African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1575 Global Core Interests
After ignoring transcontinental powers like the Soviet Union, Japan, the only major power in Asia and a regional hegemon, has very few things that would be of interest to powerful nations like those in East Africa in terms of industry and technology.

The Japanese Navy and its shipbuilding industry are relatively prominent components. However, for a resource-poor country like Japan, resource shortages will undoubtedly hinder its naval strategy during wartime.

However, despite its backwardness and weak industrial strength, Japan's importance in East Africa's global strategy surpasses that of many other powers.

Therefore, Tsar Frederick the Elder placed it and the Soviet Union last.

Crown Prince Frederick said: "The current global economic recovery is mainly due to two factors: one is increased government intervention in the economy, such as in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the other is military stimulus, with Germany and Japan being typical examples."

"But there is no doubt that these measures cannot completely solve the economic problems and will make the international community increasingly dangerous."

"To restore stability to the international community, it is necessary to break the old international order and establish a new one. In short, East Africa must be psychologically prepared for the possibility of war."

Ernst stood in front of a world map, pointed to the Indian Ocean, and drew a circle, passing through Australia, the East Indies, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and other regions.

"This will be the core of East Africa's interests in the new world order. In the Indian Ocean region, East Africa is the only major world power."

The Indian Ocean is a relatively closed ocean. As long as a few key choke points are controlled, it can be sealed off. The main ones are the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope, which are controlled by Britain.

The Strait of Malacca can cut off most countries and powers in the Pacific region from access to the Indian Ocean. Throughout history and into the future, only the two major powers in East Asia, namely the Far Eastern Empire and Japan, and the United States in the Eastern Pacific, have been able to do this.

The Suez Canal, in turn, blocked Europe's access to the Indian Ocean. Combined with the Cape of Good Hope, the British could control the lifeline of trade between European countries and Asia.

Besides external forces, the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Union are also noteworthy along the Indian Ocean coast. The Ottoman Empire still has the foundation to become a world power. If the Ottoman Empire were to be revived, it could exert its power in several important regions, including the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean.

It was relatively easy for the Soviet Union to influence the Indian Ocean region, especially by supporting pro-Soviet regimes and countries over land, such as India, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and Afghanistan.

In terms of the current situation in the Indian Ocean, East Africa is a challenger to Britain, and in the future, the Red Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the Cape of Good Hope will inevitably be taken over by East Africa and become its sphere of influence.

East Africa has every reason to say this: regardless of whether it is through peaceful or war-like means, Britain's withdrawal from the Indian Ocean is an irreversible trend. East Africa's failure to forcefully seize these areas only shows that there is no need for war; war is often a last resort.

As for Britain rallying other countries to prevent East Africa from controlling the Indian Ocean, that's unrealistic. The only country that could stand against East Africa is the United States. However, it's difficult for the United States to extend its reach into the Indian Ocean. If the United States were to do so, it would be tantamount to using its own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths.

Just like the Soviet Union's support for Cuba in the previous life, Cuba was right under the nose of the United States, and the Soviet Union had to pay a high price to support Cuba.

Geographically, East Africa is in a position to counter the United States. For example, East Africa can cooperate with Caribbean countries, and there is no possibility of East Africa being blocked from entering the Caribbean from the South Atlantic.

Conversely, the United States cannot do this because the area around the Atlantic Ocean in western East Africa lacks land and large islands, and is very open. The well-known Saint Helena Island, the small island where Napoleon was imprisoned, is only 121 square kilometers and is mostly mountainous.

Not to mention that Saint Helena is more than 2,000 kilometers away from the East African continent, so even if a military base were deployed there, it would be difficult to pose a threat to East Africa.

Especially since the island is farther from the United States, with open waters and far from the mainland, deploying a military base there would incur extremely high costs. Cuba, at least, is large enough and has a developed agricultural industry, enabling it to be self-sufficient. Saint Helena, on the other hand, does not have such advantageous conditions.

Moreover, the Caribbean island nations are a whole string of them, with Cuba being one of the larger ones. There's also the vast area of ​​the Central American isthmus nearby, making it convenient to establish a presence in East Africa.

Of course, there are other places in the South Atlantic that could pose a threat to East Africa, such as the Portuguese-controlled São Tomé and Príncipe colony and the Spanish-controlled island of Bioko.

