Chapter 475: Taking Action
The British government carefully assessed East Africa's strength, and the more they analyzed, the more they realized there was no easy way to deal with it. While East Africa's size wasn't enormous, within the confines of Africa, it was a behemoth.
After all, apart from the Cape Colony and North Africa, there was no other region in Africa that could rival East Africa in terms of white population. Moreover, East Africa was primarily composed of Germans—though not entirely pure—its cultural identity naturally leaned toward Germany.
What did this mean for Britain? Germany alone was already enough to give Britain a headache. Add Austria-Hungary to the mix, and German influence could reshape the entire world. If East Africa were to serve as the raw material supply base for these two industrial powers, Britain's hegemonic position would face a significant threat.
At this thought, Benjamin's expression turned grave. "East Africa is no ordinary nation. A private colonial company occupying millions of square kilometers in Africa severely disrupts regional peace and stability. As the guardians of world order, we cannot allow East Africa to develop unchecked any longer. We must strike hard!"
Benjamin explicitly defined East Africa as a private colonial entity like the British East India Company. The British East India Company had once dominated India, but India's colonial territory was only three million square kilometers. The Kingdom of East Africa, in contrast, was more than twice that size (or so the British government believed). While East Africa's land might not be as fertile as India's and its population not as dense, a nation with such vast territory would eventually accumulate enough people to become a force capable of influencing the global balance of power. Even if it didn't reach that level, East Africa had already altered the dynamics of the western Indian Ocean.
Benjamin continued sternly, "In other parts of the world, we can find proxies to deal with potential adversaries we find difficult to confront directly, achieving strategic balance. But in Africa, is there any opponent that can match East Africa?"
"Furthermore, the ambitions of the Kingdom of East Africa don't stop there. They are still expanding. Their presence has already appeared on the eastern Atlantic coast, and Southwest Africa is about to fall into their hands. With Africa's vast inland regions still ripe for exploitation, East Africa's current territory of seven million square kilometers could easily become ten million tomorrow. Will they monopolize the entire continent in the future?"
At this point, Benjamin himself suddenly felt a flicker of fear toward East Africa, though he quickly tried to calm himself.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer interjected, "Prime Minister, perhaps the situation isn't as dire as we imagine. While East Africa's land area is vast, I believe its potential is at most on par with Canada or Australia. We already have colonies in Africa, and their conditions are far superior to East Africa's. The Gold Coast and the Cape Colony are among the most valuable territories in Africa, yet their importance to the British Empire is relatively minor within our global system, especially in terms of economic value. For East Africa to develop, land alone isn't enough—progress in Africa is inherently fraught with difficulties."
Whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer had taken East Africa's money or not was beside the point. The main issue was that the government was strapped for cash. The Royal Navy, a money-devouring beast, saw its budget rise year after year. Coupled with the increased expenditures during the economic crisis, Britain was already stretched thin. Moreover, the costs of maintaining British interests in South Asia demanded significant attention. The Russians were growing increasingly restless, showing clear signs of attempting to break through British containment. Unlike East Africa—whose potential for development remained questionable—Russia was a genuine threat capable of undermining British hegemony, arguably even more dangerous than the Germans.
"Now that Tsar Alexander II's reforms are complete and he has proven himself a formidable leader, the Russian threat should undoubtedly be our top priority. Germany may be developing rapidly, but France is keeping a close eye on them, and Austria-Hungary has conflicting interests with Russia. However, Russia's advances in Central Asia and the Far East pose a direct threat, particularly to the security of India."
East Africa's naval strength was respectable, but Britain paid it little mind. The Royal Navy in India alone could effectively contain East Africa. Russia, on the other hand, was a different story. Russia's strategic focus was on land—precisely Britain's weak point.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's words did little to ease Benjamin's concerns; if anything, they weighed on him more heavily. Russia, the United States, Germany, and to a lesser extent, the Far East and East Africa—all these nations had seen significant growth in recent years. In contrast, Britain and France, as the upholders of world order, found their influence increasingly challenged.
Benjamin sighed, "The more competitors arise, the higher the cost of maintaining the Empire's position becomes. We are truly stretched thin!"
Then, shifting his tone, he declared, "But precisely because of this, we cannot afford to ignore East Africa's existence. We must not allow another challenger to emerge. Think carefully—how can we strangle East Africa in its cradle?"
