Chapter 1575 Global Core Interests
After ignoring transcontinental countries like the Soviet Union, Japan, the only great power in Asia and a regional hegemon, has little to offer in terms of industry and technology that can be taken seriously by powerful countries like East Africa.
The Japanese Navy and the Japanese shipbuilding industry behind it are relatively prominent parts. However, for a resource-scarce country like Japan, resource shortages will undoubtedly hinder its naval strategy in wartime.
However, although Japan is backward and has weak industrial strength, its importance in the world strategy in East Africa is greater than that of many powers.
Therefore, it and the Soviet Union were mentioned last by Crown Prince Friedrich.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "The current global economic recovery is mainly due to two aspects. One is the strengthening of state intervention in the economy, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, and the other is military stimulus, with Germany and Japan being typical examples."
"But there is no doubt that these measures cannot completely solve the economic problems and will make the international community increasingly dangerous."
"If we want to restore stability in the international community, we must break the old international order and establish a new one. In short, East Africa must be mentally prepared for the possibility of war."
Ernst stood in front of a world map, pointed at the Indian Ocean, and drew a circle passing through Australia, the East Indies, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and other regions.
"This will be the core of East Africa's future interests in the new world order. East Africa is the only world power in the Indian Ocean."
The Indian Ocean is a relatively closed ocean. It can be blocked by controlling a few key choke points, mainly the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope controlled by the United Kingdom.
The Strait of Malacca can cut off most of the countries and forces in the Pacific region from entering the Indian Ocean. From ancient times to the present, and in the future, the only countries that can do this in the Pacific region are probably the two major countries in East Asia, namely the Far East Empire and Japan, and the United States in the eastern Pacific.
The Suez Canal is the throat that blocks Europe's access to the Indian Ocean. Combined with the Cape of Good Hope, the British can control the main artery of trade between European countries and Asia.
In addition to external forces, the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Union are also worth noting along the Indian Ocean coast. The Ottoman Empire still has the foundation to become a world power. If the Ottoman Empire is revived, it will be able to exert its power in several important regions such as the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean.
It was also relatively easy for the Soviet Union to influence the Indian Ocean region, especially through land, by supporting pro-Soviet regimes and countries, such as India, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Afghanistan, etc.
As far as the current situation in the Indian Ocean is concerned, East Africa is a challenger to Britain, and in the future, the Red Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Cape of Good Hope will inevitably be taken over by East Africa and become its sphere of influence.
East Africa naturally has the confidence to say this. Whether through peaceful means or war, Britain's withdrawal from the Indian Ocean is an irreversible trend. East Africa did not seize these areas by force. It can only be said that there is no necessity for war. War is often the last resort.
As for the UK trying to win over other countries to prevent East Africa from controlling the Indian Ocean, that is unrealistic. The only country that can confront East Africa is the United States. However, it is difficult for the United States to extend its hand into the Indian Ocean. If the United States does so, it will be tantamount to using its own weakness to attack the other side's strength.
Just like the Soviet Union’s support for Cuba in the past, Cuba is right under the nose of the United States. If the Soviet Union wants to support Cuba, it will have to pay a high cost.
East Africa, however, happens to restrain the United States geographically. For example, East Africa can interact with the Caribbean countries, and there is no possibility of East Africa being blocked when entering the Caribbean Sea from the South Atlantic.
On the other hand, the United States cannot do this because the Atlantic Ocean west of East Africa lacks land and large islands and is very empty. The more well-known St. Helena Island, where Napoleon was imprisoned, is only 121 square kilometers and is mostly mountainous.
Not to mention that St. Helena is more than 2,000 kilometers away from the East African continent. Even if a military base is deployed, it is difficult to pose a threat to East Africa.
In particular, this island is farther away from the United States, the surrounding waters are empty, and it is far away from the mainland. If a military base is deployed here, it will have to bear extremely high cost pressure. Cuba is large enough, with a developed agriculture industry and can be self-sufficient. St. Helena Island does not have such favorable conditions at all.
Moreover, there are a series of island countries in the Caribbean region, and Cuba can be considered a major country among them. There is also a vast area of the Isthmus of Panama next to it, which makes it convenient for East Africa to establish a presence.
Of course, there are places in the South Atlantic that can pose a threat to East Africa, such as the Portuguese-controlled colonies of São Tomé and Príncipe and the Spanish-controlled Bioko Island.
