African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1590 Fierce Confrontation Between East and America

For a long time, East Africa has not taken many actions in West Africa, and its only colony in West Africa is Togoland, which it bought from Germany.

The reason why East Africa's expansion in West Africa was so slow ultimately comes down to the strategic choices made in East Africa. Before 1935, East Africa mainly targeted two regions, namely Southeast Asia and South America.

As the 1930s progressed, East Africa's dominance in Southeast Asia and South America was largely established, and its development had reached a bottleneck. This is why it began to shift its focus to conquering other regions.

Northwest Africa is an important resource-rich region in the world. Its oil occupies an important position in the world's energy mineral resources. There are regions with amazing oil potential, such as Nigeria, and many other regions with oil development potential, such as Niger and Mauritania.

Secondly, there are iron ore deposits in Northwest Africa, including Guinea, Mauritania, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire, which have huge development potential, not only because of their large reserves but also because of their high-quality ore.

Although East Africa is not lacking in iron ore, gaining control of iron ore resources in Northwest Africa in the future would further enhance East Africa's international status and influence.

Finally, the bauxite resources in northwestern Africa are particularly important for the development of the electrolytic aluminum industry on the west coast of East Africa.

The west coast of East Africa, due to the presence of rivers such as the Congo River, is the region with the greatest hydropower potential in East Africa.

If hydropower from northern Angola, Gabon, and Cameroon can be combined with bauxite deposits in northwestern Africa, the position of East African aluminum in the world can be greatly consolidated.

Of course, there is another condition in Northwest Africa that is very attractive to East Africa: these resource-rich countries are mainly located along the Atlantic coast. With the extremely low cost of sea transport, West Africa has the potential to become the most stable, secure and reliable source of raw materials for East Africa in the future.

All of this is predicated on the East African Navy establishing a complete presence along the northwestern coast of Africa, driving out European forces, and preventing American infiltration.

Therefore, the construction of the port of Dahra is of utmost importance.

East Africa, Rhine City.

Pointing to a map of the northwest coast of Africa, Ernst said to Crown Prince Friedrich, "Once the port of Dahra is completed, the Imperial Navy's control over the South Atlantic will be further strengthened."

"With Dahra as the center, the empire can strengthen its surveillance of the Northern Hemisphere, especially European countries. Most European ships heading to Northwest Africa will prioritize passing through the northwestern coastal waters."

"Originally, what we wanted most was the Cape Verde Islands, or other harbors along the route, but unfortunately Portugal and other countries did not give us this opportunity."

Cape Verde is known as the "Crossroads of the Atlantic" because it is located at the crossroads of shipping routes between Europe, Africa and the Americas.

This location makes it a key node for controlling north-south and east-west shipping routes in the Atlantic.

It is an important transit point connecting the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic, Europe and South America, and North America and Africa.

Many transoceanic routes, especially those from South America around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe or Asia, pass through the waters near Cape Verde.

At the same time, the area is also an ideal "aerial refueling station," serving a similar function to Greenland and Iceland in connecting air routes between Europe and North America.

It's both a maritime crossroads and an aerial refueling station, so it's no wonder Ernst is so attached to the Cape Verde Islands. Unfortunately, the historical grievances between East Africa and Portugal have now become an obstacle for East Africa to gain local dominance in Cape Verde.

Crown Prince Frederick also felt it was a pity, saying bluntly, "If Cape Verde could be in the hands of the Empire, the South Atlantic could almost become the Empire's inland sea."

This is not an exaggeration. East Africa has already established a naval base in Togoland, and also has naval branches in countries such as Venezuela in northern South America. The Atlantic Ocean between these two locations lacks a strategic foothold that can connect East Africa's naval bases in the Atlantic.

This would not only allow for complete control and blockade of the South Atlantic, but also prevent other countries from challenging East Africa's position in the South Atlantic.

Crown Prince Frederick went on to point out: "Another crucial point is that if we control Cape Verde, we can suppress Liberia, the US forward base in Africa."

"Cape Verde is an important transit point for the U.S. Navy when it travels to Liberia. Without Cape Verde, the cost for the U.S. to support Liberia would increase."

Before East Africa made a major foray into South America, the United States paid little attention to Liberia. Now, however, Liberia has become almost the front line in the confrontation between the United States and East Africa.

