Chapter 486 Diplomatic Suppression
The Central Railway passes through the Matabele Plateau and is hidden behind East Africa. Although the Portuguese knew that there were railways in East Africa, they did not expect that East Africa would extend the railways inland.
This again involves their blind spot, because railways without human traffic and logistics will lose money, and given Africa's population density and economic development level, the payback period is too long, or no one is willing to believe that an African country has such strength.
"After cutting East Africa in half and Portugal taking the territory in the middle, we can declare a ceasefire. Portugal alone will find it difficult to contend with East Africa." Clement also understood the principle of knowing when to stop, but even with such an outcome, East Africa would not accept it.
If East Africa knew what the French were thinking, they would definitely say, "You want something good? The territory is divided just because you are told to do so!" And it is the territory in the middle of East Africa. Even if they cede territory and pay compensation, they will start from the edge, not from the middle.
Moreover, Clement was a little wishful thinking. The French were used to showing off their power in the colonies and thought that East Africa was also a soft persimmon like the French colonies. Fortunately, France was only playing the role of a villain who made slanderous remarks this time. If France really got involved, East Africa would definitely break its rotten teeth.
…
Schönbrunn Palace.
"Your Majesty, this morning the British diplomats told us that a war would break out between Portugal and East Africa, and asked us not to intervene lightly."
"Well!" Franz said angrily, "When did the British start interfering with us? They said they would not interfere, so they did not interfere?"
Franz had no idea that a war might break out between Portugal and East Africa, because the East African side had not revealed the news to him before. In the end, he learned about it from the British. However, Britain’s attitude made Franz very unhappy. Everyone is the dominant force in the world order. At least the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not think that it was much worse than Britain, and Britain still wanted to command itself!
"Your Majesty, the British's actions just show how much they value Africa, or how much they value East Africa. East Africa obviously threatens the interests of the British, so they are targeting East Africa."
Franz: "Huh, does the British think we can command East Africa? And their attitude is simply too arrogant."
"There is nothing we can do about it. In fact, the British control the Suez Canal and have a strong naval presence in the Mediterranean. It is easy to separate us from East Africa. The Imperial Navy is not strong enough to challenge the British. So the British asked us not to intervene, and there is nothing we can do."
Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have a strong desire for overseas colonization. Although its naval strength was not weak, it was blocked in the Adriatic Sea. If it established overseas colonies, the navy would not be able to protect them and it would be easy to be cut off by Britain, France and other countries.
Of course, it would not be impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to learn from Germany's previous method of picking up scraps and making them its own colonies, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire obviously paid more attention to the cost issue. The more bad land it took, the more money it would lose. After all, colonies also have to pay ruling costs. If the colonial returns are not high, can it expect the mainland to pay for it every year?
The reason why East Africa has been able to carve out a large territory in Africa is because of its hard work and opportunities. It just happened to seize the window of opportunity and then expanded step by step to its current size. Although the local economy has improved greatly thanks to East Africa's efforts, there are always people who are jealous and want to pick the peaches after the hard work has produced the fruits.
"The more you say this, the more I want to see the British suffer a defeat. How do you think we should support East Africa?" Franz asked.
"Your Majesty, do we really want to offend the British for East Africa?"
"What do you mean by offending the British for East Africa? I just can't swallow this breath. Do you do whatever the British say? You are not a lower-level government of the UK!"
"But we really have no way to support East Africa. The geographical location of East Africa, no, to be more precise, our geographical location is naturally limited to being able to play a role in Europe. East Africa is beyond the radiation range of the imperial army. As long as the British want, we can't send a shipload of supplies to East Africa."
It is indeed difficult for the British to verbally threaten the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both sides are world powers and there is no question of who is superior in status. However, Britain's strength is indeed higher than that of Austria-Hungary, so the British dared to threaten the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the issue of East Africa. As for why they threatened the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was because of the quasi-alliance treaty between East Africa and Austria.
A quasi-alliance is not really an alliance, but its meaning is completely different from an outsider's perspective. The British believed that East Africa was the Austro-Hungarian Empire's younger brother. If they wanted to strike a blow against someone else's younger brother, they naturally had to deal with the other big brother first.
Of course, out of "respect" for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the British would not intervene, but would only allow Portugal and East Africa to have a one-on-one challenge. It seemed fair, but Britain and France took sides. On the one hand, Britain did not allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to intervene, and on the other hand, it provided strong military assistance to Portugal.
"Besides, we don't seem to have anything to support East Africa. East Africa's weapons system seems to be more similar to Germany's. Only the artillery is the same as ours."
Military aid would certainly go first in the form of weapons and equipment, but it was obvious that East Africa had its own weapons supply system and was self-sufficient in other aspects. The Austro-Hungarian Empire really didn't know how to aid East Africa.
Franz had no choice but to personally find the East African ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to ask what East Africa was planning: "Britain is preparing to take action against you, don't you have any information at all?"
"Your Majesty, we are well aware that Britain and France are trying to use Portugal as a proxy to wage a war with East Africa in an attempt to weaken East Africa."
"Is France involved in this? Moreover, since you knew that the war was about to break out, how could you still sit there?" Franz asked the calm East African ambassador.
"Your Majesty, as long as the British do not personally participate in the African battlefield, we in East Africa are confident that we can defeat the Portuguese. Even if the British participate, we are still confident that we can confront the British."
Franz: “…”
Now Franz felt that East Africa and Prussia were cut from the same cloth. Was it the Hohenzollern family name that was the culprit that caused Prussia to go further and further down the path of using force to resolve problems?
Seeing Franz's disbelief, the East African ambassador had to say, "We have more than 200,000 well-trained ground forces in East Africa, all equipped with new Mauser rifles, and a relatively complete range of machine guns and artillery. This military force is definitely the best in Africa, so East Africa is not afraid of the threat of war. Strength is the real reason why East Africa can remain calm."
In the past, Egypt was ahead of East Africa, but since the era of Dreiser rifles, East Africa has actually become the de facto number one military in Africa, especially after making up for the shortcoming of the navy, Egypt is no longer comparable to East Africa.
Franz: "Are you sure you didn't include the militia? Without professional soldiers as a framework, such a makeshift army would be useless."
"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. We are not lying. In fact, Archduke Ferdinand is very clear about the military strength of East Africa. If Your Majesty is not assured, you can directly send a telegram to ask."
In the past, East Africa kept many things hidden, but now there is no need to do so. After all, once the war starts, East Africa's strength will be revealed and there is no need to conceal it deliberately.
(End of this chapter)
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