African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1612 Military Regions and War Zones

The North African Free Trade Area was Crown Prince Frederick's vision for Darfur's future. For a place like Darfur, developing commerce was the only right path. As for agriculture and mining, Darfur could do very little, and the limitation of water resources was something Darfur could not solve.

At the same time, service industries such as tourism are not active worldwide, so it is difficult for Darfur to find another source of income through this route.

Crown Prince Frederick said: "Anchoring the North African railway and the future highway connecting the Kingdom of South Germany and Sudan is the main way for Darfur to achieve sustainable development and become a hub for the four surrounding countries."

"At the same time, Darfur's current population should be increased to at least one million, in order to make it easier to increase the population and market size along the southern end of the North African railway."

"Regarding the development of mineral resources in Darfur, we encourage Darfur to attract domestic enterprises to carry out development through low taxes and more flexible economic policies, laying the foundation for Darfur to obtain the funds needed for development."

Darfur's mineral resources are only suitable for development by East African companies. In places like Darfur, the technical requirements for mineral development are higher, so only countries with strong industrial capabilities can do it.

Take Darfur's uranium mines, for example. They are obviously only economically significant for East African countries with nuclear industries. At the same time, transporting Darfur's minerals requires building transportation routes through the desert, overcoming natural disasters such as sandstorms, and dealing with water shortages.

In other words, Darfur is controlled by East Africa. If it were just a neighboring country with no connection to East Africa, it would have no opportunity for development.

Darfur in the previous life was a typical example; it was not only poor but also extremely unstable.

Ernst initially refused to include Darfur, a land completely connected to East Africa, in his territory because of its poor infrastructure. Instead, he chose to treat it as a colony to avoid incurring economic burdens.

Even with the North African railway now in place, East Africa's attitude toward Darfur has not changed much.

The North African Railway (NAR) appears to be very important and strategically significant to East Africa, connecting the East African domestic market with the Mediterranean market and facilitating East Africa's strengthening of its influence in the North African region. However, in reality, the NAR is just an insignificant branch line in East Africa's global transportation and trade network.

In the maritime era, the scale of sea transport has never been comparable to that of land transport, and East Africa faces a much better situation in maritime transport than most countries in the world.

At least for now, no country can block East African maritime trade routes, and East African merchant ships can travel to various continents without being restricted by straits.

The maritime security risks in East Africa are more regional. For example, if you travel from East Africa to Europe, you can go directly to the west coast of Europe without passing through any straits.

However, if East Africa were to reach the central and eastern parts of Europe, it would be possible for them to be contained by the enemy, having to pass through strategic locations such as the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar.

Furthermore, there are few barriers between East Africa and Asia. For example, it is very convenient to travel to the Middle East and South Asia. However, if you want to go to the Far East of Asia, you have to pass through places like the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait. This means that East Africa's maritime security is regional rather than continental.

In this respect, East Africa is similar to the United States, naturally possessing the foundation to become a maritime empire. Therefore, East Africa's maritime security is relatively stable, and under such circumstances, the role that the North African Railway can play is quite limited.

If any country were to attempt to use this relatively insignificant branch line to threaten East Africa, it would be utterly impossible.

Conversely, the land-based Silk Road economic belt of the former Far Eastern Empire was a case in point. The Far Eastern Empire's maritime security was very unstable, especially given that its adversary was the United States.

The Far Eastern Empire had a much better coastline than East Africa, but East Africa was a country with two oceans. If overseas colonies were included, East Africa even had a share of all four oceans, while the Far Eastern Empire only had one ocean, namely the Pacific Ocean.

In other words, the Far Eastern Empire could only develop maritime trade by sailing eastward along the Pacific route. However, even within the Pacific region, the Far Eastern Empire's maritime security was not secure. It faced threats from the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and had lost control of the first island chain. Now, its coastal waters had almost become "high seas," allowing ships from various countries to enter and exit with impunity.

Even if the Far Eastern Empire breaks through the first island chain, its maritime trade is still restricted by the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal. If these key nodes cannot be controlled by itself, it will be subject to others. Moreover, because these regions are too far away from the Far Eastern Empire, even at the same level of development, it would not be easy for the Far Eastern Empire to seize these vital choke points.

Therefore, the Far Eastern Empire had to consider the possibility that maritime trade routes might be cut off by enemies. As a result, developing land trade routes became an essential option for the Far Eastern Empire in the future.

Reopening the land trade route is no easy task, especially since the Far Eastern Empire's enemies are well aware of its importance and will inevitably intervene.

Therefore, in order to open up land trade routes, the Far Eastern Empire had to rise to the challenge, withstand the pressure and difficulties from its enemies, and prepare for a long-term struggle and game.

Of course, if the land trade routes could be reopened, that is, if the ancient Silk Road could be restored, the Far Eastern Empire could gain astonishing profits.

These benefits include both economic and strategic aspects. Economically, if the Silk Road Economic Belt, led by the Far Eastern Empire, becomes a reality, the Far Eastern Empire will become the center of land transportation across Eurasia, which will accelerate the flow of resources and economy from across Eurasia to the Far Eastern Empire.

Strategically, it could integrate the resources of Eurasia, thereby establishing its status and rights as a world empire.

After all, reopening the Silk Road meant extending the military, economic, and political influence of the Far Eastern Empire to the regions along the route, rather than simply building a transportation and trade route.