If Ernst were to hear this, he might laugh himself to death. "Cradle" wasn't entirely wrong—in Ernst's view, East Africa was indeed fragile. However, after years of covert development, East Africa had built a comprehensive capacity to handle crises, making it more like a giant infant. If Britain wanted to completely crush East Africa, a low-effort approach wouldn't suffice. A high-effort campaign would inevitably carry the risk of other powers exploiting Britain's distraction.
Benjamin's words left his colleagues stumped. What were East Africa's weaknesses? Ernst would say trade—cutting off East Africa's foreign trade would truly cripple it.
But the British had fallen into a mental trap. Did East Africa even have foreign trade? The answer was yes, but East Africa's trade system was more like an extension of German and Austrian commerce. It was disguised as an outflow of German capital, integrated into the trade networks of both nations. Thus, while the British could sense the competitive pressure of German and Austrian goods, they barely registered East Africa's presence.
In essence, East Africa was a colony of Germany and Austria—except this colony had a mind of its own. Economically, East Africa sacrificed enormous profits for the benefit of Germany and Austria, though these benefits were distributed through the Black Forest Financial Group. The wealth transferred from East Africa to the Black Forest Financial Group—which was indeed part of German capital—ultimately trickled down to the common people, the government, and business circles closely tied to the Black Forest capital.
The Foreign Secretary chimed in, "East Africa is an extremely closed-off nation, effectively a puppet of Germany and Austria, completely disconnected from the global market. At times, it's as if the country doesn't even exist. They have no diplomatic relations with us, giving off the same impression as the Far Eastern Empire before we forced open its doors. But East Africa's rulers are the Black Forest royal family—pure-blooded German nobility. Why would they do this? Running a colony requires considering costs. Do the Black Forest royals truly intend to establish a medieval feudal monarchy in Africa?"
The effects of East Africa's isolationist policy were evident here. East Africa could peer out at the world through a narrow window, while the rest of the world remained largely blind to East Africa. Of course, not everyone was ignorant—a handful of Austrian merchants who had invested in East Africa had a clear understanding of the country. However, they didn't publicize it, because East Africa's economic system seemed downright heretical to them, completely antithetical to capitalist principles. Moreover, they feared the Austrian government might imitate East Africa's model.
East Africa's economic system was highly complex, but within it, the monarchy was undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary, followed by the nobility and bureaucracy, and finally the common people. Capitalists had no place in this hierarchy. Strangely enough, this model seemed to work quite well for East Africa, so the merchants kept quiet. If the Habsburgs adopted a similar approach, who could bear it? And this wasn't an impossible scenario—consider Austria-Hungary's railway nationalization during the economic crisis.
Alternatively, one could describe East Africa as a medieval serfdom state. But that wasn't something the Austrian merchants wanted either. So, they preferred East Africa to keep playing its game in its own corner—as long as it didn't spread elsewhere. Besides, as long as cooperation with East Africa was profitable, no one wanted to give up such an exclusive advantage.
Indeed, East Africa's composition was complicated—feudal, monarchist, authoritarian, serfdom, state-controlled economy, collective economy, monopoly capital—it had a bit of everything. This was an inevitable choice. By historical progression, absolute monarchy belonged in the dustbin of history, but Ernst couldn't betray his own position. So, he borrowed elements from other systems, turning East Africa into a patchwork monstrosity.
Benjamin declared, "If East Africa is truly as closed-off as the Far Eastern Empire, then force is the only way to deal with them. We must compel them to open up!"
This was truly a last resort. No one knew what East Africa's ultimate goals were, so Benjamin could only compare it to the pre-Opium War Far Eastern Empire. The similarities were striking, including racial parallels.
"But do we declare war on East Africa?"
"Of course not. We don't yet understand East Africa's military capabilities, so we can't act rashly. Here's what we'll do: Portugal's colonies flank East Africa on both sides. Let's have Portugal test the waters first. If East Africa turns out to be a paper tiger, we'll dismantle it."
"Prime Minister, but Portugal's military strength... I don't know if East Africa's army is a paper tiger, but Portugal's certainly is!"
"That's fine. If Portugal fails, we'll step in. We'll rope in the French, provide some support to Portugal's colonies, and arm them properly. I trust the French still know a thing or two about training armies—especially after their defeat by the Germans. This will give them a chance to face off against Germans again, albeit in a colonial setting."
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