African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1598 Dark Clouds Loom Over the Iberian Peninsula
For the Soviet government, Kuibyshev was a model city, and its name was changed in January of this year by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in honor of Valery Vladimirovich Kuibyshev, the famous Soviet state leader, Chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy and Chairman of the State Planning Committee.

The city of Kuibyshev was originally named Samara, which comes from a border fortress during the Tsarist era.

Of course, even during the Tsarist era, Kuibyshev, also known as Samara, was a relatively fast-developing city. By the end of the 19th century, its population and economy had already made it one of the top ten cities in the empire, ranking around ninth.

However, during the Tsarist era, Russia's overall industrial level was low, so even Kuibyshev, one of the ten major cities, was only considered decent within the context of Tsarist Russia.

In Kuibyshev, or Samara, agriculture was dominant at the time, as Kuibyshev and its surrounding areas were important "granaries" of Tsarist Russia.

Boasting some of the world's most fertile black soil belt, Russia has an extremely developed agricultural sector, particularly in wheat cultivation. Samara (Kuybyshev) has become one of Russia's largest grain trading centers. The vast grain market attracts merchants from across the country and even the world. Grain traded here is transported via the Volga River to northern Russia, such as St. Petersburg, and exported to Europe.

During the Soviet era, Kuibyshev experienced rapid development. During the First Five-Year Plan, the Kuibyshev Aircraft Plant was established in the city. To date, the Kuibyshev Aircraft Plant has become one of the largest and most important aircraft manufacturing plants in the Soviet Union, and Kuibyshev has become an important aviation industry center in the Soviet Union.

Then came the development of the energy and metallurgical industries. Kuibyshev built a modern oil refinery, becoming an important fuel supply base in the Volga River basin, providing power for aviation, vehicles, and industry.

In the metallurgical field, Kuibyshev established a large bearing plant, which became one of the key production bases for all mechanical industries and military equipment in the Soviet Union, such as tanks, aircraft, and automobiles. Other metal processing and chemical plants were also built one after another, forming a complete industrial system.

In terms of electricity, the Kuibyshev State Power Plant was also one of the core projects during the Soviet First Five-Year Plan. By 1935, it had become one of the largest power plants in the Soviet Union, providing ample electricity to all the newly built mega-factories and cities in Kuibyshev, and serving as the "heart" of the entire industrial complex.

In summary, during the Soviet Union's First Five-Year Plan, Kuibyshev successfully transformed from an agricultural city into an industrial hub, evolving from a commercial and agricultural center into one of the Soviet Union's most important heavy industrial bases, particularly in the military industry.

Kuibyshev's ranking has also improved to the top five in the country.

Although the improvement in ranking was not significant, the cities he surpassed were clearly not incompetent in the Soviet Union, and the higher the ranking of a city, the more difficult it was for it to catch up in industry.

Mombasa in East Africa took several decades to surpass Dar es Salaam and become the largest city in East Africa.

Therefore, Kuibyshev's industrial achievements held great political significance in the Soviet Union, becoming one of the symbols of Soviet industrialization.

This in itself made it easier for the Soviet leadership to have a greater preference for Kuibyshev.

Joseph's last point, namely the safety of Kuibyshev, also stems from this. Kuibyshev developed relatively late and is not very well-known in the international community. At least compared to Soviet "historic cities" such as Kyiv, Odessa, and Kazan, Europeans are likely not very familiar with this city.

Even in its previous life, Kuibyshev gained considerable international recognition because it became the second capital of the Soviet Union during World War II. However, since World War II has not yet broken out, although Kuibyshev has become an important industrial city in the Soviet Union, its fame is not as high as one might imagine, especially internationally.

The low level of attention it received naturally made it easier to complete military and political deployments in Kuibyshev, not to mention that Kuibyshev is very far from European countries outside the Soviet Union.

Joseph said, "Germany could absorb Austria-Hungary and complete its military preparations within ten years at most, or in a few years at most, in an optimistic estimate."

"Therefore, the transfer of key industries in our country must be completed within five years, especially the defense industry, which should build a complete military industrial system in the rear."

"To ensure that the defense industry system does not collapse and can continue to function normally in the event of an attack on forward industrial areas such as Leningrad, Ukraine, or even Moscow."

The Soviet Union had no choice but to develop these industrial bases, as its economy needed to expand westward and connect with Europe to grow.

