African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1584 German and Italian Division of Spoils
While East Africa may seem to have benefited from the independence of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, it actually suffered a great loss. After all, the benefits brought to East Africa by the Austro-Hungarian Empire under Habsburg rule were incomparable.

During the Habsburg era, East Africa was able to share in the entire Austro-Hungarian market, although it was subject to restrictions, given the sheer size of the Austro-Hungarian market.

Now, the majority of this multi-million dollar market has fallen into the hands of the Germans.

……

1934 12 Month 28 Day.

Berlin, Germany.

At this moment, Adolf and senior German government officials are meeting privately with Italian negotiators to bargain over Venice, Eastern Lombardy, and even the Istrian Peninsula.

For this negotiation, Benito of Italy personally led a delegation to Berlin to meet with his "successor" Adolf.

Benito was, after all, a pioneer of extreme nationalist political parties in Europe and even the world, and he established the world's first extreme nationalist regime. Adolf's thinking was influenced by Benito, so it's not a big problem to say that Adolf was Benito's "successor".

At Adolf's official residence.

"Your Excellency Benito, welcome to Germany. I have long admired you." Adolf was still very hospitable to Benito.

Benito returned the gesture, saying, "Prime Minister Adolf, you are now one of the most popular political figures in Europe. We both share great ideals and believe that Europe, under the leadership of Italy and Germany, will move towards a brighter future."

Although Benito wanted to say that Italy and Germany were the leaders of Europe, Italy's current national strength was such that it couldn't even stand up to Germany, let alone lead Europe. He also needed Adolf's help during his trip to Berlin, so he could only emphasize Italy's role in a somewhat stiff and tactful way.

However, Benito still put Italy before Germany, which was his last act of defiance, and Adolf did not notice these details.

Having conquered most of Austria-Hungary, Adolf is now riding high. If he can just get the Anschluss of Austria-Hungary going, he will become one of the greatest figures in German history.

At the same time, by annexing Austria-Hungary, Germany naturally became the undisputed number one power in Europe. Therefore, Adolf had already placed himself in the position of the leader of Europe.

He said, "Europe really needs a reshuffle, especially with the existence of evil empires like the Soviet Union, which is the biggest cancer in the whole of Europe, as well as unworthy countries like Britain and France, which have long monopolized Europe's resources but have not brought Europe to the heights it deserves."

"In recent years, Britain and France have been primarily responsible for the rise of the United States and East Africa. The rise of these extra-regional powers, such as the United States and East Africa, is the direct cause of the decline of Europe."

"Therefore, in order to lead Europe to re-establish its position as the world's center of civilization, it is essential to have outstanding political leaders play a key role."

"And now, His Excellency Benito is certainly among the best leaders in Europe. If Italy can cooperate with Germany under your leadership, I believe that Europe will return to the top of the world with the joint efforts of our two countries."

Here, Adolf subtly complimented Benito, after all, the two shared many common ideas, and praising Benito was tantamount to praising himself, praising an extreme nationalist.

Of course, this did not prevent Adolf from looking down on Italy as a "second-class nation." In Adolf's worldview, Italy was similar to countries like East Africa and Dalmatia.

Fortunately, they weren't at the very bottom. Adolf considered Slavs, Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and Black people as "inferior races."

Italians were not divided into two groups by Adolf. First, the northern Italians were classified as "Mediterranean people," belonging to the broad category of European white people, but they were far from Adolf's ideal image of "Nordic" blond-haired, blue-eyed people. In Adolf's eyes, the southern Italians had an even lower status.

He believed that Italians were "lazy," "disorganized," and influenced by "inferior bloodlines," a view consistent with Adolf's attitude toward East Africa.

However, Italy and East Africa are at least considered "second-class nations," so cooperation is not impossible. Therefore, Adolf's attitude towards Italy was still pragmatic.

At least when speaking with Benito, Adolf would avoid the topic, but in private it was a different story.

Benito was no exception; German extreme nationalism looked down on Italians, and Italian extreme nationalism, in turn, looked down on Germans.

