African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1095: Chapter 104: Industrial Axis

The current phase of East Africa’s national canal plan still follows the previous concept: by building a new batch of artificial waterways to connect the nationwide water network, it will indirectly achieve the goal of combining river and sea transport.

Counting the earlier canal projects already built in East Africa, once the national canal plan is completed, the total length of artificial canals in East Africa will reach an astounding five thousand kilometers or so. Bear in mind that the Congo River is only a little over four thousand kilometers long; if all these artificial canals were linked together, it would be no less than digging out a new Yellow River.

Of course, a terrifying project on the scale of East Africa’s is not without precedent. In the previous world, the Soviet Union and the Far East Empire could both be described as ”insanely obsessed” when it came to canal construction, to a degree most Western countries could hardly comprehend.

Just the Karakum Canal that the Soviet Union built in Central Asia was over 1,400 kilometers long. In addition, the Soviet Union built the White Sea–Baltic Sea Canal, the Volga–Don Canal, and other artificial waterways. The Far East Empire was an even greater ”canal maniac,” having never stopped such projects from ancient times to the present.

Of course, the main focus of East Africa’s national canal plan is shipping; Ernst’s primary goal is to reduce his country’s transportation costs.

With the rise of East Africa’s own industry and transport sector, the country is also facing a severe energy problem, so diversification of public transport modes is an important guarantee for the economic and transport strategic security of the East African Countries.

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Just as one wave subsides, another rises. The East African Navy’s trip to South America still attracted the attention of the British. Ever since East Africa stirred up trouble in the Persian Gulf Region last year, the United Kingdom has harbored resentment toward East Africa, and now East Africa’s diplomatic activities in South America have once again touched a raw nerve for the British.

Since the 19th century, the United Kingdom has tried to expand its influence in South America. For example, at the beginning of the 19th century the United Kingdom invaded Rio de Janeiro; although it ultimately failed, British penetration into South America never stopped. Later, in the Guano War and the Paraguay War, the British presence was always lurking in the background.

By the end of the 19th century, the United Kingdom had in effect taken control of the South American economy and had become the largest investor there. Moreover, its economic colonialism in South America was even more ferocious than in actual history.

The main reason for this outcome was the rise of East Africa. In the previous world, when the British Empire finally took shape, Africa—especially what is now East Africa—accounted for a large part of its territory. Uganda, Rhodesia, Kenya, South Africa, and others were all what the British called ”the jewels in the crown.”

The emergence of East Africa, however, effectively cut off most of the United Kingdom’s interests in Africa. Although the United Kingdom kept its colonies in West Africa, there it faced fierce competition from a host of Europe and America countries.

Under these circumstances, the United Kingdom could only shift its gaze to other parts of the world, and South America was undoubtedly a piece of fat meat. Although most South American countries had Spain or Portugal as their Sovereign Country, both had now declined badly: Portugal had been crippled by East Africa, and Spain had been battered half to death by the United States. This provided the United Kingdom with even more favorable conditions to penetrate South America.

The United Kingdom’s penetration into the various South American countries made it the state with the largest stake in South America today, and East Africa’s activities there were clearly not going to please the British.

Incumbent Prime Minister Asquith of the United Kingdom said, ”In the past two years, East Africa has been extremely active worldwide. The recent turmoil in the Persian Gulf Region is obviously backed by East Africans, and now East Africa is stretching its hand into South America as well. Both regions happen to be where the Empire’s interests lie.”

This is something they can hardly help. As the world’s foremost colonial Great Power, British influence is spread all over the globe. One could say that changes in most countries or regions will involve British interests.

Take East Africa as an example: East Africa is surrounded on all four sides—east, south, west, and north—by British colonies or economic dependencies: Egypt to the north, the Persian Gulf, India to the Northeast, British West Africa to the Northwest, Australia to the east, South Africa to the south, and South America to the west, which is also an economic dependency of the United Kingdom.

