Chapter 691 South African Situation
"Railways are the core of our East African military channels. With the entire railway system, we can transport troops to the desired locations as much as possible. Just like in the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia used railways to transport troops from the rear to the front line, making it difficult for the French to cope with it!" The East African General Staff made the same judgment.
The East African Army learned from Prussia. Although it has gone a bit "astray" now, the core content remains the same.
After all, the national conditions of East Africa are very different from those of Prussia, or even the whole of Germany. East Africa's vast territory means that the current railway system cannot be as dense as Germany's.
"In fact, after the completion of the Hessian Railway, the total railway mileage in East Africa has only exceeded 15,000 kilometers. This is even taking into account many branch lines and mining railways, as well as the Hessian Railway that is currently under construction. In other words, our railways are so far at the same level as Russia's," said Chief of General Staff Siewert.
"It's not possible. Russia's railway length exceeded 30,000 kilometers in 1880, and it may be even more now, probably twice as much as ours," Merkel said.
"But don't forget that the land area of Czarist Russia is also twice that of our country, so the two countries are at the same level in terms of railway density, unless there is excessive railway construction like in the United States."
After the economic crisis broke out in 1873, the construction of railways in the United States did encounter setbacks in a short period of time. For a time, railway companies went bankrupt one after another and stock prices plummeted.
But within a few years, railway construction in the United States was even more vigorous than before the crisis. By 1880, the total mileage of railways in the United States exceeded 90,000 kilometers.
This is also a reflection of how countries cope with economic crises. For example, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire nationalized railways, then accelerated national investment in railways to stimulate domestic demand, promote upstream and downstream development, and ensure employment. Other countries were not so extreme, but they also had similar practices.
Therefore, in the middle and late stages of the economic crisis, the progress of railway construction actually accelerated. East Africa was of course no exception. Large-scale railway construction began at the same time as the economic crisis broke out.
But even a major artery like the Central Railway is less than 5,000 kilometers long, and including the Hessian Railway which is still under construction, it is only more than 6,000 kilometers long.
The total mileage of the second largest artery, the Northern Railway, is more than 3,000 kilometers, and the total mileage of the two together is less than 10,000 kilometers.
Therefore, the railway construction in East Africa is far less exaggerated than that in the United States and Germany. At present, the railway mileage in East Africa can only be compared with that of a "small" island country like the United Kingdom. The railway mileage in the United Kingdom is just over 18,000 kilometers.
Of course, the most exaggerated is Germany, which has a railway network of more than 30,000 kilometers, making it the second largest in the world. However, it should be noted that Germany is much smaller than the United States, so Germany's railway density is second only to that of the United Kingdom. It is also worth noting that the United Kingdom now includes the entire territory of Ireland, so its railway density is actually not much different.
Britain's railways are basically saturated, Germany has the potential to double, and the United States may continue to build an exaggerated railway network like in the past, and then abandon most of it.
Only East Africa and Tsarist Russia suffered from the same problem, but East Africa's financial situation was much stronger than that of the Tsarist Russian government, which is why East Africa's railway mileage quickly caught up with Tsarist Russia.
"If we want to give full play to the advantages of railways, we need close cooperation from the railway department and concentrate all transport capacity to respond, just like Germany did when it was at war," Merkel said.
"It doesn't have to be that extreme. The railway must be connected with the military, but it cannot affect domestic production and living activities, especially when the intensity of the war may not be as great as we think." Siwei Te retorted.
So far, as long as the war has not started, East Africa cannot be sure how the scale of the war will develop.
Because the enemies are mainly divided into three forces, one is the Transvaal people. Although the Transvaal people have the smallest territory and the weakest strength, the concentrated ones are the essence.
The people of Transvaal are more martial than the British and Portuguese, and they hate East Africa the most. After all, East Africa's war of annihilation against the Transvaal Republic was a war of annihilation, so that now the people of Transvaal can only live on the land of their "brother" Orange Free State.
It is true that the Transvaal people have now gained control of the Orange Free State, but in order to restore their country, the Orange people are still their main target for winning over.
Therefore, the Transvaal people made a promise to the Orange people, that is, after the restoration of the country, the Transvaal people would take the initiative to return the leadership of the Orange Free State to the Orange people.
This may just be an "excuse". After all, it is not easy to spit out something that has been swallowed, and the Transvaal people also need the former Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State to merge.
Because compared with Britain, East Africa, and the Portuguese, the Boers' territory is too small and their population is too small. If they are divided into several countries, they will not be able to concentrate their strength to compete with several major forces. In that case, the Boers will only repeat the mistake of the Transvaal Republic being destroyed by East Africa.
With the destruction of the Transvaal Republic and the Griegoland Republic by East Africa, there are now effectively two Boer states in existence.
One is the Orange Free State, and the other is the Republic of Tongariro. The Republic of Tongariro has little presence, but it still exists.
The extinct Griegoland Republic in East Africa, which was the former British Bechuanaland, should be called the West Griegoland Republic. There is actually a very small East Griegoland Republic on the west side of the British Natal colony, which is also one of the countries established by the Boers.
However, nowadays, I am afraid that only the people of Transvaal are still obsessed with the concept of Boers. First of all, it is impossible for the Orangemen to be as harmonious with the people of Transvaal as they were in the past, and the two have actually split.
Secondly, the Republic of Tongrigawa does not want to get involved in the game and disputes between the "big powers". After all, no force can be provoked by the Republic of Tongrigawa, including the current Transvaal people.
Of course, the Tongariro Republic could not avoid this kind of stance. As early as 1879, they became a "dependency" of Cape Town just like the Orange Free State.
The Republic of Tongariro was able to survive thanks to the British colony of Natal, which isolated them from East Africa, so they did not border East Africa.
In fact, East Africa is not very interested in the land of the Republic of Tongariro, which is located in the southeast of Lesotho, in the mountainous area of the Drakensberg Mountains.
East Africa had already completed its military deployment in the Drakensberg Mountains and Lesotho. The north was under the control of East Africa, and the south was the Natal colony. It was impossible to launch an attack on East Africa from a high position.
As for the poor Kingdom of Lesotho, it had long been divided up among East Africa, the Orange Free State and the Natal Colony.
After talking about the Boers, the next is the Portuguese. The Portuguese are not as united as imagined. At least there is a certain competitive relationship between Angola and Mozambique, which are separated by East Africa.
This is mainly a dispute over resources between the two sides. Both sides have their own interests and hope to get the protection of the kingdom's homeland to avoid the clutches of East Africa. So on this point, both colonies are the same. The homeland can be more biased towards them. Obviously, the Angola colony is currently more favored by the homeland.
Finally, there are the British. The situation of the British is much better than the first two. At least they still have to listen to what the British say. This is also the advantage of British hegemony.
If British hegemony was gone, countries like India, Australia and Canada would have become independent long ago. Therefore, British hegemony is still extremely stable, and there is more cooperation than conflict between the mainland and colonies.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
