Chapter 800 Changes in Venice
Venice.
Venice under the Austro-Hungarian Empire looked much more depressed than before the Italo-Austrian War. As a result of the war, Venice suffered the most serious population loss, its infrastructure was severely damaged, and its vitality has not recovered to this day.
Of course, in return, Venice's rule in the region became more stable. During the Italo-Austrian War, hundreds of thousands of Italians went to East Africa and became one of the important sources of population in East Africa. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Italians fled to other countries and regions because of the war, leaving a large population vacuum area to be filled by the Austrians.
At the same time, the nobles and powerful people in the Venetian region were also liquidated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which enabled Austria's various population policies to be implemented in Venice, which greatly increased the difficulty of Venice's separation from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the future.
However, compared with neighboring Lombardy, the Venetians were still happy. Under the oppression of the Hungarian government, Lombardy's economy was in a mess, and a large number of factory equipment were destroyed or relocated.
The biggest shortcoming of the Hungarian government is that it does not rebuild Lombardy. After all, Hungary is the biggest obstacle to the finances of the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is impossible to expect Hungary to pay for the construction of Lombardy on its own. On the contrary, Lombardy's taxes are heavier than Venice's.
After entering the 1980s, with the Austrian government's investment in Venice, a railway directly to Vienna was built, and it once again became an important trading port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Of course, Venice is still suppressed by Trieste for the time being and can only become the second largest port city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is the result of historical inertia.
"It seems that Venice has now gotten rid of its economic downturn. Many factories in the city have resumed work or have been rebuilt. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has done a good job in the construction here," East African Foreign Minister Hermann told von der Leyen who was traveling with him.
"Now Venice is only recovering the role it originally played during the Austrian Empire. However, Austria is naturally a land power country. Even if it acquires Venice, it cannot change the result that the country's entire seaport is trapped in the Adriatic Sea. Of course, this is already the best result for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, the more important role of Venice is to suppress the entire Apennine Peninsula and prevent the emergence of a unified Italian country." von der Leyen analyzed.
"That's right. When it comes to the division of Italy, it can be considered that we were also the driving force behind it. There are a large number of Venetians living in Nairobi and other cities, and these people are mainly artisans and agricultural producers. It can be said that they cut off the foundation of Venice back then."
As the old officials of East Africa who cooperated with Ernst to poach Italian talents, they were more aware of the immoral things that East Africa had done during the Italo-Austrian War.
It can be said that Nairobi, the city with the largest textile industry, rose to prominence by stepping on the corpse of Venice. At the same time, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa also cannot do without the help of the Venetians. A large number of Venetians also live in the shipyards in East Africa.
"Speaking of which, Venice has indeed made a significant contribution to the economic development of East Africa. Before the war, Venice was a relatively developed region in Italy or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its traditional handicrafts and industries were among the best in the region. But now, it is not even as good as Tyrol."
Tyrol is the southern territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, located in the Alps. It originally lagged behind Venice. As Venice's economic foundation was destroyed, its population left in large numbers, and its machinery and equipment were sold at low prices, it was surpassed by Tyrol, not to mention Trieste next door.
Of course, it is just around the corner for Venice to surpass Tyrol again. After all, it is superior to Tyrol in terms of transportation, terrain, and other aspects. However, with Trieste ahead of it, it is currently very difficult for Venice to become the largest port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire again.
After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a fool. After suffering a great loss in Venice, it was destined to continue building the already rising Trieste in the future.
Trieste's economy must rely on Austria and was completely built by Austria. Unless war breaks out, there is no risk of separation or independence, and the strategic security of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's access to the sea can be guaranteed.
And the crucial point is that Trieste is close to the Austrian hinterland such as Vienna, so it is easier to control and the cost is not higher than Venice.
"In comparison, Venice is now less developed than our city of Nairobi. I remember that in 1880, the population of Nairobi had exceeded 200,000, while the population of Venice has not increased but decreased, and now it may be only a little over 100,000."
Von der Leyen is naturally not very clear about the exact population figures of Venice, but it is certain that the population of Venice was close to 200,000 before the Italo-Austrian War, and in the 1840s and 1850s the population of Venice exceeded 120,000.
Since the 19th century, cities in Europe have been expanding, especially in recent years, all normal countries have developed well. Belgium, for example, completed its industrialization during this period. Of course, there are also countries like Portugal that are rapidly declining. Military spending has seriously hindered economic development, and Portugal's economic situation was already not good.
"There are probably still quite a few Austrians in Venice, so the original Venetians are probably only around tens of thousands," Hermann added.
It is worth mentioning that the focus of East Africa's plunder of Venice's population was not the urban area of Venice, but the rural areas in the region.
One reason was that Venice was under long-term blockade at the time, making it difficult to carry out immigration work; the other reason was that Ernst deliberately strengthened Austria's strength.
The natural population growth rate in economically developed regions is generally not very good, especially in areas like Venice, which has been very prosperous since the Middle Ages and where the people have a relatively high level of education.
The large number of rural population intercepted by East Africa has caused Venice's natural population growth rate to fall to a low point. A large amount of land has been occupied by the Austrians. In the future, the entire population of Venice will gradually shift towards the Germans. Combined with the population assimilation policy, it is really possible to achieve the goal of a German Venice.
Of course, East Africa also plundered the population of Venice, but it was mainly concentrated in the two categories of workers and handicraft practitioners, typical of which were the textile industry and shipbuilding industry mentioned earlier, which were all technical talents in that era.
Of course, there were also a large number of Venetians who chose to smuggle to South America and other regions via black ships, such as Paraguay.
With the arrival of the East African negotiating team, the city of Venice made headlines in European newspapers that day, and many people began to pay attention to this African country that defeated Portugal and the British Empire.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been considered a poor, backward and barren land in the eyes of Europe since ancient times. However, a powerful country established by European colonists was born on this land. This is indeed an interesting topic.
Of course, the Kingdom of Portugal and the British Empire, which served as the background, naturally did not think so. The status of the East African Kingdom was achieved by stepping on the corpses of soldiers from the two countries. Portugal in particular could be said to have lost all its face.
European newspapers described Portugal as: "Portugal - a European 'power' defeated by a colonial country!" Portugal's glorious history and recent events have been dug up, including the independence of Brazil and the South African War, which show that this country is in a hopeless situation.
Some malicious editors joked: "Countries like Portugal should be kicked out of the civilized world."
In the eyes of Europeans, the civilized world is naturally Europe. This was also the consensus of the world in the 19th century. Of course, people from countries outside Europe would definitely put their own countries in the same category of "civilized people" as Europeans, such as the Indians who followed the British in showing off their power in the British colonies, the Japanese who were eager to "leave Asia and join Europe", or the East Africans who promoted the German state.
(End of this chapter)
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