade. East Africa does not have a parliament at all, so there is basically no risk of news leaking.
Moreover, Europe's exploration of Africa progressed very slowly. Before Ernst colonized East Africa, European exploration of sub-Saharan Africa was almost limited to coastal areas and rivers such as the Nile.
(Figure: Map of explored areas in Africa in 1901. Red areas are well-known areas, only North Africa and the Nile River in Egypt. Blue areas are coastal areas and some rivers, which are relatively well-known. Gray areas are completely unexplored areas)
East Africa soon received the message from Tom.
Constantine asked: "It seems that after the reunification of Germany, it has also begun to try to exert its influence in the world. At least some people are no longer satisfied with the current reality. What should we do?"
Ernst said: "We should take advantage of this warship transaction with Austria-Hungary to finalize the relationship between the two countries. Now we should also take sides!"
Constantine: "Austria-Hungary?"
Ernst: "Yes, East Africa needs allies, and there is no better choice than Austria-Hungary."
Ferdinand: “I am afraid that some people in Austria-Hungary do not think that East Africa is qualified to be their ally.
After all, the status of African countries in Europe is indeed too low, almost on par with Antarctica.
Ernst smiled and said: "We don't care what some people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire think. We can avoid a lot of trouble just by relying on the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
Rather than being an ally, it would be more accurate to say that Ernst wanted to seek the status of an Austro-Hungarian protectorate for East Africa. Of course, not the same kind of protectorate as Zanzibar.
However, this is not an easy matter. It is impossible to just think about the benefits, so Ernst also plans to give some benefits to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The specific benefits depend on the bargaining chips of East Africa.
Ferdinand volunteered: "Leave this matter to me!"
"No problem!" Ernst said. There was indeed no one more suitable than Archduke Ferdinand.
…
In May, Archduke Ferdinand went to Austria on the pretext of inspecting the ironclad ship Friedrich and stopped by Schönbrunn Palace.
"What? Alliance?" Even though Franz was usually quite serious, he was shocked by his brother's remarks. "Do you know what you are talking about?"
"What's so surprising about this? The alliance between the Kingdom of Hechingen and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is, in my opinion, a match made in heaven."
"When did you change your name? No longer the East African Kingdom?"
"The name East Africa is no longer appropriate. There are already tens of millions of Germans in the kingdom, so it's not surprising that we changed it to a German name."
"Do you count black people as part of the population?" Franz asked.
"Black people are not qualified to be our citizens. If we include black people, the population of East Africa would be more than 30 million."
However, Franz remained skeptical: "It's okay to fool others, but don't fool yourself, my dear brother. There are only more than 10 million Germans in the Empire. Do you think it's possible that there are more than 10 million Germans in Africa alone?"
Ferdinand said: "That depends on how you define Germans. Without counting the newly born population, the real German population in East Africa is probably close to four million, of which South Germany contributed more than 1.5 million, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, North Germany and the United States contributed more than 2.5 million."
“Is this data reliable?”
"In 1870, the population of Germany was about 40 million, and the German region has always been the region with the largest population outflow in Europe, especially after the economic crisis."
"Are you sure you didn't include the Slavs and other ethnic groups?"
"If you include Slavs and other Europeans, it's probably between 40 and 50 percent, and more than half of the Slavs are Slovenes, Croats and Serbs."
Franz's eyelids twitched. This was a great effort to poach people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire! If we count the Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa has poached at least two million people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But this is also good. No wonder Slovenian and Croatian nationalists have not been active in recent years.
"Even if we include the Slavs, the population should not be more than 10 million."
"Aren't there nearly half of the Far Eastern immigrants? The total number is exactly 10 million."
"Aren't you afraid that such a country will collapse?" Franz asked his question.
"You should worry more about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, brother! Compared with the population problem in East Africa, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's problem is really serious. Germans only account for more than 20%, and these ethnic groups have their own historical identities. The crisis of division is always hanging over your empire!"
The problem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a long-standing one. The Habsburg family's strategy of loyalty to the emperor was obviously unable to cope with the rise of nationalism, unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire could create a new nation that could encompass all nations.
"The Empire is truly powerless to resolve its problems. Do you choose to take this path as well?"
Archduke Ferdinand shook his head and said, "National integration. East Africa is a pure immigrant country. Moreover, the Hechingen royal family, as the rulers of this country, has more power than any monarch in European history. Therefore, an extremely tough assimilation policy has been implemented in East Africa. We just need to wait until the next generation grows up, and there will no longer be any cognitive problems."
"Is that still Germany?"
"Who knows! If the Austro-Hungarian Empire can do the same, I believe you will make the same choice. We, the Habsburg family, don't care about the origin of the people, because that's how we established the Austrian Empire in the past. But now some of them, especially the Slavs, in Napoleon's conspiracy, use ethnicity as their identity and sever ties with the empire. However, leaving the empire has no benefit for them except to establish their own country."
No matter how many Slavic countries were established, they were not as good as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later history also proved this point. The Austro-Hungarian Empire could become the main force in Europe and even the world. It had both the dignity of a great power and the freedom of the common people. However, the scattered Balkan countries that came later could not even get the freedom of the common people.
Maybe life is not going well under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is definitely much happier than in other countries.
(End of this chapter)
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