African Entrepreneurship Record

The military is directly involved in the promotion of wireless radio this time. After all, the military value of wireless radio is immense. To better strengthen the initial experiments of wireless radio in the military, the military’s affiliated research groups have already begun to take action.

”The application of wireless radio is inseparable from the transmission of information, and its application is reflected in the specific aspect of wireless telegraphy. Previously, our military could only transmit messages through wired telegraphy, and the laying of lines had great limitations, which severely delayed the speed of military messages. However, wireless radio has high plasticity in this aspect.”

”Of course, wireless radio also has a drawback, which is that its signal directly propagates in the air, thus allowing the enemy to obtain our information by constructing signal reception devices. This requires our military to make great efforts in the field of information security, especially in the development of new codebooks to prevent the enemy from easily deciphering our military intelligence.”

”At the same time, this also indicates that wired telegraphy still has use value, especially for some important military units and departments, ensuring national information security through wired telegraphy transmission.”

The high-ranking officials in the East African military spoke eloquently about the application of wireless radio, which is understandable, as the East African military can be said to be one of the groups most receptive to advanced military technology in the world.

Because the overall system of the East African military is younger and has a high level of education, the application of advanced military technology is one of the important reasons why East Africa was able to defeat the United Kingdom in the South African War.

Archduke Ferdinand said, ”Our navy must certainly make widespread use of wireless radio on ships. After all, warships cannot be connected by wires. In the past, communication between naval vessels was basically reliant on traditional methods. Now the emergence of wireless radio means a major reform for our navy.”

”Not only that, our overseas military bases also have a great demand for this technology. After all, the investment cost for promoting wired transmission is high, while wireless radio transmission can directly connect the North Hawaiian Kingdom and Lan Fang overseas province with the East African mainland.”

The emergence of wired telegraphy and undersea cables has extended the United Kingdom’s reach to all parts of the world. Relying on wired telegraphy, the United Kingdom has built the world’s largest telegraph network, such as the communication between East Africa and the Far East Empire, which must first go through Europe and then be transferred through India.

In the past thirty years, East Africa’s wired telegraphy has also developed extremely rapidly, basically forming an effective network covering the entire country. Of course, places like Mozambique and Angola are definitely less dense in distribution.

But the wired telegraphy network in East Africa is only a regional network, while the British network is a ”global network”, which only a World Overlord nation like the United Kingdom can achieve.

As early as 1880, the undersea cables laid by the United Kingdom reached an astonishing 1.56 million kilometers; now the scale is only larger, basically connecting all of Britain’s main overseas colonies, including Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, etc.

Relying on the undersea cable network, the British government can implement a plan to monitor the globe. The British undersea cable eavesdropping organization is a tightly secretive agency. They set up eavesdropping institutions at critical connection points along the cables, install eavesdropping devices, and quickly gather and study important information.

The earliest case of this happened during the Boer War. After the British defeat, the German emperor William II sent a congratulatory telegram to Transvaal Republic President Paul Kruger, warmly congratulating the Boers on their victory, and stated that Transvaal had ”independently and successfully defeated the invader” and ”defended national independence.”

Before this telegram reached Transvaal through the British-controlled undersea cable, it was intercepted by the British. From then on, Britain increased its emphasis on the threat posed by Germany, shifted from a compromising stance, and began to take confrontation measures worldwide. Germany responded in kind, and tensions between the two nations escalated, eventually entering a ”naval arms race” and forming alliances as mutual imaginary enemies, which eventually led to the outbreak of World War I.

This theory has some possibility, but it is definitely not the root cause, as William II himself often made ”shocking remarks” in the International Community.

However, this also indirectly proves the authenticity of the British obtaining relevant countries’ intelligence through the global wired telegraph network.

At least Ernst himself believes this, as it is the traditional skill of the Anglo-Saxons people. Later, their ”prodigy,” the United States, had the ”Prism” for monitoring various governments, and after related justice-driven individuals fled, it was publicly exposed. Therefore, guarding against the United Kingdom is not ”much ado about nothing.”

On the flip side, if Ernst had this ”network,” then for the sake of East Africa’s national interest and security, Ernst would certainly do the same.

Of course, the wired telegraph network from East Africa to Europe is still secure, directly connected to the Austria-Hungary network using a separate line, without needing to transfer through Cape Town.

However, there is still operability when Austria-Hungary accesses the United Kingdom’s Mediterranean to Far East Empire network, although this is a complex task. The East African Government can entirely protect information security through ”disguise.”

Of course, ultimately it is necessary to take the road to build ”independent” networks. In fact, after realizing British actions, the United States, France, and Germany began building independent undersea cable systems in the 20th century.

In the 20th century, disputes over wired telegraphy were not limited to these. During wartime, a type of specialized ship called ”cable-cutting ship” appeared that would mercilessly cut other nations’ undersea cables, and the powerful British Royal Navy could ensure these ”telegraphic pirates” operate smoothly.

Thus, even though wired telegraphy is more reliable in terms of security, it is not foolproof. Especially when East Africa communicated to Europe and the Far East Empire inevitably passes through British influence zones. If the undersea cable were cut, it would be finished.

Therefore, in East Africa’s telegraphy industry, Ernst’s plan is to ”walk on two legs,” achieving mutual supplementation of wired telegraphy and wireless telegraphy, independent of British wired telegraph transmission, while pairing with wireless telegraph systems, thus ensuring the information security for East African countries.

Besides the military, other departments also strongly demand wireless telegraphy, such as the postal system, academic exchanges, commercial information transmission, and communications between central and local governments.

This means that in the coming years, the traditional information transmission modes East Africa originally relied on—wired telegraph, railways, station systems—will be greatly impacted.

East Africa’s information industry will undergo a great transformation following the rise of wireless telegraphy, akin to an information revolution.

Of course, this also means that East Africa has to prepare for the popularization and promotion of wireless radio, such as the interception issues mentioned by the military before. This requires all departments and research institutions of the East African Government to establish new communication rules and increase new equipment.

This also involves the production of wireless radio equipment, which is also a complex problem. For example, military requirements must be high. After all, electrical equipment has to meet the military standard with a high threshold; the military cannot maintain ”delicate” electronic equipment, which must meet field needs, be able to work normally under various extreme weather conditions, and have waterproof and shock-resistant characteristics.

Especially for the navy, the standards will only be stricter. Ships navigating on the ocean will definitely encounter various extreme weather conditions. After all, the East African Navy cannot always operate in tropical waters around East Africa; occasionally it must go to high latitude waters for training. The sea is extremely bumpy, which imposes higher requirements for the stability of electronic product performance.