This is similar to how, in the previous Far Eastern Empire, after fully shifting its focus to economic development, all resources were concentrated in the coastal areas.

To put it bluntly, under the circumstances at the time, the coast of the Far Eastern Empire was not a safe place, facing direct threats from the Western bloc and the United States. At that time, the Far Eastern Empire's navy was not only no match for the US Navy, but even the Japanese Navy was a formidable enemy.

However, even so, if the Far Eastern Empire wanted to achieve the fastest economic development results, it could only choose to prioritize the development of the coastal areas.

The Soviet Union also encountered this problem in its economic development. The reason why the First Five-Year Plan and the ongoing Second Five-Year Plan achieved such great success was that the European part of the Soviet Union had easier access to technology, personnel and machinery from the capitalist world.

At the same time, people in parts of Europe were exposed to industrial civilization earlier, which was an important foundation for the Soviet Union to cultivate its own talent and workers. After all, the Soviet Labour Party itself was part of the European Labour Party movement, and these ideas were first triggered in countries with the highest levels of industrialization at the time, such as Britain, France, and Germany.

At that time, Tsarist Russia was not, in theory, an ideal place for the development of the Labour Party, since Russia's low level of industrialization itself limited the growth of the working class.

Conversely, Western Europe, with its large working class, was also a region where capitalism was powerful. Therefore, the workers' movement was difficult to carry out and was subject to severe repression and various forms of bribery.

However, these issues are clearly not the focus of the Soviet government's current discussions. For the Soviet Union, the question of the survival of the Soviet regime has been elevated to the top priority due to Germany's growing power.

Joseph said, "Within the Soviet Union, we need to prepare for war, complete the industrial transfer, and develop the strategic rear area."

"However, in the face of German imperialism, we cannot simply wait passively for them to make the first move. Currently, the situation in Europe is chaotic, and the effects of the Great Depression are still lingering. Before the capitalist world recovers, this is a crucial window of opportunity for us to take the lead in the European movement."

"Only by supporting more allies in Europe can we get out of our current predicament. The Austro-Hungarian coalition government has failed, but we cannot give up supporting them so that they can hinder Germany's digestion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as much as possible."

The annexation of Austria-Hungary by Germany was a foregone conclusion, an outcome that could not be reversed in the short term. Therefore, the Soviet Union had no choice but to abandon its idea of ​​turning the former Austro-Hungarian Empire into a communist regime.

More energy should be devoted to inciting anti-extreme nationalists within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This includes not only the remnants of the former Greater Austrian coalition government, but also non-German ethnic groups, all of whom can be supported by the Soviet Union to cause trouble for Germany. "In addition, we must continue to make arrangements to expand the Soviet Union's security perimeter in the three puppet governments of Poland, Lithuania, and western Ukraine."

The governments of Poland, Lithuania, and western Ukraine were not recognized by the Soviet Union. The reason why the Soviet Union targeted these three countries in this way was that these regions were originally the territory of Tsarist Russia. Therefore, in the eyes of the Soviet Union, the three countries were remnants of Tsarist Russia and reactionary regimes that colluded with German imperialism.

"We should also expedite territorial negotiations with Finland."

Although the Soviet Union had territorial disputes with Finland, it did not harbor much hostility towards Finland. However, the Soviet Union could not tolerate Finland's alignment with Germany, since Finland was related to the security of Soviet Leningrad and other Baltic territories.

If Finland sided with Germany, it would mean that the northern coast of the Baltic Sea would become part of Germany's sphere of influence, allowing Germany to send its navy into the Gulf of Finland, directly threatening the security of the Soviet Union on the southern coast, as well as Leningrad to the east of the Gulf of Finland.

Of course, for a country like the Soviet Union with a strong sense of crisis and a strong desire for control, it would probably only be satisfied if Finland were turned into Soviet territory. However, this was clearly not a problem of the Soviet Union, but rather a shortcoming of the East Slavic national character.

"Finally, there is Spain. Support for the Spanish Republicans can no longer be delayed. If Spain also becomes an extreme nationalist regime, then the extreme nationalist regimes in Europe will have completely formed a huge reactionary group in terms of military, political and economic aspects."

"After the Austro-Hungarian Empire changed its color, we cannot allow a major European power to repeat the same mistake. In addition, we must take advantage of the contradictions within the imperialist powers and strengthen cooperation with France. We must make every effort to make any country or force that can contain Germany stand on the opposite side of Germany."

