African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1291: Chapter 300: The United Kingdom’s Regret

With regard to East Africa’s performance in the Persian Gulf, the British government naturally sees it and feels anxious, and as the situation deteriorates, the British government grows more worried about its own position.

London.

Downing Street.

”These damn East Africans, without their interference, this war would have already ended!”

Lately, the new British Prime Minister David has been in a foul mood: the turmoil in Russia, the Ottoman Empire joining the war, East African escorts in the Persian Gulf, all seem to indicate that the war is developing unfavorably for the Allies.

In 1916, the original British Prime Minister Asquith resigned due to poor coordination in war organization, and David casually took over this mess.

In 1917, not only did the form of the war not change, but it grew increasingly disadvantageous to the United Kingdom due to various influences.

David is of course clear that the key to winning the war currently lies in the United States and East Africa, two major powers outside the region.

”If we cannot cut the Allies’ logistics supply line, it means the war will continue, and once the Allies finish digesting the Eastern Front, the Western Front will become precarious.”

”Now the war has developed increasingly towards a direction unfavorable to us, what are your thoughts?”

In response to the Prime Minister’s inquiry, a group of senior cabinet officials also looked troubled, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Belfort said at this time: ”The United Kingdom has no other choice but to either withdraw from the war or fight to the death. But choosing the former would completely destroy the Empire’s prestige, and with the sacrifices we have made for the war, if we end up empty-handed, the angry people will overrun London.”

”And fighting to the end, until the final victory of the war, seems extremely far away for the Empire. Now the trajectory of the war has fully illustrated that relying on just us and the French is not sufficient to counter the Allies, especially with the Russian ally being extremely passive.”

”Therefore, to ensure victory in the war, any means should now no longer be scrupulous. At the same time, we need more allies, especially the United States, Italy, Romania, and any other countries that could potentially influence the situation, we should actively strive to win over.”

”At the national level, similarly, other forces in Europe, such as the Jewish financiers, anti-war individuals within the Allied nations, and even the Labor Party, can be considered as alternatives.”

Faced with Belfort’s extreme remarks, the Minister of Munitions Winston staunchly opposed, saying, ”In other areas, naturally there is no problem, but we absolutely cannot allow the Labor Party to grow large in Europe.”

”Now the Russian Labor Party has already become a major trend, I feel they will become the great enemies of the entire free world, and it is only because we cannot intervene in Russia’s internal situation changes at the moment, otherwise I would fully support helping the Russian government in accounting against the Labor Party.”

”Even losing to the Germans is not terrifying, but allowing the Labor Party to grow large in Europe, that will be a terrible disaster, they lack national awareness, and through idealism they construct a new country, making it extremely easy to incite the unsuspecting public.”

Belfort and Winston are both war hawks, of course, Prime Minister David is no exception, now the entire British cabinet is made up of warlike elements.

It’s just that Belfort and Winston have some disagreements concerning certain details of the war.

Prime Minister David said to Winston: ”Since you are so against the Labor Party, that’s understandable, but now the fate of the Empire is dependent on the war, and if we want to achieve ultimate victory, we must have stronger, more allies, even leveraging all possible forces.”

”If we can employ the European Labor Party organization to destroy Germany’s order and let us win, isn’t that also a method?”

Winston apparently did not want to change his mind, he firmly said to everyone, ”Prime Minister, distinguished ministers, you are all now caught in a misunderstanding.”

”That is, the determinative factor in winning the war has never been relying on the opponent making mistakes, now the key is who can obtain the support of the United States and East Africa, the two major powers.”

”Now the only way to change the course of the war is by getting the United States onboard with us, and as much as possible stabilizing East Africa, preventing East Africa from truly leaning towards the Allies.”

”If East Africa joins the opposing camp, the war can be declared over in advance, we will lose India, Australia, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf... the British Empire will immediately disintegrate.”

Prime Minister David looked troubled, he said to Winston, ”Now, we want to win over the Americans, but the Americans are also hesitant because of East Africa’s stance, they fear that if they join us, East Africa will switch to the Austro-German camp, and they will then be caught up in the vortex of war.”

”The United States government, in response to our invitation, is also stuck on this key point of East Africa, but East Africa also happens to be a German country, naturally closer to the Allies, and East Africa’s industry is already comparable to that of the United States, if they join the war, that would be a disaster.”

Winning over the Americans and East Africans has always been something that both the Allies and the Allies have been working on, but the results have not been significant.

Prime Minister David continued, ”The United States and East Africa remain on the periphery of the European war, greatly profiting from it, it’s safe to say they have no need to intervene, both countries might actually wish for the European war to continue.”

”Thinking back now, I deeply regret that the Empire joined this seemingly endless war, the previous government can be said to have been tricked by the French.”

”Just imagine, perhaps from the beginning, the United Kingdom staying out of this war might have been the best choice, if that were the case, the onlookers would not only be the United States and East Africa, but also the Empire.”

”After all, even if the Germans developed their navy, it would not be a significant threat to us unless they achieved superiority in the North Atlantic.”

”But, we could possibly achieve this even without joining the war, as long as the German naval power does not surpass the Royal Navy, the North Sea is a fortress they can never break through.”

”At the same time, Germany also cannot fully commit to developing naval power, as they are constrained by France on land.”

”If at the time our diplomatic means had been more adept, we could have completely avoided the birth of the Allies, our diplomatic blunders in the Balkan Peninsula and towards Russia and Austria-Hungary led to the current passive situation we’re in.”

Of course, the true reason David says these demoralizing things is jealousy of the achievements of the United States and East Africa, two so-called ’Neutral Countries.’

As the war progressed, instead, the United Kingdom discovered that the United States and East Africa were rapidly dividing the interests that originally belonged to the United Kingdom overseas.

Even if Germany is truly defeated, there is still a risk of British hegemony being lost in the face of the United States and East Africa, two fully grown world powers.

Thus, Prime Minister David pivoted his words: ”Everything we have done seems to have tailored a wedding dress for the United States and East Africa, but in fact, even if Germany achieves European hegemony, the impact on us can never compare to the threat posed by the maritime powers of the United States and East Africa.”

”Unfortunately, now making these assumptions is already too late, we are completely tied down by the European war, and without solving the Allies, we don’t even have a future.”

”It can be said that the Empire is now at an unprecedented life-and-death juncture, every step from here on, if misjudged, could drag the Empire into the abyss.”

David dares to claim that in British history, there has never been a Prime Minister more difficult than he is, whether or not Britain ultimately wins the war, it seems Britain’s decline is now unstoppable.

And David’s words also resonate with every cabinet member, from the war to now, looking back, they suddenly realized what they had lost.

Without a doubt, Europe is crucial, but for a maritime country like the United Kingdom, the encroachment on its overseas interests by the United States and East Africa has reached an alarming degree.

Especially East Africa, now every step of East Africa’s overseas expansion feels nerve-wracking for the United Kingdom, and coupled with an East African navy that has become like a runaway horse, in terms of strength, it’s not much different from the German navy.