African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1597 The Soviet Union's War-Prepared Capital
If Europe remains unstable, Japan will lack the confidence to launch a southward expansion strategy. This also requires consideration of the two variables: the United States and East Africa. It's not hard to imagine that even if Japan were to deal with the United States and East Africa, it would only put these two countries last.

As for the idea that Japan would not be an enemy of the United States and East Africa, such a scenario is simply impossible. Japan's ambition is to dominate the entire Far East, and neither the United States nor East Africa would allow such a large area to be entirely controlled by Japan.

The relationship between Japan and the United States, and between East Africa, is similar to that between the Soviet Union and Germany; there is no possibility of peaceful coexistence, and war is only a matter of time.

The Japanese government was fully aware of this situation. They understood that the United States, East Africa, and the Soviet Union would not allow Japan to rule the Far East, so they had to prepare various contingency plans to deal with these three countries.

From this perspective, Japan is currently facing far greater pressure than Germany. If Germany can manage to neutralize the influence of European powers, it is highly likely that it can keep East Africa and the United States out of Europe.

However, in the previous life, Germany was unable to conquer Britain for a long time, which allowed the United States to use Britain as a springboard to cooperate with the Soviet Union in delivering the final fatal blow to Germany.

Currently, Japan's most achievable strategic goal is to conquer Southeast Asia, seize the strategic choke points of the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait, and then engage in a protracted struggle with East Africa.

As for the two enemies, the United States and the Soviet Union, Japan could only hope that the enemies would make mistakes, such as the United States being afraid of war and the Soviet Union being dragged down in Europe by Germany. There was no buffer space between the two countries and Japan. The Soviet Union itself was a neighboring country to Japan, and the Pacific Ocean between the United States and Japan was a huge hole that could not be plugged.

Therefore, East Africa has become the easiest of Japan's three major threats to deal with, at least from a geopolitical point of view.

……

In 1935, among the world's major powers, only East Africa and the United States were able to remain passive and observe the changing world situation. Other countries were actively seeking allies to cope with the rapidly changing international landscape.

Japan had no choice but to choose Germany, as Germany and Japan had no conflict of interest, and both countries needed to deal with the threat from the Soviet Union, making them the most ideal partners.

Compared to Japan, the Soviet Union was in a much more awkward position. Japan could still choose to cooperate with Germany, while the Soviet Union could not find a single loyal ally in the entire world.

Following Germany's annexation of Austria-Hungary, the Soviet Union's anxiety continued to rise. In order to cope with the pressure from Germany, the Soviet Union could only do three things: first, to obtain as many strategic buffer zones as possible; second, to accelerate the support of pro-Soviet regimes in Europe; and third, to continue to strengthen the construction of the rear military industry.

Soviet leaders were well aware that the country’s main industrial areas were concentrated in the European part, including Moscow, Leningrad, and Ukraine, and were extremely vulnerable to being occupied or destroyed by the enemy in the early stages of the war.

The industries in these three regions were practically under Germany's nose. In this timeline, Germany itself had expanded its territory eastward after World War I, and Poland was also a vassal state of Germany.

This means that the security situation in Moscow, the Soviet capital, is even more critical than in the previous life.

St. Petersburg was even less safe. The German navy was no match for the Soviet Union, and if war broke out between the two countries, St. Petersburg would likely be the first to be attacked by Germany.

The situation in southern Ukraine was equally dire. After Germany annexed Austria-Hungary, it could deploy more troops in the south. Moreover, the Ukrainian plains were indefensible, Germany had numerous vassal states, including western Ukraine, and the Ottoman Empire might also side with Germany.

Therefore, Ukraine faces defense pressure from both land and sea, with the land aspect needing little explanation.

The threat at sea is the Black Sea. The passage connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean is now in the hands of Germany's ally, the Ottoman Empire. Germany has also gained control of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. This combination means that Germany may attack the southern Soviet Union from the Black Sea.

This was not the whole story of Germany's military pressure on the Soviet Union.

Moscow, USSR.

Joseph pointed to the map and said, "The situation in the west of our motherland has completely deteriorated. We are facing not only a more powerful Germany after annexing Austria-Hungary, but a reactionary imperialist bloc with Germany at its core."

"This group includes the Ottoman Empire, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, the puppet government of western Ukraine, Bulgaria, and many other countries."

