Chapter 500 German Ambassador
In the first town, taking advantage of the momentum of the Portuguese-Eastern War, Germany also sent diplomatic officials to the first town.
After more than ten years of development, the First Town is no longer the small town it once was, but has become an elegant, civilized and prosperous emerging city.
It has both European classical style and the atmosphere of a modern city. Its appearance is not much different from European cities, but the convenient life brought about by the Industrial Revolution is reflected everywhere in the First Town. Ernst is not a person who can make do with his life, so he pays great attention to the planning of the First Town.
Walking on the streets of the First Town, Klein was filled with emotion. He felt that his previous understanding of African countries had been overturned.
"Oh, I didn't expect East Africa to be so well developed. Judging from the planning and population, it should be more prosperous than Stuttgart! If you add Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, it doesn't seem to be much different from Germany."
Von der Leyen glanced suspiciously at Klein, the German ambassador to East Africa. He felt that Klein had something else in his words!
"Haha, Mr. Klein, you are joking. How can East Africa compare to Germany? Only the coastal areas in East Africa are well developed. The cities were newly built in recent years, so they look pretty good. The transportation is convenient and the population is larger. But a large population doesn't mean anything. Besides, Germany's population is larger than East Africa's. The gap between us in East Africa and Germany is in all aspects."
Klein didn't think so. He had recently visited Dar es Salaam and Soga near the First Town. As far as he knew, Bagamoyo was not far from the First Town. Ships from Bagamoyo could be seen in the canal north of the First Town. Therefore, East African cities had a tendency to develop in clusters, which reminded Klein of the Ruhr area in Germany.
Of course, these cities in East Africa cannot be compared with the Ruhr area, which has twenty or thirty towns and a very high level of industrialization.
These cities in East Africa mainly have policy and transportation advantages. First Town and Soga are both supported by policies. Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam are excellent ports on the coast of East Africa.
In fact, according to the division of East Africa, Dar es Salaam should be divided into two cities, one in the south and one in the north. The north, which is the original city of Dar es Salaam, focuses on commerce and services, while the south focuses on industry and manufacturing. So to be precise, there are currently five cities around the first town, and there is also Zanzibar Island across the sea.
The biggest shortcoming of the coastal areas of East Africa is still the lack of resources, but the convenience of sea transportation offsets this disadvantage, and goods from inland areas are also distributed here, so the development is not bad.
"Mr. von der Leyen, you're too polite. East Africa has only started to develop for a short time. I think it's quite good to have achieved this level. Some small countries in Europe are probably not as developed as East Africa," Klein said.
Klein realized that it would have been great if Germany had paid more attention to colonizing East Africa! However, Germany was not unified at the time, so it naturally had no time to engage in overseas colonization. Austria actually had the conditions to do so, but Austria's energy was tied up by Prussia, and only the Hechingen royal family had a keen eye for it. Fortunately, East Africans were also Germans, so they were their own people, which was much better than leaving it to Britain and France.
It is only in the past two years that unified Germany has begun to pay attention to the importance of colonies. This is mainly due to the influence of the overall environment. Other powers are causing trouble all over the world, but Germany is staying in Europe and not taking any action.
Germany's industry was developing rapidly and its strength was incomparable to what it once was. Naturally, it was not very satisfied with the current international situation. However, Prime Minister Bismarck was a man who could keep his composure, which Ernst particularly admired.
The current Germany is a bit like the Far Eastern empire that was suppressed by the United States in the past. It looks like a rising sun, but in fact it has quite big problems.
Germany's difficulty lies in its geopolitical disadvantages. France and Russia are both top powers, so it is difficult for Germany to maneuver in Europe and it has almost no room for expansion. The disadvantage of the Far Eastern Empire is that the world's energy and minerals are controlled by the United States. If the Far Eastern Empire had solved the energy and mineral problems in its previous life, it would not be afraid of US suppression at all.
The current world hegemony is in the hands of the British, but the British hegemony is very limited. Tsarist Russia and France both have the ability to challenge British hegemony. Germany and Austria are slightly worse, but Germany's industry is developing rapidly. The Austro-Hungarian Empire can continue to live off its old capital. Spain is half-dead but can still maintain the dignity of a great power. The United States, East Africa, the Far East Empire, and the Ottoman Empire can all do well due to their size.
This East-Portuguese War actually established East Africa's international status. Although Portugal was not strong, none of the countries ahead of it were weak.
So Klein said, "In the future, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and East Africa, our three countries represent the influence of Germans in the world. Germany is the strongest, Austria-Hungary is also strong, and East Africa has great potential. If the three countries unite, they can change the world's discourse power."
Hearing Klein's confident words, von der Leyen poured cold water on him and said, "I hope to see that day come, but I'm afraid it's impossible now. Without 20 to 30 years, the world situation is unlikely to change much. The UK alone is overwhelming us. Unless the UK completely declines, everything is a fantasy."
Von der Leyen's words also woke Klein up. Britain is indeed an insurmountable mountain. Britain is now in its heyday and shows no signs of decline. Instead, it is becoming more and more powerful.
Klein said, "Britain is indeed powerful. At least the British still have the final say on the ocean. No one can challenge Britain's position. We can only accumulate strength and wait for the British to run into problems themselves."
Von der Leyen added: "It's not just Britain, but also France and Tsarist Russia. These countries don't want to see Germany rise."
In fact, von der Leyen also wanted to include the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, if Germany is too strong, it will not be a good thing for some people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, this kind of thing is hard to say. In the past, Austria had a bad relationship with Prussia because of the competition for German rights. Now that Austria is out, it naturally has no intention of causing trouble for Prussia. Instead, Hungary has become a major concern for Austria.
Klein then talked a lot with von der Leyen, but they all revealed one meaning, which was the idea of an alliance between Germany, Austria and the east.
According to Klein, East Africa's current strength is not bad, so naturally he wants East Africa to stand on Germany's side. However, East Africa is not buying it now. East Africa itself has not yet digested it and is not very concerned about international affairs.
If East Africa can develop peacefully for another 20 to 30 years, it will be able to firmly establish its position as a world power. It will be of no benefit to East Africa to blindly participate in international disputes.
Therefore, East Africa does not have too many ideas about taking sides. Although Britain is eyeing East Africa covetously, as long as Britain does not take the initiative to start a war against East Africa, East Africa will not want to pay much attention to Britain. Moreover, even if Britain starts a war against East Africa, East Africa will not be afraid.
At this stage, East Africa and the United States are very similar in that neither is very interested in international affairs. Of course, the United States is more ambitious than East Africa, for example, its desire for influence and control over the Americas is very strong.
East Africa does have its own interests in the Indian Ocean, but Ernst only planned the Lanfang Republic and did not come up with a Monroe Doctrine like the United States, so East Africa is still relatively honest now. As for how East Africa came about with its more than 10 million square kilometers of territory, it was all naturally incorporated into the East African territory after the national strength increased. Ultimately, it all comes down to strength, so as long as East Africa concentrates on improving its national strength, it will be able to take the initiative in the changes in the international situation in the future. Ernst also had this plan for Bismarck, but later William II did not have Bismarck's patience.
(End of this chapter)
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