African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1576 Naval Strength
Let alone the future Far Eastern Empire, even the current Nanjing government is at least a nominal official government, recognized by various warlords and local forces. Europe cannot even form such a nominal unified government.

Therefore, the Far Eastern empires were bound to become the dominant force in East Asian affairs in the future. With the checks and balances of the Soviet Union and the United States, East Africa had no chance of playing a leading role in this region.

In the entire Pacific region, East Africa's strategic pivot is the South Pacific. This region is also the main manifestation of East Africa's interests in the East, such as energy, minerals, colonies, and markets, all of which are controllable.

While the Far Eastern imperial market was vast and alluring, entry required significant investment and carried enormous risks, as exemplified by the Russo-Japanese War of the early 20th century, in which Russia suffered a crushing defeat in Northeast Asia, losing all prestige and ultimately becoming an international laughingstock. This, in turn, accelerated the growth and expansion of the Soviet Labour Party.

At the same time, even if they successfully penetrated the Far Eastern Empire's market, it would only have a temporary effect. Britain, which was once at the height of its power in the Far Eastern Empire, was also constantly shrinking in influence, and it was impossible for other countries to suppress the Far Eastern Empire in the long term.

After all, the people of the Far Eastern Empire were not like those of India, and their spirit of resistance was much stronger. According to historical patterns, if it weren't for the collusion of imperialists, the Far Eastern Empire would very likely have changed dynasties in the 19th century.

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The Indian Ocean ranks second in East Africa's global strategy primarily because controlling the Indian Ocean brings the greatest benefits to East Africa.

South America and West Africa in the South Atlantic, while not small in size, are still somewhat smaller than the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean directly connects three continents: Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania, and controls the core of world trade, namely the Eurasian shipping routes.

The market around the Indian Ocean is far larger than that of South America and West Africa. South Asia alone has a population of over 300 million, and even the smallest market, Oceania, has a population of over 6 million.

At the same time, the Indian Ocean is directly related to trade between Europe, Asia and East Africa, which is something that South America and West Africa cannot do. East Africa can rely on the Indian Ocean to benefit from both sides, while South America and West Africa have much greater autonomy.

Ernst said, "Controlling the Indian Ocean is low-cost and highly profitable. Controlling this ocean can directly influence most countries in the world, especially many powerful nations in Eurasia."

"To control the Indian Ocean, one must first control the South Pacific. I have a homeland to rely on in the western Indian Ocean, while in the eastern Indian Ocean, I share with other powers."

If East Africa wants to control the Indian Ocean, it must control both the east and west sides. In the west, East Africa's powerful national strength can completely dominate. Even though Britain guards the Red Sea passage, as long as the East African navy exerts its strength, it can block the Eurasian shipping route in the Gulf of Aden.

On land, East Africa also holds an absolute advantage, capable of instantly wiping out British colonies in Egypt, Somaliland, and South Africa.

However, the situation changes when you reach the eastern Indian Ocean. First, the eastern Indian Ocean is quite far from the East African mainland. Second, in the South Pacific and South Asia, East Africa is now just one of many powers.

Britain, France, and the Netherlands wield considerable influence in Southeast Asia, comparable to that in East Africa. Furthermore, they can cooperate effectively with the United States and Japan to prevent East Africa from gaining too much power in Southeast Asia.

On the surface, these countries are not united, but in dealing with the pressure from East Africa, the behemoth of the Indian Ocean, it is impossible that they do not have a tacit understanding.

Therefore, if East Africa wants to break the geopolitical pattern of Southeast Asia, it must first let them fight amongst themselves, and the henchman that East Africa has chosen is "Japan".

Crown Prince Frederick said, "The South Pacific region is key to the Empire's control of the Indian Ocean. Therefore, strengthening and enticing Japan has been an important direction of diplomacy in East Africa in recent years."

"According to our estimates, the size of the Japanese Navy has reached the fourth largest in the world, with a total tonnage of about 700,000 tons. It is also secretly building new battleships and other advanced large ships. Its strength is not much worse than ours and the United States."

Clearly, the strengthening of Japan mentioned by East African countries mainly refers to the Japanese navy. After all, only when its naval strength is strong will it be more likely to move south and take risks.

Meanwhile, East Africa has intensified its propaganda offensive to influence domestic political opinion in Japan, such as by advocating the benefits of the southward expansion plan.

However, now that Japan has taken action against the Far Eastern Empire and achieved significant practical results, Japan is temporarily hesitant about advancing southward.