However, Portugal and Spain clearly will not get involved in the struggle between the United States and East Africa, as it would not benefit either country.

Although Portugal has historical grievances with East Africa, those are almost entirely from fifty years ago, and relations between the two countries have long been normalized.

Moreover, Portugal has many enemies. When Portugal built a vast empire that rivaled Spain, East Africa was just one of the countries that lost territory and made enemies.

In conclusion, the United States cannot find a strategic foothold in the South Atlantic to support its confrontation with East Africa, unless it can bring the South German Kingdom, which it has supported in East Africa, into the US camp.

In the Pacific, it is unlikely that the United States can enter the Indian Ocean. One reason is the great distance, and the other is that East Africa has already established an advantage in the South China Sea, and previously held an absolute advantage over the United States.

The only American colony in Southeast Asia was the Philippines, while East Africa had a whole host of colonies in Southeast Asia.

In conclusion, the United States can play a less significant role in the Indian Ocean than the Soviet Union, which is now clearly not as powerful as it once was, and is also constrained by Germany and Japan from both Europe and East Asia.

The British were unlikely to cooperate with the Soviet Union to confront East Africa in the Indian Ocean. After all, while East Africa could benefit, other countries could still benefit. If the Soviet Union moved south, it might take everything away.

Take India for example. If the Soviet Union had turned India into its sphere of influence and launched a nationalization campaign, the British would have lost their entire investment.

Ernst said, "Now the only thing missing for the Empire to completely control the Indian Ocean is an opportunity to get the British to willingly relinquish their main Indian Ocean assets."

"And this opportunity was World War II. At that time, with Germany stirring up trouble in Europe, Britain's power would inevitably have to retreat to Europe."

"Europe is Britain's primary core interest and the very foundation of its existence. Therefore, as long as we have enough patience, we can take over the hegemony of the entire Indian Ocean at minimal cost."

The reason why Europe is considered Britain's top priority is mainly because Britain itself is a European country, and if a powerful force emerges in Europe, it will pose a threat to the British mainland.

Compared to homeland security, even India, Britain's most important overseas colony, was clearly insignificant; the former was about survival, while the latter was about quality of life.

In fact, since its inception, East Africa has been the biggest disruptor of Britain's core interests. The order of Britain's core interests in its past can be ranked as follows: first, Europe—Britain needed to maintain the balance of power on the continent and prevent the emergence of a unified superpower; then the Middle East, with the Suez Canal and oil, whose importance for transportation and energy goes without saying; and only then did South Asia come into play.

In reality, the importance of South Asia to Britain is debatable, but without the Suez Canal, it would be difficult for Britain to maintain a military presence in India.

In fact, Britain's current investment in the Middle East is indeed higher than that in India, such as strengthening the construction of military bases and the number of troops in Egypt, Persia and other places.

The Middle East presented greater uncertainty, and with threats from East Africa, Germany, and the Soviet Union, Britain had to keep a close eye on the region. In contrast, maintaining control over India was much less costly.

As for the current nationalist awakening and resistance movement in India, and even the emergence of "oddballs" like Gandhi, these should obviously not make Britain nervous.

After South Asia, Britain's fourth core interest was East Asia, especially its core interests in the Far Eastern empire.

Next is Africa. In its previous life, Britain had a vast overseas colony in Africa, which was an important link in Britain's overseas raw material supply chain and global naval supply network.

Finally, there are interests in the Atlantic and North America, among which the most important to Britain is its relationship with the United States and Canada.

The six core interests of Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Africa, and the Atlantic formed the framework of Britain's global hegemony in the previous era.

However, this only applies to the previous life. In this timeline, the sudden emergence of East Africa directly prevented Britain from building a complete colonial empire in Africa, and the spheres of influence in South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt also shrank.

The Middle East, which is crucial to Britain, is now effectively shared with East Africa, with the core oil-producing areas controlled by East Africa. Of course, even so, the oil revenues from Persia, Kuwait, the Gulf of Aden, and other places are still considerable for Britain.

Oil has secured its position in the world's energy mix, and oil revenues are even more important to Britain than some of India's agricultural and mineral outputs. After all, oil is like liquid gold, with a price but no market and a supply that cannot meet the demand, while India's main resources are substitutable.

The colonies of East Africa in the Middle East limited Britain's ability to control global oil resources. Moreover, the existence of East Africa itself was a great threat to Britain's control of the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, not to mention the Strait of Hormuz, which was effectively controlled by East Africa.

