Chapter 802 Debate
3:00 p.m.
Nine countries including East Africa, Britain, Portugal, Austria-Hungary, Germany and France participated in the negotiations at the Venice Conference. Of course, except for a few parties concerned, the rest of the countries were mainly just there to make a cameo appearance. It is worth mentioning that the Boer Republic also sent representatives, but the Boers could only sit in the audience.
Count Alenthal presided over the meeting: "Gentlemen, it is an honor for everyone to gather in Venice to participate in this meeting on the reconciliation of the South African War. I hope that both sides can sit down and calmly resolve the South African issue and make due contributions to regional peace. Now, please allow the British representative to speak."
As one of the protagonists of this conference, Britain was undoubtedly the most eye-catching country and also the most powerful country in the war, so the British were the first to express their opinions, and East Africa naturally would not object.
British Foreign Secretary Salisbury said first: "The South African War is a war that took place in the southern African region. It has lasted for a whole year from last year to now and has not yet ended. The main culprit of this war is the barbaric expansion of the East African Kingdom in southern Africa, which has caused serious humanitarian disasters in Africa. In Angola, Mozambique and other regions, a large number of people have been displaced or devoured by the artillery fire of East Africans. Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives. In addition, the East African Kingdom has disregarded the principle of the sanctity and inviolability of private property and has embezzled a large amount of legal property of local people in southern Africa. Therefore, on behalf of the British government, I strongly condemn the crimes of the Kingdom of Hechingen in the war. The Kingdom of East Africa should pay the price for this..."
Salisbury immediately put all the blame on East Africa and pretended to be righteous, as if East Africa had committed war crimes.
Hermann knocked on the table, interrupting Salisbury's speech and said, "Mr. Salisbury, I know that the defeat in the war makes you feel dissatisfied. This psychological imbalance is understandable, but I cannot ignore the slander of our Kingdom of Hechingen by any country."
There is a huge difference between Count Hermann and Salisbury's names for East Africa. Currently, the official name of East Africa is the Kingdom of Hechingen, but other countries still use the Kingdom of East Africa as the official name of East Africa out of inertia or for future convenience.
Of course, this does not rule out the possibility that some countries do this on purpose. After all, if we put aside the purely geographical significance of Africa, it is synonymous with barbarism and uncivilizedness in the world.
Salisbury said to Herman who interrupted him without blushing: "I am just objectively describing what the East African army did in southern Africa. After all, Angola, Mozambique, Orange, and even Cape Town have fallen into the clutches of your East Africans. You know best what you have done there."
Although what Salisbury said was biased, it was not wrong. It was a humanitarian disaster. If black people had "human rights", then it would be true. But this was not just a problem in East Africa. After all, Britain itself started out in the slave trade, and the colonial governments of various countries in Africa were all accomplices and did not treat the native Africans as human beings.
As for the infringement of "private property", it is even more laughable. Only Britain and Portugal are allowed to plunder Africa, but East Africa is not allowed to snatch food from the tiger's mouth. This is like allowing the officials to set fires, but not the common people to light lamps.
In essence, Britain, Portugal, and even the Boers were latecomers who obtained their wealth by plundering the black people. Even the black people (Bantu) themselves plundered the San people, so East Africa was just robbing bandits, which was no different from the colonists in southern Africa.
Of course, knowing it in the heart is one thing, and the East African government will definitely not admit it. Herman also learned from Salisbury and said shamelessly: "Mr. Salisbury, the military discipline of our East African army is very strict. Unlike some countries in southern Africa, the army is like bandits, and even does not let go of the crops in the farmers' fields."
The military discipline in East Africa is much stronger than that of countries like Britain in the current era. Moreover, to be honest, the assets that Britain and Portugal have in South Africa are not even enough to cover the military expenses of East Africa. As for the only thing that has a little value, it is the land in South Africa, but the land does not go into the pockets of ordinary people, but is confiscated.
Of course, if the East African soldiers secretly kept some small items, that would be feasible, but there was not much wealth in places like Angola and Mozambique. They were just places that were being continuously sucked dry by Portugal, so each person would not get much if the wealth was evenly distributed.
Compared with the East African Defense Force, the British and Portuguese armies were the real bandits, but Ernst had been on guard against them for a long time and had almost no industries deployed in southern Africa, so except for the heavy losses in the port city of New Hamburg during the war, the losses in other areas of East Africa were almost negligible.
Moreover, even though the losses of the New Hamburg Port were mainly due to destruction, the only advantage the coalition forces gained was the farmland in East Africa that they did not have time to destroy. This provided a convenient source of food for the coalition forces. However, some of the food crops in the New Hamburg Port City were actually imported from the east, and the planting industry itself was not very developed.
"Haha, Count Hermann, your so-called strict military discipline is nothing but empty talk. Our British Empire has a long history, and the fine traditions of the army are simply incomparable to your East African country with only a few decades of history. I'm sure everyone here will agree with my point of view. In comparison, the British Empire's army pays more attention to chivalry, while your East African Defense Force is good at taking shortcuts." Salisbury said.
However, other countries present agreed with Salisbury's words. Although East Africa's military strength was not weak, everyone subconsciously compared East Africa with Prussia. After all, they were both thugs of the Hohenzollern family, and their styles should be similar.
Of course, this is also the stereotype of Prussia held by European armies. After undergoing several reforms over the years, the Prussian army is no longer a weakling.
The East African Defense Forces did have "no martial ethics" during the war, which East Africa could not refute because Ernst himself was not very particular about it.
The "chivalrous" spirit that European armies emphasized was, in Ernst's view, simply a product of whining. As long as the army could win the battle, it didn't matter what tactics it used.
Moreover, the military commanders of the East African army were basically of civilian origin and could not be as "particular" as the military aristocrats in Europe.
"Haha, let's not argue about this for now. As far as the war is concerned, the Allied Forces were the first to start the war, which is an unchangeable fact. So the war was unjust from the beginning. As the initiators of the war, the British and Portuguese governments themselves are the culprits. For us in East Africa, this war is entirely a self-defense counterattack war to defend our country. This is also the main reason for your failure in the South African War." Count Hermann said aggressively.
The initiators of the war actually included East Africa, but the coalition forces took the lead over East Africa, which coincided with East Africa's national strategy.
But it was bad luck for the coalition forces. If they had launched the war even two months later, East Africa would have been the culprit of the war.
Of course, the war launched in East Africa was also directed at Portugal and the Boers. It was impossible for East Africa to directly challenge Britain. Britain's participation in the war was simply greed.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