"From the Caucasus to Crimea, then to Odessa, Belarus, and finally to the Baltic coast, along our 3,000-kilometer border, we face the threat and oppression of this massive imperialist military bloc."

"If war breaks out, the industrial areas in the eastern part of the empire could be destroyed. Therefore, we must make an emergency adjustment to the industrial layout of the Soviet Union immediately."

"Transfer industries from eastern Ukraine, Moscow, and Leningrad to industrial areas in the heart of the Soviet Union, with a focus on developing industrial regions such as Siberia and the Urals."

Making this difficult decision reveals the Soviet Union's deep and real concern about the pressure it was exerting on Germany.

This directly disrupted the normal progress of the Soviet economy, causing a major shift in the booming Second Five-Year Plan and directly affecting the fate of hundreds, or even thousands, of key Soviet industrial units.

Some military industrial enterprises and key livelihood enterprises that were under construction may be shut down directly, and even the machinery and equipment that were already in operation may be dismantled and transported to industrial zones in the east for reorganization.

Joseph added, "Moreover, in order to prevent a possible imperialist attack on the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union must select a reserve capital in advance, located in the rear, as a backup for Moscow. When Moscow is in trouble, the reserve capital will immediately assume most of the functions of the capital."

The Soviet Union's advantage lay in its exceptional strategic depth; in fact, it could be said that the Soviet Union's strategic and territorial depth ranked first in the world.

Even compared to the Soviet Union, East Africa, the United States, the Far Eastern Empire, Brazil, and other countries with large land areas are far inferior. In terms of strategic depth and territorial breadth, these countries can only be ranked in the second tier.

Taking the United States as an example, the United States' potential enemies mainly come from the east, namely the powerful European countries or East Africa. The most valuable areas of the United States are concentrated in the northeastern part of the country, from the eastern coast to the Great Lakes. There is almost no advantageous terrain for defense, and the North American Great Plains in the middle are even more indefensible. The western environment is also too harsh.

East Africa is not much better in this regard. Although East Africa has the second largest land area in the world after the Soviet Union, its industry and population are concentrated in the central region.

East Africa's territory is generally more distributed north-south than east-west, but the main threats to East Africa come from the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, if a maritime power attacks the East African mainland, it can concentrate its attack on the central part of East Africa.

Of course, East Africa's national security is still far superior to that of the United States. Firstly, East Africa has a larger land area, and secondly, its terrain is more complex than that of the United States, with more plateaus, canyons, and mountains. The Far Eastern Empire has a more favorable strategic depth, with its Guanzhong Basin and Sichuan Basin serving as wartime centers to continue organizing the national resistance movement.

However, the Far Eastern Empire's strategic depth was only slightly greater than that of East Africa, and still far behind that of the Soviet Union.

Finally, there's Brazil. Brazil is a large country with a lot of inland space, but it doesn't have much participation in the international community.

Apart from these few countries, the other countries are completely unremarkable.

However, it is worth mentioning that among the aforementioned countries, the East African capital is the least likely to consider the issue of a military capital, given that Rhine City is located in the heart of East Africa.

Moscow, located too far to the west and too close to Germany, and Washington, D.C., located too far to the east, are extremely insecure, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, could become a front line during wartime.

As for the Rhine region in East Africa, it is inherently in the rear when facing external enemies, regardless of whether the enemy comes from the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean. As for the southern part of East Africa, there is only the extremely weak country of South Africa, while the north is full of insignificant and worthless countries that pose no threat to East Africa.

However, it is difficult for other major powers to replicate the experience of choosing a capital city in East Africa. For example, the Soviet Union, whose population and cities were concentrated in Europe, chose Moscow as the best option at the time due to the needs of economic development and control of the whole country.

The population and economic center of the United States are also unevenly distributed, making it more advantageous to choose an eastern city.

The situation in the Far Eastern Empire was more complicated. There were many cities to choose from, but basically, it was limited to a few historical cities.

However, one thing is certain: the capital of any Far Eastern empire should ideally be located on the edge of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a large, almost continuous area in terms of topography.

The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the lower Yangtze Plain are actually one entity. The division between the two is mainly based on climate and vegetation, but there is no doubt that this division has little military significance.