No matter where East Africa expands or extends its influence, it will impact the United Kingdom; this is unavoidable.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George said, ”From the moment it was born, East Africa has been an evil country. At the very least, government incompetence allowed East Africa to grow so big on the African Continent. In recent years, East Africa’s industry has developed rapidly and has even caused some shock to our own market. You can see quite a number of cars made in East Africa on the streets of London.”

”That also means East Africa’s industrial capacity has already reached a certain level. From a global perspective, Germany, the United States, and East Africa have formed a new axis of industrial power, and the Empire is being encircled by these three emerging industrial Great Powers.”

In fact, East Africa, the United States, and Germany are precisely the three major centers of the current Second Industrial Revolution. It’s just that East Africa’s industrial foundation is far inferior to that of the United States and Germany, so the East African center only really began exerting its full strength after the start of the 20th century.

At this point, Asquith also frowned. ”In the past, the Empire successfully struck down many challengers, but new forces always rise to challenge the Empire’s hegemony. Germany, the United States, and East Africa are exactly the representatives of this new type of power, and their threat may even exceed that posed by France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.”

France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia could be said to be the United Kingdom’s traditional rivals. France was greatly weakened by the Prussia–France War. Austria-Hungary was like mud that would not stick to the wall, no longer constituting a threat. As for Russia, after its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, it can only lick its wounds.

The last time the United Kingdom took decisive action was in supporting Japan, which dealt a massive blow to Russia and caused this formidable competitor to British hegemony to suffer a crushing defeat.

But push down the gourd and up pops the dipper. No matter how superb British diplomacy and military power may be, once it is dragged into this kind of endless competition, it also becomes somewhat powerless despite the will.

”Germany can still be balanced by the continental European states, but the United States and East Africa are the real headaches. They operate outside the Empire’s control, and we have no good countermeasures to keep these two countries in check,” Asquith said.

The United Kingdom is in fact well aware of the threat from the United States. In recent years, the United States has been no less busy globally than East Africa.

The Spanish-American War marked the beginning of the outward expansion of American power, and thereafter the United States penetrated in two directions: toward Central and South America and toward the Far East.

East Africa and the United States are like two scythes, madly reaping political influence outside Europe—one south, one north; one east, one west—and the first to bear the brunt is the United Kingdom, the current leader of the world order.

George, off to the side, said, ”It’s no longer possible to completely suppress the United States. As for East Africa, perhaps something can still be done. After all, it has developed for a shorter time and has not yet reached the power and status of the United States.”

Asquith sighed. ”That’s somewhat wishful thinking. In reality, the United States is easier to deal with than East Africa, because we can at least exert economic and political influence on the United States, whereas East Africa is like a copper wall and iron bastion into which it’s very hard to penetrate.”

”You could say East Africa is the world’s largest closed country. If East Africa were like Russia, we might not have so many headaches.”

Russia’s economy is controlled by foreign interests; this is Russia’s fatal flaw. Other countries can use economic sanctions and other means to make Russia behave. East Africa is obviously not like this. The United Kingdom has tried such methods, but judging from East Africa’s development over the past decade or so, they have clearly had little effect.

After the South African War, war was no longer within the United Kingdom’s scope of options. In essence, it hoped to limit East Africa’s industrial development through economic sanctions. But things backfired: East Africa instead grew stronger by the day.

The episode that impressed the British most was the sudden appearance of East Africa’s Dreadnought. At that time, the United Kingdom’s first Dreadnought had only just been launched, and East Africa followed closely, becoming the second country in the world to possess a Dreadnought. It was impossible for East Africa not to attract British attention.

The British naturally know very well the difficulty of building such a super-weapon; without a powerful shipbuilding industry, it is almost impossible. Yet East Africa possessed a Dreadnought virtually at the same time as the United Kingdom. Does this not, in a certain sense, mean that East Africa’s shipbuilding industry is already no weaker than that of the United Kingdom?