African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1132: Chapter 141: Trade with the Ottoman Empire

What truly makes East Africa a bit challenging is that the Ottoman Empire currently holds a rather favorable stage in its relationships with East Africa. In order to gain the Ottoman Empire’s support in the Persian Gulf colonial occupation, East Africa has engaged in numerous collaborations with the Ottoman Empire. As of now, the Ottoman Empire is certainly a pro-East African country.

The relationships between East Africa and the Balkan Peninsula countries are somewhat complex, with Romania having the best relationship with East Africa. However, Romania is not a primary participant in the current Balkan crisis.

Romania is located in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula, and it is already separated from the Ottoman Empire, so the conflict between the two countries is not as sharp as with other nations.

On the Balkan Peninsula, the country with the second-best relationship with East Africa is Bulgaria. Bulgaria could be considered a minor military power on the Balkans, demonstrating extraordinary combat ability far beyond its national strength during World War I.

Therefore, East Africa has always maintained a good relationship with Bulgaria, especially in military cooperation, with East Africa being an important supporter of Bulgaria.

Moreover, from the perspective of economic interests, trade between East Africa and Bulgaria ranks second among Balkan Peninsula countries, after Romania.

Serbia is located inland in the Balkans, lacking a seaport, while Greece is virtually a lending ground for the United Kingdom, its economy being entirely controlled by the British, giving Bulgaria and East Africa’s trade a natural advantage.

Of course, compared to Romania, an important oil-producing region, Bulgaria cannot be mentioned in the same breath.

After summarizing everyone’s thoughts, Ernst said, ”In handling relations with Balkan-related countries, following everyone’s suggestions, it’s that if we don’t need to offend, we don’t. As for explicitly supporting a particular country, that indeed doesn’t align with our interests.”

”Moreover, we ourselves can only be considered bystanders to the affairs in the Balkan Peninsula, unable to engage in Balkan affairs like other countries. Therefore, for now, we choose a cold and detached attitude towards the Balkan Peninsula war. However, we should certainly get involved in the current arms trade market of the Balkan Peninsula.”

After all, East Africa is separated from the Balkan Peninsula by the Suez Canal. As long as the Suez Canal remains in British hands, East Africa cannot achieve excessive interference in European politics; no matter the investment, it will not achieve the corresponding effect.

As for Austria-Hungary, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom, even Germany, it’s greatly different for them. They are themselves not far from the Balkan Peninsula, or have smooth sea passages, so the major forces at play on the Balkan Peninsula are still these countries. Until East Africa gains control over the Suez Canal, it’s basically impossible for East Africa to play a leading role.

From this perspective, even if East Africa intends to engage in arms dealings on the Balkan Peninsula, it can only initially cooperate with the Ottoman Empire. After all, East Africa cannot compete with other European countries in selling arms to this contentious region, unable to secure the bulk.

The Ottoman Empire is different; besides being a Balkan state, it is also a country along the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coastlines, and East Africa’s trade with the Ottoman Empire won’t be easily cut off by restrictions from other countries.

Therefore, following the end of this conference session, the first country East Africa reached out to was the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire naturally eagerly welcomed the ”goodwill” shown by East Africa.

Currently, influenced by military cooperation between Germany and East Austria, the Ottoman Empire’s weapons are accelerating in Germanization. For Germany, it cannot support the Ottoman Empire as conveniently as East Africa, as Germany must consider the sentiments of other Balkan Peninsula countries. Even if Germany supports the Ottoman Empire, it cannot bypass the Balkan Peninsula, whereas East Africa can choose to collaborate with the Ottoman Empire in the Red Sea or Persian Gulf.

Thus, in May 1912, East Africa first secured a batch of military orders with the Ottoman Empire, with the two countries agreeing to complete the handover in Kuwait.

Since the initiation of the second five-year plan, East Africa has intentionally expanded its national defense industry scale. Following the commencement of the third five-year plan, East Africa’s military industry has received substantial funding support, expanding a series of weapons production lines.

These defense industries were initially prepared by Ernst in anticipation of World War I, and now they could give the Ottoman Empire a taste of benefits.

As a German Country, East Africa boasts many weapons that are interchangeable with Germany’s, while the Ottoman Empire’s army now mainstreams Germanic weapons. The two nations already initiated closer military cooperation last year, paving the way for East Africa’s weapons exports.

The weapons exported by East Africa to the Ottoman Empire are mainly rifles, machine guns, and other military supplies.

In the current Balkan crisis, most European countries stand on the side of the Balkan Peninsula nations, giving East Africa a significant advantage.

Many strategic supplies can be exported to the Ottoman Empire as civilian products, such as salt, grains, sugar, cotton, etc., with many supplies either being produced insufficiently by the Ottoman Empire or not produced at all.

After all, the Ottoman Empire’s land quality and climate are considered among the poorest compared to major world powers, despite occupying much of the Middle East’s most fertile lands, such as the Two Rivers Region, Asia Minor, and parts of the Balkan Peninsula.

For instance, in the previous era, despite Turkey being the most developed country in the Middle East (excluding Israel), its grain self-sufficiency rate was less than 100%. Now, with the Ottoman Empire occupying vast desert territories and facing climate degradation, it cannot achieve complete self-sufficiency, with living standards even lower than Russia’s.

Hence, the Ottoman Empire is inherently a major grain importer, and over the past thirty years, East Africa’s grain exports to the Ottoman Empire have grown at the fastest pace.

Although the Ottoman Empire can produce wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco, olives, and other temperate and tropical crops, its agricultural scale is significantly constrained by water issues, making it difficult to engage in mass production like other countries, primarily relying on imports.

If it were before the industrial era, the Ottoman Empire’s agricultural scale was still considerable; the Ottoman Empire once even ranked as one of Europe’s largest cotton exporters. But today, the Ottoman Empire’s agricultural output can’t even meet its industrial development needs.

Thus, in East Africa’s trade with the Ottoman Empire, arms exports constitute only a small portion, while the majority are agricultural products and other industrial products, such as grain, sugar, tobacco, coffee, etc.

This is considered a pleasant surprise for East Africa now; following the large loans, East Africa’s agriculture and industry have secured significant development funds, markedly enhancing East Africa’s production efficiency.

Yet, this has also exerted tremendous pressure on East Africa, as products manufactured also need to be sold, so East Africa faces the issue of overproduction. Trade with the Ottoman Empire temporarily alleviates East Africa’s industrial surplus, especially in the national defense sector.

Therefore, a peaceful world is definitely not advantageous for East Africa. The Balkan crisis provides East Africa an opportunity to catch its breath, utilizing the Balkan crisis enables East Africa to respond more leisurely to future comprehensive European warfare.

Moreover, examining trade between the Ottoman Empire and East Africa highlights why there is extensive support within the East African government for the Ottoman Empire. With a population nearing thirty million and a rich historical backdrop, the economic benefits it can bring to East Africa far outweigh those from a group of small countries on the Balkan Peninsula.