Chapter 466: Attitudes of Various Countries
Whether there is a real alliance or not is not important to East Africa, because if it really encounters an enemy, it will not be something that the Austro-Hungarian Empire can deal with. After all, the only countries that can ignore the Austro-Hungarian Empire's face are the great powers.
"I think this matter is still a bit too easy for Austria!" Ferdinand said, very dissatisfied with the result of the negotiation.
"Don't worry, our goal has been achieved. Even Austria alone has a deterrent effect on ordinary countries. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire is divided, in the eyes of others Austria is the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Ernst said to his father-in-law.
As Ernst said, the news of East Africa’s “alliance” with Austria did cause a certain reaction in the eyes of other European countries.
British Prime Minister Benjamin paid special attention to Austria's behavior: "This alliance between the Austrian government and East Africa shows that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has ideas about Africa!"
"This may be one of the reasons. After all, in an economic depression, there are not many ways to divert conflicts, and the importance of colonies becomes more prominent," said the Foreign Secretary.
"We can't just sit back and watch Austria's actions. What about the intelligence we have gathered about the Kingdom of East Africa? I didn't expect them to cling to the Austro-Hungarian Empire first."
Benjamin was very different from his predecessor Gladstone. As the leader of the Conservative Party, he was an active advocate and defender of British colonial imperialism, and vigorously promoted a policy of foreign aggression and colonial expansion.
And it is worth noting that Benjamin himself is a Jew, so he has a very close relationship with the Jewish financial group, especially the Rothschild family in Britain.
In 1875, the Egyptian Governor Ismail Pasha encountered a financial crisis and planned to sell the canal shares he held. However, the French were greedy and wanted to lower the price. After hearing the news, Benjamin privately borrowed money from the Rothschild family overnight and bought all the Egyptian government shares (about 45% of all the canal shares) at a low price of 4 million pounds, plus some small shares. Britain thus controlled the lifeline of this east-west maritime transportation.
Therefore, the Prime Minister of the British Empire, who had a very good relationship with the Rothschild family, had no good feelings towards the Blackching royal family behind East Africa.
However, the good news is that the British Prime Minister's focus is still on India. In 1876, his foreign policy focus was to continue to strengthen the relationship between India and the British mainland and to promote Queen Victoria to become the Queen of India, thereby pushing the British Empire from a verbal habit to a textual "empire".
Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the Indian colony, the British government has intensified its aggressive actions against neighboring countries, including Southeast Asia, East Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran, with India as the core. The secondary direction of the Benjamin government's colonial empire is to use South Africa as a springboard to invade the entire Africa.
The importance of India is self-evident. As for why the British government suddenly paid more attention to Africa, the actual reason was that its colonial strategy in other regions was not going well.
Britain was originally the world's number one colonial power, but the British people's greed is endless. After the colonial activities in America were completed unsatisfactorily, looking around the world, only the African continent still had vast lands that had not been divided up.
Because of India, Britain does not have the energy to "take care" of Africa now, but the Benjamin government has begun to investigate the forces in Africa to facilitate the next invasion procedure.
East Africa was located right in front of Britain's most important colony in Africa (Egypt was a semi-colony).
"We sent out twelve expedition teams last year to try to explore the interior of Africa. Our operations in West Africa went smoothly, but we ran into trouble in South Africa. The East African Kingdom prohibits any individual or force from entering the territory of the Kingdom to conduct exploration activities, so five expedition teams were expelled and one is missing."
It is worth noting that this time Britain's exploration of the interior of Africa started from its own colonies, namely the British Gold Coast in West Africa and the Cape Town Colony in South Africa.
Progress in West Africa was relatively smooth, but South Africa suffered a setback. The East African Kingdom that controlled the north bank of the Orange River tightly blocked the border and did not give the British any chance.
Benjamin cursed: "Gladstone, that bastard, shouldn't have just sat there and watched the East African Kingdom annex the Transvaal Republic."
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we know too little about East Africa, so we should not act rashly. Although the Transvaal Republic has been annexed by the Germans, the Orange Free State is still there. We should first find an opportunity to merge the Orange Free State into Cape Town. The diamond resources of the Orange Free State are also a valuable asset to the empire."
Benjamin: "Of course I know this. Let's find someone to lobby the Orange Free State government and get the Orange Free State to join. Also, we need to strengthen our intelligence work in East Africa. We must figure out the population and land size of East Africa. Austria's abnormal behavior shows that the East African Kingdom is definitely not simple."
"Yes, Prime Minister."
…
Berlin.
William I was also somewhat interested in Austria's behavior of eating alone.
William I: "Austria is still willing to exert its influence in Africa. Is there really any profit in Africa?"
Bismarck: "That is impossible, Your Majesty. I guess the main reason why Austria and East Africa signed the contract is that the high-level relations between the two countries are relatively friendly. The Hechingen royal family is just looking for a human shield to ensure the security of their country. This is the way of survival for many small countries in the world."
William I: "But in that case, Prince Constantine should come to us. After all, the Principality of Hechingen is also part of the Empire."
Bismarck: "Your Majesty, to be frank, I think the Hechingen royal family is the most suitable choice. Africa is in the southern hemisphere, and the world power closest to East Africa is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There is only the Suez Canal between them. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's navy is also stronger than ours. So if I were to choose, I would definitely choose the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, it is impossible for Prussia to go from the Baltic Sea to the North Atlantic and then to the Mediterranean, and then enter the Indian Ocean to take care of East Africa. Moreover, the people of East Africa are Germans, who have the same ancestry as Germany, and are more inclined to Catholicism in culture. The Hechingen royal family has always been closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in history, but they had a brief honeymoon period with Prussia after the 1848 Revolution."
William I: "You are right. The Imperial Navy is in an awkward position. Although the Austro-Hungarian Navy is not very good, the Mediterranean Sea is obviously much wider than the Baltic Sea."
Bismarck went on to say: "It doesn't matter if we let Austria-Hungary influence East Africa. We can just influence Austria-Hungary. Anyway, the current Prime Minister of Austria-Hungary is pro-German."
…
Compared with Britain and Germany, France had no interest in East Africa at all. France even believed that an alliance between East Africa and Austria would be beneficial to its own African strategy.
France's strategic focus is on North Africa and West Africa, so there is no conflict of interest between it and East Africa. Moreover, it would be good if the Kingdom of East Africa could give the British a slap in the face, so as to prevent the British from making small moves in West Africa. The two sides are actually real competitors in West Africa.
As for East Africa's willingness to ally with Austria, France did not mind. Could it be that Austria wanted to establish a tripartite empire? As long as it did not cooperate with Prussia, its enemy, the French government had no major objection.
Russia: "East Africa? I haven't heard of it. Just make sure it's not the Balkans."
Portugal:"……"
(End of this chapter)
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