Especially after the United States pursued a "good neighbor policy" that alienated Latin America, relations between East Africa and the United States became even more strained. In order to counter the connection between East Africa and the Caribbean, in 1934, the Roosevelt administration further elevated Liberia's position in the United States' global strategy.

Although France and Britain currently wield the most power in Northwest Africa, East Africa is well aware that the United States is its true adversary.

France and Britain were both in continuous decline, and their national strength was no match for superpowers like the United States in East Africa. France and Britain's expansion in West Africa was actually nearing its limit.

Although this progress is slower than in the Far East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, it has already begun to show signs, such as the awakening of independence consciousness among the elites of the two countries' colonies.

If East Africa and the United States were willing to accelerate this process, it would not be difficult for them to overthrow French and British rule in Northwest Africa.

The reason why West Africa has been able to maintain stability is essentially due to the differences in interests between East Africa and the United States, two major powers. With these two tigers fighting, France and Britain have become safer.

Neither East Africa nor the United States dared to break the balance in Northwest Africa first, because whoever made the first move would inevitably be sided with the party that made the second move.

Ernst said, "We don't need to rush things regarding Northwest Africa. The longer we delay, the greater the empire's advantage will be. When the time is right, we will invest our efforts and get the biggest slice of the pie."

“What we fear most now is being too aggressive, which would side with France, Britain and the United States. Therefore, in Northwest Africa, we must abide by the rules of the game and gradually penetrate the local economy and culture within the framework of the international order.”

Breaking the rules of the game is the approach of countries like the Soviet Union and Germany, because they had no other options or alternatives. East Africa's situation is clearly not at that level.

For example, Germany's conquest of Austria-Hungary severely damaged the interests of East Africa's traditional largest market, Central and Eastern Europe, but East Africa did not openly engage in any major conflict.

Putting ourselves in their shoes, this is similar to Britain losing the Indian market. If this were to happen, Britain would certainly be furious and do everything in its power to prevent the situation from worsening.

East Africa's confidence stems from its diversified markets. Losses in the Central and Eastern European market can be offset by expansion in other regions, preventing significant damage to East Africa. This is also thanks to East Africa's strategic planning since the beginning of this century, which has been building strong economic and market barriers.

From the perspective of market scope alone, East Africa has been shrinking in the world since the beginning of the 20th century. For example, East Africa has been impacted by the three major markets of North America, the Far East and Europe.

However, the newly opened markets around the South Atlantic and India in East Africa, as well as the recently promoted market around the Mediterranean, are all progressing steadily.

Furthermore, in these three major markets, East Africa already holds absolute dominance in the first two and is not easily affected by interference from other powerful countries, while the Mediterranean market will be greatly enhanced in terms of security after the opening of the North African railway.

The Far East, North America, and European markets are more attractive, but uncontrollable. If countries in the region target East Africa, even with its strong military, it will be difficult for East Africa to protect its legitimate interests.

The most typical examples are the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Great Depression of 1929, the United States overturned its original economic policies and erected tariff barriers, focusing on East African export companies to the United States, which led to a significant reduction in East Africa's market share in the United States.

Aside from verbally condemning the United States, East Africa has no effective way to retaliate against it. It's impossible for them to send warships to the doorstep of the United States and force the United States to open its borders completely.

It's important to understand that East Africa, as the world's largest industrial nation, originally held a dominant position in trade with the United States. Therefore, the main losers in the US tariff war are East Africa.

This is only in the economic sphere. In the political sphere, the Good Neighbourhood Policy promoted by the Roosevelt administration in the United States also caused East Africa to suffer in silence.

Of course, from East Africa's perspective, the United States' various actions are considered unjust and immoral, and conversely, the United States also believes that East Africa is not a good place.

The period from the outbreak of the economic crisis in 1929 until Roosevelt took office was the worst time in the history of relations between East Africa and the United States.

Some Americans, influenced by public opinion and government instigation, believe that the dumping of American industry and agriculture by East Africa is one of the important reasons for the outbreak of the American economic crisis.

Therefore, when the United States significantly increased tariffs on East African goods, the American public generally supported this policy.

After Roosevelt took office, relations between East Africa and the United States seemed to have eased somewhat, after all, he publicly stated that the United States and East Africa had a friendly relationship.