However, this does not affect the overall situation. After all, the important strategic resources that Japan lacks, such as oil, rubber, and copper mines, are located in Southeast Asia and Oceania, which the Far Eastern Empire cannot provide to Japan.

While the mineral resources of the Far Eastern Empire were also important, they offered limited help to Japan. For example, after Japan occupied the northeastern region of the Far Eastern Empire, it could not immediately reap the expected benefits.

After all, the Far Eastern Empire's industrial base was too weak at the moment, and after Japan occupied the Northeast, it had to increase investment to improve its transportation and industrial facilities, while also facing the harassment of armed forces behind enemy lines.

Moreover, Japan's occupation of the Far Eastern Empire had a negative impact: it further exacerbated tensions between the two countries, while the Far Eastern Empire was Japan's largest overseas market.

Conversely, if Japan had prioritized invading Southeast Asia, this problem might not have existed. After all, Southeast Asia consisted mostly of colonial countries, and if Japan were to wage war against these regions, it would be of little consequence to some of them. In fact, if Japan had treated these regions slightly better than Britain and France, it might have been welcomed by all.

Japan's reluctance to make a decision to move south ultimately stems from its concerns about Western powers. The key to overcoming this psychological barrier lies in the navy. However, judging from the recent expansion of the Japanese navy, they clearly have a plan to invade Southeast Asia.

After all, Japan maintains the world's fourth-largest navy not to deal with the Far Eastern empires, but also beyond Japan's needs for maintaining its own national defense and security.

The London Treaty primarily restricted major warships such as battleships, aircraft carriers, and cruisers, and Japan basically exceeded the standards in all of them.

As of 1934, the ranking of naval strength among various countries was roughly as follows: Britain was undoubtedly still number one, with a total naval tonnage of approximately 1.2 million tons.

Next are East Africa and the United States, both around 800,000 tons. East Africa is relatively more proactive in naval expansion, so East Africa may be slightly higher than the United States.

The reason is simple: East Africa is, after all, the world's third largest colonial power. Its overseas territories and maritime interests require more navy than the United States. Furthermore, East Africa is more proactive than the United States in international strategy.

The United States now pursues a strict isolationist policy, which essentially means it stays in the Americas and seeks hegemony. This passive strategy naturally means it doesn't need to go to great lengths in terms of military buildup.

Of course, while East Africa has its own ambitions in naval development, it also maintains a strong stance. On the one hand, this helps East Africa preserve its international image; on the other hand, if East Africa doesn't abide by treaties, some countries will be uneasy. These countries are mainly Britain, the United States, and Japan. Britain is very wary of any country that recklessly expands its navy, and there are two negative examples: Japan and Germany. Japan, in particular, has consistently paid lip service to Britain, leading to a severe deterioration in relations between the two countries in recent years.

Secondly, there is the United States. The United States and East Africa have direct conflicting interests, especially in South America. Therefore, if a naval competition were to take place in East Africa, the United States would certainly be uneasy.

Finally, there's Japan. Although East Africa doesn't really care about Japan, as Japan was chosen as a pawn by East Africa, the East African side is afraid that expanding its navy will scare Japan away.

Therefore, the development of the East African Navy is very cautious. In terms of warships, it does not blindly pursue scale, but rather attaches more importance to technological improvement and tactical refinement.

For example, East Africa places greater emphasis on the development of aircraft carrier technology and the application of aircraft carrier combat systems. East Africa is also upgrading its warships by enhancing communication technology, gun power, armor, and engine capabilities to improve the combat and survivability of its warships.

These measures, compared to simply accumulating more warships, are less likely to arouse the vigilance of other countries. Other countries can detect the number of warships, just like when Japan secretly built warships and was observed by East Africa. Such a behemoth, sitting in a shipyard, would be impossible to go undetected with just a little effort.

In terms of technological advancement and naval quantity, Germany and France present a good contrast. Currently, France ranks fifth in the world in naval tonnage, while Germany ranks sixth. However, the true strength of the two navies is difficult to say.

Since the late 19th century, the French Navy has been in a state of relative decline. Especially after World War I, due to financial pressure, France had to drastically reduce its naval spending, but it still had to maintain a certain size.

After all, France was a colonial power, and its colonies in West Africa, Southeast Asia and other regions all needed the support of a navy.

This resulted in very slow progress in the French Navy's naval technology, placing it at the bottom of the world's major powers and making it a neighbor of Spain.