In fact, after Germany annexed Austria-Hungary, France and the Soviet Union began to flirt more frequently. Although the two countries had ideological contradictions, they had many common topics on the German question.

In its previous life, France was keen to build the so-called "Eastern Treaty System" in order to prevent German retaliation, thereby winning over Eastern European countries and putting pressure on Germany from the east. In that previous life, Poland was the "core" chosen by France.

However, in this timeline, the Polish government was established with the support of Germany during World War I. Moreover, Poland's strength is far less than in its previous life. Both its land area and population have shrunk. In its previous life, Poland could at least be called a "major European power" and even boasted that it was the seventh strongest country in the world.

Now, Poland can hardly make such confident statements. At best, Poland is only a medium-sized European country, and in international affairs, it follows Germany's lead.

Of course, Poland is more cunning, and its relationship with Germany is more like that of the United States and Japan in the past. If its strength reaches the level to rival Germany, it will inevitably turn against its master and bite back at Germany.

However, Poland is now probably keeping all its ulterior motives hidden, since after Germany annexed Austria-Hungary, it is no longer a superpower that Poland can treat half-heartedly.

Without Poland, the only ally France could find in Eastern Europe was the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union was not Tsarist Russia; otherwise, the two countries would probably have re-allyed long ago.

……

With the adjustment of the Soviet Union's foreign policy and its policy of exporting ideology, the Iberian Peninsula was destined to become even more turbulent.

However, even without Soviet intervention, peace was impossible on the Iberian Peninsula, as Germany also hoped that the Spanish National Party would come to power and seize control.

Even excluding the Soviet Union and Germany, Spain would still fight; at most, the intensity of the war would be somewhat reduced due to the difference in weaponry between the two sides after the outbreak of civil war.

However, this does not mean that Spain's final losses will be less than those of a civil war that breaks out under foreign intervention. After all, with weapons of mass destruction, it is difficult to determine the final number of casualties when there is no significant technological gap between the two sides.

Even if the armies of the Spanish Republicans and Nationalists fought with cold weapons, their casualty figures might not have been much lower than those of those using firearms.

East Africa, Rhine City.

Intelligence from within Spain was quickly sent to the Rhine Palace, as East Africa had been increasing its focus on Spain for several years.

In a sense, Spain can be considered one of the countries with the best relationship between Europe and East Africa. East Africa valued its ties with Spain in the 19th century, and the former Spanish royal family even received funding from the Rhine royal family.

Spain itself is also a key node in trade between East Africa and Western Europe.

After all, the Strait of Gibraltar is an indispensable strategic choke point in East African trade with Europe, and Spain's importance is no less than that of the Suez Canal.

Friedrich said, "The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War is inevitable. Intelligence has revealed that the Soviet Union and Germany are accelerating the arming of the forces they support. A large amount of weapons, equipment and personnel are being transported to Spain. It is very likely that this place will become a training ground for the war between the two countries, as well as a testing ground for weapons and equipment."

Admittedly, Germany's military industrial strength is recognized worldwide as formidable. If an ordinary country were to face a force equipped with German weapons, it would certainly be at a disadvantage in terms of hardware.

However, the Soviet Union, which had already completed its initial industrial construction, also made significant strides in improving the performance of its weapons. Although Soviet industry was significantly inferior to Germany's, the defense industry was given top priority in the two Soviet Five-Year Plans.

Moreover, during the Great Depression in the capitalist world, the Soviet Union was able to easily acquire all kinds of the most advanced equipment and machinery. Therefore, the level of modernization of the Soviet industrial system was actually very high, and there was no significant gap between it and the mainstream powers in the international community.

Its defense industry was so advanced that it could even be ranked among the world's best, surpassing Japan and Italy. If the navy is not taken into account, the Soviet defense industry could even be ranked in the world's top tier.

Therefore, even though there was a certain gap between the Soviet Union and Germany, the Soviet Union's support for the Spanish Republicans should not be underestimated. Moreover, the human factor is also very important in war. The upcoming Spanish Civil War will further test the capabilities of both governments, military commanders, and their respective supporters.

Ernst said, "In the Spanish Civil War, the difference in strength between the two sides was not too obvious, but I still favor the Nationalists as before. They are more united internally, while the Republicans cannot reach a consensus."

(End of this chapter)