However, although Benito's ideas were also reactionary, he was actually more progressive than a fanatical racist like Adolf.

In Benito's national narrative, he argues that the Italian nation is not a blood-based entity, but rather based on spiritual, cultural, and political identity, which is somewhat similar to East Africa.

For example, Benito believed that other ethnic groups could be "Italianized".

Benito also publicly ridiculed German bioracism as "nonsense" and "primitive pan-Germanism." In the early 1930s, he even allowed Jews to join the party.

However, Benito's ideas in his previous life were later influenced by Germany and changed, and did not last. The turning point occurred after Italy's failure to conquer Ethiopia in his previous life.

Today, Italy doesn't even have the chance to "enjoy" this defeat, since the Abyssinian Empire's spoils were divided in East Africa, and the gap between Italy and East Africa is so large that Italy simply cannot afford to have any ulterior motives.

Italy's attitude toward East Africa is also quite complex. On the one hand, Italy cannot do without East Africa, for example, East Africa is Italy's main supplier in terms of food and mineral imports. On the other hand, the existence of East Africa does indeed make Italy envious, after all, the land and resources occupied by East Africa are too tempting.

Getting back to the main topic, after exchanging compliments, Adolf and Benito officially began the subject of their meeting.

Benito spoke first, saying, "Now that Germany has taken over Austria-Hungary, we naturally support Germany's help in stabilizing the situation in Austria-Hungary. However, the Italian territories that Austria-Hungary occupied in the past should also take this opportunity to return to Italy."

"This is Italy's legitimate demand, including the return of Eastern Lombardy, Venice, Trieste, Istria, and parts of the southern foothills of the Alps to their homeland." Italy's appetite is quite large. Eastern Lombardy and Venice are indeed undisputed, given that Italy did rule these areas in the last century. However, Trieste and the Istrian Peninsula have virtually no connection to Italy.

Italy's demands immediately drew opposition from Germany, with Goebbels stating, "The aforementioned areas were originally Austro-Hungarian territory, and Germany has no right to divide Austro-Hungarian territory."

“We can persuade Austria-Hungary to return Eastern Lombardy as compensation to Italy, as well as parts of Venice, or we can negotiate.”

"However, other areas should respect historical and current factors. For example, Venice now has a large number of German residents, and we cannot drive them out of their homes."

In Eastern Lombardy, Italians held absolute dominance, so ceding it to Italy wouldn't have mattered much; keeping it would have increased the cost of governance. The Venetian region, however, was a special case. The Austro-Hungarian Empire persistently sent immigrants there, resulting in a significant change in Venice's population structure.

Therefore, Germany was not keen to give up the territory. At the same time, Venice was a good port with an important geographical location and fertile surrounding land, which could bring tangible benefits to Germany.

However, the Italians clearly could not accept only taking back the first region of Eastern Lombardy. Benito said, "It is impossible. We have paid a huge price to reclaim our homeland. We mobilized more than 700,000 troops, and now more than 100,000 troops have been killed in Venice and Eastern Lombardy."

"Therefore, Eastern Lombardy and Venice must be returned to Italy in their entirety. At the same time, Italy should also take back Trieste and the Istrian Peninsula, where Italians are distributed."

"These areas originally belonged to Italy, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire was powerful in the past, so it forcibly seized these areas from Italy through illegitimate means."

Goebbels clearly disagreed, countering, "If we consider ethnic distribution, then Venice and Eastern Lombardy also have Germans, so can we use that as grounds to make claims to both places?"

"Although there are some Italians in Trieste, their numbers are actually not large, so this cannot be used as a legal basis for Italy's actions there."

"Therefore, Trieste and the Istrian Peninsula are undisputed. Even if they did not belong to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they could not belong to Italy, since these regions are now in the hands of the illegitimate state of Yugoslavia."

"Yugoslavia was actually part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and that issue will be resolved soon, but it doesn't really have much to do with Italy."