Unified dynasties of ancient Far Eastern empires all had to control this vast region, even those with Nanjing as their capital. In other words, Nanjing was the only city in the south capable of effectively controlling this large plain area encompassing the Yellow River, Huai River, Hai River, and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Unless the southern regime does not consider unifying the north, like the Southern Song Dynasty which established its capital in Lin'an.

Of course, there were exceptions among unified regimes that ruled the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the lower Yangtze Plain, such as the many dynasties that established their capitals in Chang'an. However, even when these dynasties established their capitals in Chang'an, most of them adopted a dual-capital system, designating Luoyang as the eastern capital. This was the case for the Western Zhou, Western Han, and Tang dynasties, thus controlling the Guandong region.

The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are the largest political and geopolitical region of the Far Eastern Empire, and also the only core area for population and economy. Therefore, the unified regime of the Far Eastern Empire must place its capital within this region.

As for why it is the edge of this region, it is from the perspective of the capital's own security. After all, only the edge of this region has strategic locations, like Beijing, Nanjing, and Luoyang.

To some extent, Ye City and Handan during the Warring States period were able to become ancient capitals because of this.

However, in modern times, the Far Eastern Empire has to consider another factor: the need for naval power. From this perspective, the Far Eastern Empire's navy is currently weak, which makes the locations of Beijing and Nanjing very unfavorable to the Far Eastern Empire.

However, if the Far Eastern Empire wants to expand into the ocean in the future, the capital can only be chosen from these two cities. Beijing is located in the Bohai Bay, which is both offensive and defensive, and its conditions are much better than those of Nanjing.

Getting back to the main topic, the Soviet Union now had a variety of options for choosing a strategic capital, such as Kazan, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinaburg), and Kuibyshev.

Joseph said, "Regarding the location of the wartime capital, I think it should not be too close to Moscow, but it should not be too far away either. This will facilitate the nationwide mobilization of troops in the event of war. At the same time, the area should be a transportation hub, and preferably also have a strong industrial base."

"The Ministry of Defense should focus on identifying a suitable city to serve as the Soviet Union's strategic rear command center. At the same time, another city can be selected for backup purposes."

The fact that two cities were chosen to serve as wartime capitals also shows the extent to which the Soviet Union had been pushed to its limits by Germany.

Soviet Defense Commissar Voroshilov said, "I think Kazan is the most suitable. Kazan is 800 kilometers away from Moscow, which is not too far. Moreover, it has convenient transportation and a good industrial base."

Kazan has always been a major city in the Soviet Union, even since the Tsarist era. As for transportation, both land and water transport are very convenient. When East Africa stole gold from Kazan, they took advantage of Kazan's water transport conditions.

At this point, General Yegorov of the Soviet Army stated: "If that's the case, Kuibyshev also meets the requirements. Kuibyshev is only 200 kilometers further from Moscow than Kazan, and it's also closer to the Ural Mountains, which makes it easier for us to allocate resources to the rear."

He also said, "Moreover, the extra 200 kilometers, in my opinion, has another advantage. In future wars, the role of the air force has become increasingly prominent. With the development of the aviation industry, Kuibyshev is safer than the former. These 200 kilometers may become an insurmountable distance for the German Air Force in the future."

Since General Yegorov brought this up, someone countered: "If we consider the advancements in aircraft technology, Sverdlovsk is clearly safer. The distance from Moscow to Sverdlovsk alone is over 1,700 kilometers, while the maximum range of most of the world's most advanced military aircraft is barely over 2,000 kilometers."

"Therefore, Sverdlovsk is clearly more suitable as a wartime capital. Its security is the most reliable, and it is also a major hub connecting the east and west parts of the motherland, so its own security is very reliable."

That being said, 1,700 kilometers is obviously too far. After all, this is not 1,700 kilometers from the Soviet border, but 1,700 kilometers from Moscow. If Sverdlovsk were to be designated as the capital, it would basically mean the end of the European part of the Soviet Union.

Therefore, Joseph said, "Sverdlovsk is too far away, but it can serve as a second reserve capital. If Moscow and the first reserve capital fall, Sverdlovsk will be the last line of defense for the Soviet Union."

"As for the first reserve capital, I think we should choose Kuibyshev! After all, Kuibyshev is not as famous as Kazan in history. If we build Kuibyshev in secret, it may have a surprise effect."

As a strategically important capital, it was obviously best for the enemy to know about this place as late as possible, and Kazan had been a relatively well-known city in the Soviet Union since ancient times.

(End of this chapter)