Chapter 814 Comeback?
During this period, Archduke Ferdinand was very confident in the East African Navy. The East African Navy was under the greatest pressure during the South African War. Under this high pressure every day, the East African Navy gained a vast amount of experience and eliminated a large number of potential problems.
"Now that the navy has gone through the baptism of war, we can say that we dare to take on any navy except a powerful navy like the British one with profound internal strength. So we are fully confident that we can take over the nearby island of Madagascar." Archduke Ferdinand said confidently to Ernst.
"Madagascar is not a small place. If we want to control a large area except the Kingdom of Imerina, we cannot do it with less troops. So this time the army should stay on Madagascar after the navy captures the target, and the force must not be less than one brigade, and it is best to be equipped with cavalry. At the same time, in order to guard against the Kingdom of Imerina's unauthorized expansion, we must make a show of force and let them stay in the eastern plateau area." said Chief of Staff Thwetter.
At present, the Kingdom of Imerina is the biggest obstacle to the expansion of East Africa to Madagascar Island. Since the Kingdom of Imerina has the highest level of civilization on the island of Madagascar, they also have the intention to annex the entire island of Madagascar.
This is obviously not in the interests of East Africa, so a strong blow must be taken against the Kingdom of Imerina to force it to restrain its people and prevent them from migrating to the East African region in the future, until East Africa's popular base on the island of Madagascar is sufficient to prevent expansion in the two southwestern parts of Madagascar.
This is a typical "immigration border" policy, which can also be called an "immigration invasion" plan. East Africa has been able to develop from a small country in East Africa into a major country spanning the three regions of southeast, central and north Africa thanks to a steady stream of immigration activities.
Traditional colonists could not resist this kind of rogue style of play at all. Once they faced East Africa, they would be short of manpower.
However, for a long time in the future, it is unlikely that East Africa will have a large population on the island of Madagascar. In this case, it is particularly important to strike at the Kingdom of Imerina.
Currently, the population distribution in East Africa is very unbalanced, especially in Angola and Mozambique, where the popular base is basically zero. Even the most densely populated eastern part of East Africa is actually sparsely populated.
For a long time to come, the priority development directions of East Africa will definitely be the west and south, as well as the developing central region. For the time being, there are not many remaining populations to consider Madagascar Island.
"The territorial expansion on Madagascar must be completed within a year. Otherwise, we will miss the best opportunity after France or Britain completes their colonization of the Kingdom of Imerina. Therefore, we must completely complete the conquest of the western and southern parts of Madagascar before the end of 1890." Ernst said, "As for the troops, let the Southern Military District place a brigade on Madagascar, and the Northern Military District provide a cavalry brigade, especially in the arid areas in the southern part of Madagascar."
This is basically equivalent to deploying a division of troops on the island of Madagascar, which is more than enough to deal with the Kingdom of Imerina with a population of only over two million.
In other words, Madagascar Island is close to the mainland of East Africa, otherwise such a scale of garrison would be difficult to support. But on the other hand, because Madagascar Island is close to East Africa, East Africa cannot turn a blind eye to it.
…
September 21, 1889.
Shortly after the end of the South African War, East Africa once again launched a colonial war against Madagascar. A total of more than 12,000 East African navy and army landed on Madagascar.
This also brought a painful lesson to all the Malagasy peoples except the Imerina people, because the Imerina people are yellow people, and the rest of the forces except the Imerina Kingdom mostly belong to the Bantu people, that is, the black people who lived in West Africa in ancient times.
Of course this was pure coincidence. They happened to live in the area that East Africa wanted to expand into, and East Africa had always been ruthless towards black people. In addition, there was a lack of population to develop Madagascar, so a large number of Bantu people became slaves.
However, there are not many black people in the East African controlled area. Because they live in the tropical savannah area, these black people are no different from the black tribes living on the East African savannah. The black population on the entire island of Madagascar is only tens of thousands, including some black and yellow mixed-race people.
As for the rapid increase in the black population on the island of Madagascar in the past, it was entirely due to the introduction of black slaves by France in order to expand its plantations. The French introduced at least half a million blacks into the island of Madagascar.
In addition, Madagascar Island is too close to the African continent, so even a technologically low race like blacks can cross the sea to come here, so naturally there are more and more black people on the island of Madagascar.
However, since the establishment of the East African country, even if the French occupied the entire island of Madagascar, it would be impossible for them to introduce cheap black slave resources, unless they introduced population from West Africa regardless of the cost. Obviously, Madagascar was not worth it for the French to do so.
Of course, the French are still hiding in the northern and eastern coasts, and have not even dealt with the Kingdom of Imerina, so the history of Madagascar has been completely changed beyond recognition.
…
"What are the East Africans trying to do? Our two countries have just signed a ceasefire agreement, and now you are taking action against Madagascar. This is really too much. Do you want to reignite the South African War?" Bruce, the first British Minister to East Africa, protested to the East African government.
It’s no wonder that Minister Bruce was nervous. When the East African cavalry appeared at the border of the Kingdom of Imerina, he was almost scared to death.
Some even thought that East Africa would "make a comeback" and start a new war. This worry was not unnecessary, after all, Britain did not gain an advantage in the South African War.
So they were very worried that the victorious East Africa would become inflated, which would be detrimental to the stability of the South African region. The subsequent military operation on Madagascar further confirmed Minister Bruce's speculation, which was why he actively contacted the East African government.
"Minister Bruce, please be patient. We certainly respect your country's interests in Madagascar. However, as far as we know, Britain's influence on Madagascar is limited to the Kingdom of Imerina, and it doesn't even have any troops deployed. The western and southern parts of Madagascar have been 'no man's land' since ancient times. Therefore, our East African activities in Madagascar are completely reasonable and legal." The receptionist of the East African Embassy answered.
Hearing this, Minister Bruce asked, "Does that mean you will not invade the Kingdom of Imerina?"
"Naturally, East Africa has never had any thoughts about the Kingdom of Imerina. Our military operations in the west and south of Madagascar are entirely for the purpose of ensuring the safety of the western Indian Ocean routes."
Minister Bruce sneered at East Africa's shameless remarks and said, "On the island of Madagascar, the Kingdom of Imerina is our core interest in the UK, so no matter what East Africa does, it cannot enter the territory of the Kingdom of Imerina. At the same time, in order to determine the spheres of influence of the two countries, we must make a detailed border demarcation on the island of Madagascar."
The East African government easily accepted Bruce's request. After all, one cannot "go too far", and East Africa would also like to see a peaceful resolution to the Madagascar issue.
However, even if the problem in East Africa is solved, it will not be easy for Britain to control the Kingdom of Imerina, because France is the real main force expanding into the Kingdom of Imerina, and the kind that the British cannot stop.
(End of this chapter)
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