Then there's the European side. Although East Africa had little influence over Europe, it still damaged British interests. For example, the dramatic change in the outcome of World War I was profoundly influenced by East Africa, which caused Britain's plan to suppress Germany to fail and extended the life of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

However, by sheer luck, Britain hadn't anticipated that its ally, Tsarist Russia, would change its allegiance. As a result, Germany wasn't suppressed, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Britain regained the conditions to balance Europe.

Even so, Britain's control over Europe was severely weakened compared to its previous life. After all, Germany and the Soviet Union were too powerful, which made it easy for them to act completely out of line with Britain's plans.

Finally, in the Atlantic direction, East Africa also had a huge impact on British interests, especially the two major regions of West Africa and South America.

East Africa, by its own power, destroyed four of the six core global interests of the former British Empire, making it the primary disruptor of British global hegemony.

Of course, Britain's understanding of the threat from East Africa was somewhat insufficient. For example, in the previous life, Britain had core interests in Africa, but in this timeline, Britain did not have any large-scale colonies in Africa. Therefore, they did not have a clear understanding of the losses they would suffer in Africa.

If the British in this timeline knew that Ernst's past life included a large portion of Africa as their colony, stretching almost from Egypt to South Africa, they would almost certainly assassinate Ernst in his early stages.

Without East Africa, Britain's global hegemony, if not completely secure, would at least not be as precarious as it is now.

Britain has its own core global interests, and the same is true for East Africa. At present, the core interests in East Africa can be divided into six major areas.

First is the African continent, which is the foundation of East Africa, needless to say. Then there is the Atlantic Ocean, followed by the Indian Ocean, and finally the South Pacific, the Far East, and Europe.

The Atlantic Ocean ranks ahead of the Indian Ocean because East Africa's interests in this region have been largely secured. Even with further expansion, there's not much new to offer; it's simply about increasing trade between East Africa and the Atlantic coastal countries and expanding cultural exports.

However, once East Africa gains control of the Indian Ocean in the future, the Indian Ocean will be reversed and ranked ahead of the South Atlantic.

The South Pacific is listed separately as one of the key areas of focus for East Africa. It actually serves to build East Africa's hegemony in the Indian Ocean and is also related to East Africa's interests in the Pacific.

As for the Far East and Europe, these are important markets for East Africa, with Europe even ranking first among East Africa's overseas markets.

However, East Africa's influence in these two regions is quite limited, and it is difficult for them to make any significant contributions. Not to mention that Europe itself is very powerful, with four major world powers: Britain, France, Germany, and Austria. Even without these four countries, East Africa's influence on Europe would hardly surpass that of the United States and the Soviet Union.

The United States and Europe are separated only by the Atlantic Ocean, and maritime travel between the two places is very convenient. In contrast, East Africa is separated by the Sahara Desert, which covers nearly 10 million square kilometers, and beyond the Sahara Desert lies the Mediterranean Sea. Traveling from the east coast of East Africa to Europe requires passing through the Suez Canal.

Traveling from the west coast to Europe requires circumventing the Gulf of Guinea. The existence of the Gulf of Guinea has effectively hindered maritime trade between East Africa and Europe, given that the African continent's topography is wide at the top and low at the bottom, resembling a combination of a trapezoid and a triangle.

East Africa would have to take a long detour to bypass this trapezoid.

Therefore, it is very inconvenient for East Africa to play a role in Europe, at least not as convenient as for the United States and the Soviet Union.

The same logic applies to the Far East. The Far East and East Africa are separated by straits such as the Strait of Malacca. Moreover, East Africa, in the Far East direction, also faces competition from the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was one of the major powers in the Far East, and it was much more convenient for the United States to cross the Pacific Ocean to reach the Far East than for East Africa.

At the same time, the situation in the Far East is different from that in Europe. In the Far East, the Far Eastern Empire is the natural leader, although it has declined for a short time. However, once the internal forces of the Far Eastern Empire are integrated, it will inevitably rise again. Its population, resources, land area, climate, culture and other basic elements are all destined to prepare it to become a world power.

With numerous European nations, East Africa could still find partners, but the Far Eastern Empire had no such possibility. In the future, the relationship between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire would only be one of two things: good or bad, depending entirely on the relationship between the two central governments.

(End of this chapter)