Benito objected, saying, "These lands were inhabited by the ancestors of Italy as early as Roman times. The Slavs and Germans were later arrivals, so Italy has an indisputable right to these areas."

At this point, Benito even brought up ancient Rome. Ancient Rome did indeed originate in Italy. However, it is clear that the territory of ancient Rome cannot be applied to the present. Otherwise, Italy could use the same reasoning to claim that many places, including France and England, have been Italian territory since ancient times.

Germany naturally could not agree to Benito's outrageous claims, and the negotiations between the two sides reached a stalemate.

At this point, Adolf finally spoke up: "Alright, Italy and Germany are friendly friends, so we should make concessions to each other. As for the territorial disputes along the Adriatic coast, I think we can discuss them slowly."

"It is true that Italy ruled over two places: Eastern Lombardy and Venice. Later, these areas were occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so it is only right that they be returned to Italy."

"However, the importance of Trieste to the Austro-Hungarian Empire is indeed self-evident. After all, it is the most important outlet to the sea for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so it should continue to be kept within the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

"I suggest that we base our decision on the territorial division of the two countries before the Austro-Italian War in the last century, and cooperate in the military occupation of areas to finally reach a territorial division plan that is acceptable to everyone. What do you think, Your Excellency Benito?"

Adolf was willing to make concessions, and Benito couldn't be too tough, but the disputes between the two sides were indeed too great. So Benito said: "This matter can be discussed slowly, but Italy must get what it deserves. The full return of Eastern Lombardy and Venice is the bottom line. We can make concessions on other disputed areas, but we cannot leave empty-handed."

Adolf agreed with Benito's statement, which meant that Germany was giving up Venice. Of course, the Po Plain could not be entirely handed over to Italy in order to accommodate the population.

Thus, the two sides debated for two weeks on how to demarcate the border, and finally decided to use the Tariamento River as the boundary, with the area west of it returning to Italy, while the area east of it remaining in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Germany made concessions, but also demanded that Italy cooperate with Germany in other areas, such as the Yugoslav issue and dealing with pressure from countries like Britain and France. The two countries should stand together.

This was actually a tactic by Germany to try to bring Italy into its camp and to create a rift between Italy and Britain and France.

However, for the sake of immediate interests, Benito accepted Germany's demands. After all, if Germany really wanted to interfere in places like Venice and Lombardy and forcefully cede these areas to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy really wouldn't have a good way to deal with it.

Countries like Britain and France would obviously not confront Germany head-on over Italy's territorial claims; they would only encourage Italy to go to war with Germany and provide Italy with loans.

Knowing that countries like Britain and France were unreliable, Benito did not place his hopes on them, but instead preferred to resolve the territorial issue through negotiations with Germany.

Therefore, in early 1935, Germany and Italy formally held final negotiations on the territorial issue and divided their respective interests.

Then, the two countries began to target Yugoslavia and Dalmatia, the two countries that had declared independence.

As for the Kingdom of Dalmatia, the succession of Charles I was legally unassailable. Furthermore, it was separated from Germany and Italy by Yugoslavia and received support from East African countries, so its independence was achieved smoothly. However, it also sold out some non-core interests to Germany and Italy in exchange for their tacit acceptance of its independence.

The issue with Yugoslavia was more acute, as Germany would never allow Yugoslavia to maintain control over Trieste and other regions, and Yugoslavia itself was unwilling to easily relinquish Trieste and other areas.

Ultimately, through the mediation of Britain and France, Yugoslavia, as the weakest party, had no choice but to concede and return most of Slovenia to Austria-Hungary.

However, Germany and its puppet government in Austria-Hungary, which it controlled, were therefore obligated to recognize the independence of the remaining territories of Yugoslavia, namely all of Croatia and Bosnia, as well as parts of eastern Slovenia.

As a result, the Austro-Hungarian War gave rise to two new independent states. Italy, Poland, and western Ukraine also benefited, while Germany began preparations to annex the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

(End of this chapter)