However, Portugal and Spain obviously would not get involved in the struggle between the United States and East Africa, which would not be beneficial to either country.
Although Portugal and East Africa have had historical grievances, that was almost fifty years ago, and relations between the two countries have long been normalized.
Moreover, there are many countries that have grudges against Portugal. Portugal once established a huge empire that divided the world with Spain. East Africa was only one of the participants in the lost territories and enemies.
In short, within the South Atlantic, the United States cannot find a strategic fulcrum to support its confrontation with East Africa unless it can pull the South German Kingdom supported by East Africa into the American camp.
As for the Pacific Ocean, it is unlikely for the United States to enter the Indian Ocean. One reason is that the distance is too far, and the other is that East Africa has already established an advantage in the South China Sea and previously had an absolute advantage over the United States.
The only colony the United States has in Southeast Asia is the Philippines, and East Africa has a group of colonies in Southeast Asia.
To sum up, the role that the United States can play in the Indian Ocean is not even as good as that of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union has obviously not developed to the level of its former heyday. At the same time, it is also being pinned down by Germany and Japan from both Europe and East Asia.
It was also impossible for the British to cooperate with the Soviet Union to fight against East Africa in the Indian Ocean. After all, East Africa could eat the meat and leave some soup for other countries. If the Soviet Union went south, it might take away the pot as well.
Take India for example. If the Soviet Union had turned India into its sphere of influence and launched a nationalization movement, the British would have lost even their principal.
Ernst said: "Now, the only thing missing from the Empire's complete control of the Indian Ocean is an opportunity to make the British willingly give up their major Indian Ocean assets."
"And this opportunity was World War II. By then, Germany would have muddied the waters in Europe, and Britain's power would have been forced to retreat to Europe."
"Europe is Britain's first core interest and the foundation of its existence, so as long as we have enough patience, we can take over the hegemony of the entire Indian Ocean at the lowest cost."
The reason why Europe is the UK's top core interest is mainly because the UK itself is a European country. If a superpower emerges in Europe, it will pose a threat to the UK.
Compared with domestic security, even India, Britain's most important overseas colony, seems insignificant. The former is related to survival, while the latter is related to quality of life.
In fact, since its birth, East Africa has been the biggest destroyer of Britain's core interests.
In the past, Britain's core interests could be ranked as follows: first, Europe. Britain wanted to maintain the balance of power on the continent and prevent the emergence of a unified superpower. Then, the Middle East, home to the Suez Canal and oil, was crucial for transportation and energy. South Asia was next.
In reality, the importance of South Asia to Britain is debatable, but without the Suez Canal, it would have been difficult for Britain to maintain a military presence in India.
In fact, Britain's current investment in the Middle East does indeed rank above India, such as strengthening the construction of military bases and the number of troops in Egypt, Persia and other places.
The uncertainty in the Middle East is greater, and facing threats from forces such as East Africa, Germany and the Soviet Union, Britain must keep a close eye on this region. In comparison, the cost of maintaining India's rule is much lower.
As for India’s current nationalist awakening and resistance movement, and even the emergence of a “weird” figure like Gandhi, it obviously cannot make Britain nervous.
After South Asia, Britain's fourth core interest is East Asia, especially Britain's core interests in the Far East Empire.
Next is Africa. In the past, Britain had huge overseas colonies in Africa, which were an important link in Britain's overseas raw material supply chain and naval global supply network.
Finally, there are Atlantic and North American interests, among which the most important for Britain is its relations with the United States and Canada.
The six core interests of Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Africa and the Atlantic formed the framework of Britain's world hegemony in the past.
But this was only in the previous life. In this time and space, the sudden emergence of East Africa directly led to the inability of Britain to establish its colonial empire in Africa, and the sphere of influence in South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt also shrank.
The Middle East, which is vital to Britain, is now actually shared with East Africa, and the core oil producing areas are controlled by East Africa. Of course, even so, the oil revenues brought to Britain by Persia, Kuwait, the Gulf of Aden and other places are also considerable.
Oil's position in the world's energy has been consolidated, and oil revenues are even more important to Britain than some of India's agricultural and mineral output. After all, oil is liquid gold, with a price but no market, and is in short supply, while India's main resources are substitutable.
East Africa's colonies in the Middle East have limited Britain's ability to control global oil resources. Moreover, the existence of East Africa itself is a huge threat to Britain's control of the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, not to mention the Strait of Hormuz, which is actually controlled by East Africa.
