Chapter 466： Attitudes of various countries

Chapter 466: Attitudes of Countries

Whether there is a real alliance is not important to East Africa, because if it encounters an enemy, it cannot be settled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, the countries that can ignore the face of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can only be great powers.

“I think this matter is a bit cheaper for Austria!” Ferdinand said very dissatisfied with the outcome of this negotiation.

"Don't worry, our goal has been achieved. Even Austria has a deterrent effect on ordinary countries. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire is partially clear, 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 still caused a certain reaction in the eyes of other European countries.

British Prime Minister Benjamin is particularly concerned about Austria's behavior: "This alliance between the Austrian government and East Africa shows that Austria-Hungary has ideas for Africa!"

“There may be reasons for this. After all, under the economic depression, there are not many ways to divert conflicts, and the importance of colonies has become more prominent.” said the Foreign Secretary.

“We can’t sit back and watch Austria’s actions, and how is the intelligence of the East African Kingdom doing? I didn’t expect that they would embrace the Austro-Hungarian Empire first.”

Benjamin is 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 the 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 consortium, especially the British Rothschild family.

In 1875, the Egyptian governor Ismail Pasha encountered a financial crisis and planned to sell his canal shares. However, the French were not greedy enough and planned to lower the price. After Benjamin heard the news, he privately borrowed money from the Rothschild family overnight and purchased all the Egyptian government's shares (approximately the entire canal) at a low price of 4 million pounds. 45% of the shares), plus some small shares, the UK thus controlled this lifeline of east-west maritime transportation.

So the Prime Minister of the British Empire, who has a very good relationship with the Rothschild family, has no good impression of the Hechingen royal family behind East Africa.

But the good news is that the current focus of the British Prime Minister is still 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 Empress of India, thereby promoting the British Empire from oral habits to Completely turned into a textual "empire".

So for the sake of the security of the Indian colonies in recent years, the British government, with India as the core, has stepped up aggressive actions in its surrounding areas, including Southeast Asia, East Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran. The sub-direction of the colonial empire of the Benjamin government was 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 is that the colonial strategy in other regions did not go well.

The United Kingdom was originally the world's number one colonial country, but the British's greed was endless. After the colonial activities in the Americas were completed unsatisfactorily, looking at the entire world, only the African continent still had vast land that had not been carved up.

Because of India, Britain does not yet have the energy to "take care" of Africa, but the Benjamin government has begun to investigate the forces in Africa to facilitate the next invasion process.

East Africa is just in front of the most important British colony in Africa (Egypt is a semi-colony).

"We sent out twelve expedition teams last year in an attempt to explore deep into the interior of Africa. Our operations in West Africa were relatively smooth, but we encountered trouble in southern Africa. The East African Kingdom prohibits any individual or force from entering the East African Kingdom to engage in exploration activities. So five expeditions were expelled and one remains unaccounted for.”

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.

 West Africa is progressing fairly smoothly, but South Africa has suffered a setback. The East African kingdom that controls the north bank of the Orange River has tightly blocked its borders and did not give the British any chance.

Benjamin cursed angrily: "Gladstone, this bastard, should not have just sat back and watched the Kingdom of East Africa annex the Republic of Transvaal." "Your Excellency Prime Minister, we know too little about East Africa so we should not let it go easily. Although Delan The Swarovski Republic has been annexed by the Germans, but the Orange Free State is still there. We should first find an opportunity to incorporate the Orange Free State into Cape Town. The diamond resources of the Orange Free State are also valuable to the empire. A valuable asset.”

Benjamin: "Of course I know this. First find someone to lobby the Orange Free State government to get the Orange Free State to join. Also, intelligence work on East Africa must be strengthened. We must understand the population and land of East Africa. The scale, Austria’s unusual behavior shows that the East African kingdom is definitely not simple.”

“Yes, Prime Minister.”

…

Berlin.

William I was also somewhat interested in Austrian solitary eating.

William I: "Austria still has the leisure to exert its influence in Africa. Can it be said that Africa is really profitable?"

Bismarck: "This is impossible, Your Majesty. According to my guess, the reason why Austria signed the contract with East Africa is mainly because the high-level relations between the two countries are relatively friendly. The Hechingen royal family just wants to find a human shield to ensure the security of their country. This is the case for many people in the world." The survival of a small country.”

William I: "But in this case, Prince Constantine should come to us. After all, the Prince of Hechingen is also part of the empire."

Bismarck: "Your Majesty, to put it bluntly, the choice of the Hechingen royal family is the most appropriate in my opinion. Africa is in the southern hemisphere. The closest world power to East Africa is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There is only the Suez Canal between them. , the navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also stronger than ours, so if I were asked 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 Sea, and then enter the Indian Ocean to take care of East Africa, and the citizens of East Africa are German They share the same ancestry with Germany, and their culture is more Catholic. The royal family of Hechingen was historically closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but they only briefly had a honeymoon period with Prussia after the 1848 revolution."

William I: "You are indeed 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 continued: "It doesn't matter if the Austro-Hungarian Empire affects East Africa. We can influence the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Anyway, the current Austro-Hungarian Prime Minister is pro-German."

…

Compared to Britain and Germany, France is not interested in East Africa at all. France even believes that an alliance between East Africa and Austria is beneficial to its African strategy.

France's strategic focus is on North and West Africa, so there is no conflict of interest with East Africa, and it is good that the East African Kingdom can provide eye drops to the British. The British in the province are making small moves in West Africa, but the real competition between the two sides is in West Africa. opponent.

As for East Africa’s willingness to ally with Austria, France doesn’t mind. Is it possible that Austria still wants to build a triarchal empire? As long as it is not cooperating with the enemy Prussia, the French government does not have much objection.

Russia: "East Africa? Never heard of it, just the Balkans."

Portugal:"…"

(End of this chapter)