Chapter 647 Preparation
Ernst was also aware of the current situation of the Orange people, which was quite bad. After all, the two sides had been fighting for more than a year. The Orange Free State did not have any complex terrain. It was basically flat and the territory was not large. The only mountainous area nearby was still in the hands of East Africa, so they could not deal with the British army like they did in Afghanistan.
It is not easy to hold on until now. Even for Ernst, the Orangemen have exceeded their expectations.
"Now that the Orange people are no longer a force to be reckoned with, at most they can just do some minor moves and cause minor troubles for the British and the Transvaal people. Then the British will have time to take action," said Ernst.
"Your Highness, do you have any instructions?" Siweit asked after hearing Ernst say this.
"We can now identify the countries and regions that are hostile or threatening to East Africa. They are mainly distributed in the south, the Transvaal, the Portuguese, the British, and the northeast, British Somaliland, and the Sudan region of Egypt, which is now also colonized by the British. These areas must increase supervision to prevent the British from making small moves. Your military should also be prepared to respond at any time. The army has not fought for a long time. Let them move around and see if there are any problems with long-distance mobilization, especially since the railways and roads are more developed this time than a few years ago."
Ernst is a very steady person, so even if there is only a one percent chance, he will still be on guard.
Because if he puts himself in the shoes of the British, they will definitely not let go of East Africa. Now Britain still has leverage and allies in Africa. If it does not contain East Africa at this time, there will be basically no chance in the future.
Confrontation with East Africa is nothing more than an exchange of pieces. If Britain fails, the most it can do is sacrifice the Cape Colony, and this is the worst-case scenario. Apart from the United States, no country has caused Britain to lose a large piece of territory. But if it succeeds and can split southern East Africa, that would be quite a bargain.
This is the same as playing chess. You cannot focus on temporary gains and losses. The final result still depends on victory. If the southern part of East Africa (Rhodesia) is taken away, then East Africa can only become Brazil, and it will not even have the raw materials for industrial development.
If the South is taken at the same time, East Africa's control over Southwest Africa will collapse, and Portugal will be able to recover its lost territory. In this way, half of East Africa's effective territory will be lost.
And Britain's African colonies would be as prosperous as in the past, instead of having to fight with a bunch of countries for a piece of land in West Africa as it does now.
Moreover, the area controlled by East Africa now is very different from Africa in the previous life. East Africa's construction of Africa is even more exaggerated than that of many African countries in the 21st century in the previous life.
Not to mention other regions, the eastern coast, as a window for East Africa to connect with the world, has undergone tremendous changes in development over the years.
The British ships are not blind. With the development speed of the East African coast, the inland area cannot be too bad. After all, without the development of the inland area as an economic hinterland, the coastal area cannot develop so well. Because East Africa mainly relies on the export of bulk commodities, the cargo cannot be hidden from the British who are guarding the Suez Canal. This even led to the recovery of the East African route, which had declined after the opening of the Suez Canal.
Of course, with the establishment of East Africa, the Suez Canal has become even busier, because the Atlantic coast of East Africa is basically a decoration, and almost all trade in North America and Europe passes through the Suez Canal.
Apart from the slave trade, trade between South America and East Africa was not frequent, and commodity trade was even less so. After all, it was impossible for East Africa to export tropical agricultural products such as rubber and coffee to South America. Instead, the two countries were competitors, and East Africa's industrial products were not very competitive in South America.
As for minerals, everyone mainly exports them. South America's industrial level is not as good as East Africa's. They cannot use so many minerals themselves, but it is more profitable to export them to Europe and the United States.
In short, today's East Africa is significantly different from the traditional concept of Africa, especially in contrast to West Africa.
Of course, other countries only saw East Africa eating meat but did not see East Africa being beaten. East Africa’s current achievements are inseparable from the efforts of every East African, including the slaves.
Today, diseases are still rampant in West Africa, natural disasters occur frequently, and the colonists are fighting each other violently in West Africa, which reflects the word "chaos", which is very consistent with the world's perception of Africa.
But we cannot say that West Africa has not made progress. Although the colonists were bad, they did build many plantations in West Africa. Even if the plantations were reactionary and backward, they were much more advanced than the previous indigenous system. Of course, this is definitely not the case from the perspective of African indigenous peoples.
The colonists in West Africa were much more ruthless than those in East Africa. They were a mixed bunch, with private armed forces rampant, and were completely motivated by economic interests.
Ernst remembered that one of the important reasons why Africans in previous lives did not like to work was that they were severely exploited during the colonial era.
More work and more pay can motivate people, but the productivity of West African slaves was completely based on the whipping and punishment of the colonists. Belgium did the most excessive things in the past. Of course, Ernst believed that the United States was not much better. After all, dentures made of black people's teeth are no more "noble" than those of Congolese blacks who had their hands chopped off.
Black people are used to being plundered by the colonists, so ordinary lower-class black people have no motivation to work at all. No matter how much they produce, it has nothing to do with them.
Even after African countries gain independence, this situation will not change, because the independence of African countries is different from that of Asia. The colonists here left too many backup plans when they withdrew.
For example, the ruling class is actually the lackeys of the colonizers. African society has not actually changed at all, except that the exploiters have changed from white to black.
Moreover, black rulers may be even worse than white ones. White people are just bad, but not stupid, while many black rulers are both bad and stupid. This leads to the fact that tyrants are very likely to appear in Africa after independence.
No matter what, the colonists are more experienced in governing the country than the black lackeys, while many black compradors still maintain the governance methods of the tribal era. Therefore, the industrial base left by the colonists in the colonial era is completely abandoned, and many countries are even more chaotic than before independence.
The most typical example is South Africa. The black ruling class in South Africa is the typical one who does not learn the good things from the white people, but learns the shortcomings of the white people without any instruction, and thus governs South Africa into that state.
However, this is the case in many British colonies. This shows that one of the advantages of the British is decisiveness. Active withdrawal allows them to lay mines in the colonies more easily. Such independent regions are far less independent than those achieved through armed struggle.
"It's better to be cautious, especially between countries. We are always facing uncertainty, and we don't have the ability to predict the future, so it's best to be fully prepared in advance so that we won't be caught off guard."
Ernst himself used to like being a gambler, so now he doesn't have to be cautious. What East Africa can do now is to keep making moves, wait for the situation to change, and then make sure that East Africa is completely settled.
As for greater ambitions, I no longer have this idea. After all, it is still a bit far-fetched to consider these things now. It is better to develop the industry in East Africa first.
(End of this chapter)
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