Then there is Europe. Although East Africa has little influence on Europe, it has also caused damage to British interests. For example, the outcome of World War I changed so much because it was deeply influenced by East Africa, which caused the failure of Britain's plan to suppress Germany and also prolonged the life of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Britain at that time did not expect that its ally, Tsarist Russia, would change its attitude. In this way, Germany was not suppressed, which was not necessarily a bad thing. Britain once again had the conditions to balance Europe.
Even so, Britain's control over Europe has been severely weakened compared to its previous life. After all, Germany and the Soviet Union are too powerful, which makes it easy for the two countries to not act according to Britain's script.
Finally, in the Atlantic direction, East Africa also had a huge impact on British interests, especially the two major regions of West Africa and South America.
East Africa, by its own strength, has destroyed four of Britain's six core global interests in the past, so it can be said that East Africa is the main destroyer of Britain's world hegemony.
Of course, Britain's understanding of the threat from East Africa is still somewhat insufficient. For example, in its previous life, regarding its core interests in Africa, in this time and space, Britain has not established any large-scale African colonies, so they have no clear understanding of their losses in Africa.
If the British in this time and space knew that Ernst had a colony in his previous life, and that half of Africa was their colony, stretching almost all the way from Egypt to South Africa, then the British would definitely assassinate Ernst in the budding stage.
Without East Africa, Britain's world hegemony would not be completely stable, but at least it would not be as precarious as it is now.
The UK has its own core global interests, and the same is true for East Africa. At present, East Africa's core interests can be divided into six major areas.
First is the African continent, which is the foundation of East Africa and needs no further explanation. Then there is the Atlantic Ocean, followed by the Indian Ocean, and finally the South China Sea, the Far East and Europe.
The Atlantic Ocean ranks ahead of the Indian Ocean because East Africa's interests in this region have been basically confirmed. Even if there is subsequent expansion, there will be nothing new to do. It is nothing more than expanding the scale of trade between East Africa and the Atlantic coastal countries and increasing cultural output.
However, when East Africa controls the Indian Ocean in the future, the Indian Ocean will reverse and rank before the South Atlantic.
The South China Sea is listed separately as one of the core areas of focus for East Africa. It actually serves to build East Africa's hegemony in the Indian Ocean and is related to East Africa's interests in the Pacific.
As for the Far East and Europe, although these two places are important markets for East Africa, Europe even ranks first among East Africa's overseas markets.
However, the influence of the two places in East Africa is really limited, and it is difficult for them to make any difference. Not to mention that Europe itself is very strong, with four world powers: Britain, France, Germany and Austria. Even without these four countries, East Africa's influence on Europe will hardly exceed that of the United States and the Soviet Union.
The United States and Europe are separated only by the Atlantic Ocean, and maritime travel between the two places is very convenient. In contrast, East Africa is separated by the Sahara Desert, which covers an area of nearly 10 million square kilometers. Beyond the Sahara Desert is the Mediterranean Sea. To travel from the east coast of East Africa to Europe, one must pass through the Suez Canal.
To travel from the west coast to Europe, one has to go around the Gulf of Guinea. The existence of the Gulf of Guinea actually hinders maritime trade between East Africa and Europe. After all, the terrain of the African continent is large on top and low on the bottom, like a combination of a trapezoid and a triangle.
If East Africa wants to bypass this trapezoid, it must take a big detour.
Therefore, it is very inconvenient for East Africa to play a role in Europe, at least not as convenient as the United States and the Soviet Union.
The same is true for the Far East. The Far East and East Africa are separated by straits such as Malacca. Moreover, East Africa also faces competition from the United States and the Soviet Union in the Far East. The Soviet Union is directly one of the major powers in the Far East. It is also much more convenient for the United States to cross the Pacific Ocean to reach the Far East than East Africa.
At the same time, the situation in the Far East is different from that in Europe. In the Far East, the Far Eastern Empire is a natural leader, but it has declined for a short time. However, as long as the internal forces of the Far Eastern Empire are integrated, it will inevitably rise again. Its population, resources, land area, climate, and cultural foundations are all destined to make it a world power.
With so many European countries, East Africa can still find partners, but this possibility does not exist for the Far Eastern Empire. In the future, there will be only one kind of relationship between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire, either good or bad, depending on the relationship between the central governments of the two countries.
(End of this chapter)
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