Before Adolf came to power, Germany's navy was constrained by the London Treaty, so it could not fully utilize its size. Therefore, it could only invest more funds in technological research and development and accelerate the iteration of naval vessels. As a result, the size of German warships did not improve significantly, but the warships remained at an advanced level in the world.

However, the German Navy's technological choices had a problem: it placed more emphasis on the development of battleships and submarines, while neglecting investment in aircraft carriers.

However, this is understandable. Due to geographical limitations, the German Navy placed more emphasis on the penetration and defensive capabilities of its warships. For the German Navy, breaking through the Baltic Sea and the English Channel was obviously the primary task.

Aircraft carriers are better suited for operations in the open ocean. At the same time, the combat capabilities of aircraft carriers are controversial at present. Even ocean-going countries like Britain and the United States have not put much effort into aircraft carriers. The United States is not very concerned about naval development, while Britain lacks understanding of aircraft carrier operations. Many officers even regard aircraft carriers as auxiliary warships for air defense.

Only two countries in the world prioritize the development of aircraft carriers: East Africa and Japan.

The United Kingdom, the United States, East Africa, France, Germany, and Japan are the major naval powers in the world today. In addition, the Italian Navy has developed rapidly in recent years and can be regarded as an emerging force.

Other countries, such as the Soviet Union, placed more emphasis on land power, and their navies were not outstanding. The Austro-Hungarian navy was similarly neglected, constrained by funding, and unable to develop effectively or keep up with its size.

After these great powers, other countries, including Spain, the gatekeeper of the great powers, were completely powerless. They even had difficulty building warships and had to rely on purchasing their main warships.

For example, Spain relies on Britain for the technology to build large warships and cannot do so independently. However, Spain maintains some warship-building capabilities, placing it among the top in the world and placing it in the second tier internationally.

In this second tier, there are also the Soviet Union, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium.

As for the third tier, the military shipbuilding industry can basically be seen as an assembly plant, represented by countries such as the Ottoman Empire, Brazil, and Argentina.

Finally, there is the fourth tier, represented by the Far Eastern empires, Portugal, Greece, and others.

As for why the Far Eastern Empire is so special at this stage, it is not because it lacks ability. After all, with a little effort, it can still squeeze into the third tier. The main reason is that the current Nanjing government does not even want to be an assembly plant, which has brought the development of the country's military shipbuilding industry to a complete standstill. It adheres to the idea of ​​"buying is worse than building" and neglects the development of the country's military shipbuilding industry.

This even led to a major setback in the Far Eastern Empire's military shipbuilding industry. After all, failing to secure government orders inevitably resulted in personnel losses, operational difficulties, and further technological decline.

Currently, the Far Eastern Empire Navy only has the ability to maintain and modify ships. It is impossible to build main warships independently, and it is even hard to say whether it has the ability to assemble and imitate them. Without the technology and skilled workers, even if a warship is cobbled together, it will only be riddled with problems.

This led to the Far Eastern Empire's military and shipbuilding industry falling to the level of some small countries, such as Portugal, which can now be considered a small and weak country.

Although Portugal was nominally a colonial power, its few overseas colonies were insignificant, lacking in size, resources, and population, and their profits were negligible.

In terms of industry, Portugal lags behind the rest of Europe. It could even compete with the poorest countries in Europe, and is on par with, or even worse than, a few small European countries like those in the Balkans. As for Greece, it has always been a country that borrows new debt to pay off old debt and just coasts along.

Therefore, if the Far Eastern Empire government had been even slightly more normal, it wouldn't have been on the same level as Portugal and Greece. Its lower limit should have been the Ottoman Empire. With more effort, it might even be moving closer to the second tier.

After all, the conditions of the Ottoman Empire were far worse than those of the Far Eastern Empire. Even though the Nanjing government did not actually control the whole country, the population, land, and resources it controlled were far beyond what the shrunken Ottoman Empire could compare with.

Ernst was not concerned about the current state of the Far Eastern Empire's navy. After all, the Far Eastern Empire's navy was not even strong enough to be used as a pawn or bargaining chip, and could not restrain Japan.

However, this is also a good thing for East Africa. If the Far Eastern Empire now has some naval strength, then the Japanese Navy may focus its attention on the Far Eastern Empire's navy.

This is not conducive to the Japanese Navy focusing its efforts on regions such as the South Pacific and the Pacific. It is precisely because Japan currently has no rivals in East Asia that its navy can concentrate more on studying its rivals in the South Pacific and the Pacific.

(End of this chapter)