Chapter 597: Military Discipline Corrupted
The territory of East Africa is not as exaggerated as that of Tsarist Russia today, but the effect presented on the map is also quite amazing, as if cutting off half of Africa with one knife.
Fortunately, countries in the equatorial region appear smaller on maps due to visual effects, so that East Africa's more than 10 million square kilometers of land looks about the same size as the United States, which is about 7 million square kilometers. Of course, this is also related to the fact that data measurements in this era cannot be too accurate, especially within the African continent. Except for East Africa, there are almost no non-black people involved.
Many Europeans could only guess about the conditions in the interior of Africa, and many adventure novels describe Africa in a mysterious way.
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While the people of Transvaal were seeking to restore their country, the East African troops stationed in the Southern Frontier Province had not been idle in the past few years.
The forward military positions built around the Fall River with Winburg as the center are basically constructed in the same way, mainly consisting of a group of bunkers.
East Africa's defense strategy against the Orange Free State was obviously different from that against Mozambique. The conflict between Mozambique and East Africa was normal. Although East Africa was the winner, the Portuguese did not hate East Africa too much.
As a former colonial power, Portugal is much stronger than most countries, or it is just like some of the old empires, lacking ambition.
East Africa's colony of Mozambique was basically obtained through war in a fair and honest manner, so the Portuguese had a somewhat bad attitude towards East Africa. If it were not for the support of Britain behind the scenes, some Portuguese people would have wanted to sell their only two remaining African colonies.
But it is different with Transvaal. Although East Africa also seized Transvaal through war, the excuse was ridiculous. In other words, Transvaal was wrong, but the crime was not punishable by death. It is somewhat unreasonable for East Africa to directly destroy it.
Moreover, the evil in East Africa had not been completely eradicated, allowing the Transvaal people to retain their manpower, which provided conditions for the Transvaal people to counterattack.
Of course, Ernst did not have good intentions in letting the Transvaal people go. His original intention was to keep the Transvaal people so that they could provoke East Africa at some time in the future. After all, if there was a country left north of the Orange River, a part of the land in the southern part of East Africa would be sunken, which would not look good.
Furthermore, Ernst did not want to accept the Transvaal people as East African citizens, which would cause big trouble, especially the conflict between the two countries' political systems. Most of the land in East Africa was state-owned, while the Orange land was owned by large landowners. Ernst did not intend to implement the Southern and Northern Dynasties system, so naturally he would not leave this hidden danger.
Finally, Ernst also wanted to try to divide the Boers. Now it seems that the effect is quite good. At least in the Orange Free State, two groups, the Orangemen and the Transvaal people, have emerged.
The point of conflict between the two sides lies in the fact that the Orange people look down on the Transvaal people. After all, the Transvaal people are losers who have lost even their own country. Moreover, a large number of Transvaal people have poured into the Orange Free State, squeezing out most of the original Orange people's social resources, acting as lackeys for the British, causing the Orange people to lose a lot of rights and interests. In addition, the Orange people oppose conflict with East Africa.
Attitudes towards Britain and East Africa are the two greatest points of disagreement between the two brotherly nations.
East Africa is easy to understand. East Africa is now powerful, and the Orange people naturally do not want to offend East Africa. There is no hatred between the two countries. The Transvaal people are the opposite and want to drag the Orange people into the water.
As for the attitude towards Britain, it is more interesting. When the Transvaal Republic still existed, the Orange Free State had a better relationship with Britain and implemented a policy of appeasement. However, the Transvaal Republic was far away from Cape Town and separated by the Orange Free State, so it was more anti-British.
Now the situation is reversed. The Orangemen are anti-British, while the Transvaal people have friendly relations with the British, because the Transvaal people are outsiders compared to the Orangemen, and this identity is similar to that of the British.
Therefore, the British took advantage of this to rule the Orange Free State, just like Britain used a large number of Indian servant troops in Africa in the past. Now the Transvaal Restoration Army is a puppet army among the Boers.
The Transvaal Restoration Army was not only a thief, but also an expert at committing crimes. Within just a few months of its establishment, its reputation in Bloemfontein was completely ruined, and it became a hated existence. The most bizarre thing was that most of them came from the former Transvaal Republic, so they still engaged in regional discrimination in Bloemfontein.
It is not an exaggeration to describe this kind of behavior as ungrateful, a replica of the story of the farmer and the snake. Therefore, these refugees cannot be accepted casually, even if they are from a brother nation.
The poor discipline of the Transvaal Restoration Army was not surprising at all in this era, and it could even be said to be natural. On the contrary, the East African Army was a breath of fresh air, or a heresy, of this era.
A large part of the military expenses of the Transvaal Restoration Army needed to be raised by itself, and the most important of which was taxation. With the support of Britain, the Transvaal Provisional Government could levy war taxes in the Orange Free State to build the army.
This did not exist in the former Orange Free State or Transvaal Republic, which previously implemented a universal military service system.
In other words, there are no standing armed forces in peacetime, and troops are only recruited in large numbers in times of war. Since there are no standing armed forces in peacetime, there is naturally no need to consider the issue of military discipline.
Now with the Transvaal Restoration Army as a standing armed force, the Orange Free State has once again experienced what it means to be surrounded by enemies.
The Orangemen in Bloemfontein were also increasingly dissatisfied with the Transvaal people, but the British were happy to see this happen and tried to mediate, enjoying the pleasure of a balance of power.
Although the Transvaal Restoration Army had poor military discipline, East Africa would not underestimate this reactionary armed force.
Many of the Transvaal Restoration Army members are veterans who have fought many battles before, including the Zulus and East Africans. They still have courage and insight. Coupled with the systematic training and advanced weapons and equipment provided by the British Army, their combat effectiveness may be better than expected.
The fact that East Africa knew about the existence of the Transvaal Restoration Army was related to East Africa's pervasive intelligence system. The East African Defense and Security Agency had been infiltrating the Orange Free State in recent years.
The Orange Free State is surrounded by East Africa on three sides, so it is easy for professionally trained agents to sneak into the Orange Free State. Most of them enter the Orange Free State as British or Boers in Cape Town.
At that time, not many countries had established professional intelligence agencies, especially a country like the Orange Free State, where the rule was very rough.
Therefore, it was easy for East Africans to infiltrate the Orange Free State and steal intelligence. However, due to the Orange Free State's backward transportation and external communication methods, the speed of intelligence transmission was not fast.
Even so, the Transvaal Restoration Army and the Transvaal Provisional Government were already well known in East Africa. After all, the Transvaal Restoration Army "extorted" on the streets of Bloemfontein like street thugs every day, so it was hard not to attract attention. As for the Transvaal Provisional Government, it was also established in an extremely conspicuous location in Bloemfontein.
Moreover, they would frequently launch "national salvation mobilization meetings", lobby the entire Orange Free State, or ask citizens on the street for "donations".
It can be said that every move of the Transvaal Provisional Government and the Restoration Army was completely controlled by the East African National Defense and Security Agency.
(End of this chapter)
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