However, such verbal statements are meaningless. As a very shrewd politician, Roosevelt's approach to East Africa was more like "honeyed words with a hidden dagger," and he was more adept at using subtle tactics to attack East Africa's vulnerabilities.

However, this is not surprising. The rise and growth of East Africa in the world has effectively threatened the interests of the United States. Unless the United States produces a good-natured person like Carter, any US president will regard East Africa as the biggest threat.

Yes, East Africa is now America's number one competitor, not the Soviet Union.

Although the Soviet Union was an enemy of the United States, the United States' fear of the Soviet Union was mainly due to the ideological threat posed by the Soviet Union.

East Africa and the United States, however, have a real conflict of interest, involving American industries and the issue of discourse power in the entire capitalist world.

Currently, there are three leading powers in the world of capitalism: East Africa, the United States, and Germany. More than 90% of capitalist countries hope that these three countries can join forces to completely eliminate the Soviet Union.

Of course, countries around the world obviously do not want East Africa, the United States, and Germany to actually form an alliance and divide the world. This contradictory mentality is also an important variable in the current international order.

However, East Africa and the United States do have common topics, such as the issue of suppressing European development, especially recently the Soviet Union and Germany have been in the limelight.

The Soviet Union's second five-year industrial plan was being completed rapidly, and the country's strength was growing daily.

After Germany annexed Austria-Hungary, it would also be at the height of its power in Europe.

Next, regardless of whether it is Germany or the Soviet Union, whichever country ultimately wins could potentially unify Europe and become a superpower capable of threatening East Africa and the United States, which is naturally not what East Africa and the United States want to see.

Therefore, compared to the conflict between East Africa and the United States in the Atlantic, the two countries actually have more in common in vying for European interests.

As long as Europe's rise fails and this enormous market is vacated, East Africa and the United States can coexist peacefully for the time being.

The fact that Europe alone supported six world powers—Germany, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and Italy—as well as a host of smaller, less powerful but very comfortable economic powerhouses demonstrates the astonishing purchasing power and level of the European market.

This is the world's largest consumer market, comprised of nearly 500 million people, while the combined population of East Africa and the United States is only 300 million, just three-fifths of that of Europe.

In addition, whoever rules Europe also means being able to control North Africa along the Mediterranean coast, the Middle East, and Central Asia, which are close to Europe, and basically influence most of the European continent and parts of Africa.

Ernst stated, "Our current deployment in Northwest Africa is, in general, in service of the Empire's global strategy."

"The ultimate goal is to turn Northwest Africa into a springboard for the empire's advance into Europe, and then, after the internal conflicts in Europe have been fully ignited and the country is in chaos, to finally jump out and reap the rewards."

"At that point, our clear competitor will be the United States. Obviously, the United States is more likely to invade Europe because of its geographical location, while we are still restricted by geographical obstacles and barriers such as the Suez Canal, the Sahara Desert, Gibraltar, and the English Channel."

The United States is the clear future competitor for European interests in East Africa. As for the other competitor, the ultimate winner in Europe, it is most likely to be either Germany or the Soviet Union.

However, even if a winner emerges in Europe, East Africa and the United States will not allow that winner to completely devour the interests of the entire continent. Instead, they will try to take over all of Europe's interests, a goal that European countries such as Germany, the Soviet Union, and Britain have been trying to achieve.

Crown Prince Frederick nodded and said, "Compared to the Red Sea route through which the Suez Canal is located, it is clear that expanding the Atlantic route and building a route from the Empire to Europe is the least difficult thing for us now."

"Therefore, a series of policies in Northwest Africa and the North African railway are all centered around the European pie."

"In terms of expansion in Northwest Africa, the United States is the biggest obstacle to East Africa's development. Whether it is to maintain its own position and interests in the Atlantic or to prevent East Africa from seizing the fruits of victory from Europe in the future, the United States will not remain indifferent."

"This also means that our dispute with the United States in the Atlantic will further escalate. In the past, the main battlefield between the two countries was in South America, but now it has expanded to the Caribbean Sea and the waters off the northwest coast of Africa. Once we break through these two regions, it also means that the North Atlantic may become a region where the empire and the United States clash."

(End of this chapter)