This can be seen in the example of the two most powerful ancient empires in the Far East, the Han and Tang dynasties. Their dominance of the ancient Silk Road involved not only economic efforts but also a range of military, political, and diplomatic means.

Through cooperation with the states of the Western Regions and by defeating the Xiongnu, the Western Han Dynasty brought the Western Regions under its control. The Eastern Han Dynasty further dominated the entire Western Regions and parts of Central Asia. The Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence extended into places like present-day Persia, making it the dominant force in regional international affairs.

Therefore, reopening the ancient Silk Road means that the Far Eastern Empire has completed the integration of the entire Eurasian continent. Once Eurasia is integrated and a dominant force emerges, we can directly refer to the oppressive feeling of the Soviet Union at its peak in the previous world.

Although there were even more powerful empires like the Mongol Empire before the Soviet Union, at that time, civilization was mainly concentrated in Eurasia, with North Africa being the only relatively civilized and enlightened region outside of Eurasia. In short, for the Far Eastern empire to become a world hegemon, land power was crucial, determined by its geographical location and circumstances. For countries like those in East Africa, sea power was even more important.

……

Regarding the issue of sea power, in early 1936, the East African General Staff made some new adjustments to the global military deployment in order to give fuller and more rational use of East Africa's military role.

At the meeting, Chief of the General Staff Dolphus reported to Ernst and Crown Prince Friedrich, among others, that "with the expansion of the Empire's global power in recent years, the past division of the Empire's global operational areas has become somewhat outdated. Therefore, new adjustments should be made in the naval sphere."

"At the same time, the division of the local military districts should also be changed. Since the 20th century, the empire's deep intervention in Africa has also brought about drastic changes in the geopolitics of the African continent."

The East African Army and Navy each have their own areas of responsibility. The Army is mainly responsible for internal affairs, while the Navy is mainly responsible for external affairs. The former corresponds to the so-called home military region, while the Navy is a theater command.

"Regarding the adjustment of the local military districts, the focus is on the western and northern military districts. In order to better respond to the changes on the northern border, the Northwest Military District should be divided into two parts, with Gabon and Cameroon separated from the Northwest Military District and incorporated into the Western Military District."

"The original Northwest Military District was responsible for the security of Ubangi Province, Azande Province, Bavaria Province, Nile Province, Turkana Province, and the Darfur Colony, and was restored to the name of the Northern Military District."

The Northern Military District was one of the earliest military districts in East Africa. Later, with the expansion of East Africa's territory, it was divided into two parts, becoming the Northwest and Northeast Military Districts of today.

Taurfius continued, "The original Northeast Military District will remain unchanged and continue to be responsible for the security of the northeastern part of the Empire."

"In addition to incorporating the provinces of Cameroon and Gabon, the Southwest Military District should also be abolished and merged into the Western Military District."

The Southwest Command, also known as the Namibian Command, was originally established to counter the British Royal Navy's influence in South Africa. However, the Southwest Command is now clearly unnecessary, as South Africa is weak and Britain is no longer a threat in East Africa.

Therefore, it would be better to merge the Southwest Military District into the Western Military District, reorganize its resources, save on defense spending, and at the same time be more conducive to the Western Military District in dealing with enemies in the Atlantic and ensuring the security of the entire west coast of East Africa.

After entering the 20th century, East Africa's potential enemies, or rather its competitors, were basically the countries of the Northern Hemisphere, while East Africa had no rivals in the Southern Hemisphere. It is for this reason that the original arrangement of the west coast being governed by three military districts in East Africa was somewhat unreasonable.

In other words, the threat to East Africa on the west coast has now been largely eliminated, and the focus will shift more towards proactive offense rather than defense.

Crown Prince Frederick said, "Now in the South Atlantic, East Africa has become the de facto maritime hegemon of the region. Unlike the Indian Ocean, where our naval strength is equally powerful, key nodes such as the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are not under the control of the Empire, so there are still certain security risks."

The South Atlantic lacks the key strategic nodes found around the Indian Ocean, so the development of the East African navy will not be hampered by chokepoints such as straits.

Ernst nodded and said, "In this way, the Imperial Mainland Military Districts will still remain at five, but they will become the Central Military District, the Western Military District, the Northern Military District, the Northeastern Military District, and the Southern Military District."

"This expansion of the Western Military Region will reduce the military's administrative expenses and also make it easier to integrate resources."

"The new Northern Military District is mainly responsible for dealing with threats in North Africa. After the opening of the North African Railway, it has become a viable military corridor between Europe and East Africa. Of course, we now have control over this military corridor."

The North African Railway can naturally serve as a transport route for troops and supplies. In the future, East Africa can leverage the North African Railway to influence the entire North African region. Of course, this is contingent on driving out European forces from North Africa, but the time is not yet ripe. The North African Railway is primarily focused on fulfilling its economic functions.

Taurfius said, “Your Majesty is right. The North African Railway actually strengthens our strategic initiative in North Africa. However, we cannot act rashly now, since this is a project between us and Italy.”

"These are our General Staff's opinions on the adjustment of the domestic military regions. In addition to the division of domestic military regions, we also have some ideas on the division of overseas theater commands. The focus is on strengthening the linkage between overseas theater commands and domestic military regions, and combining national security with the imperial world strategy."

"We plan to adjust the original overseas theater commands to the Atlantic Theater Command, the Northwest Indian Ocean Theater Command, the East Indian Ocean Theater Command, the South Indian Ocean Theater Command, and the Pacific Theater Command."

"Among these theater commands, the Northwest Indian Ocean Theater Command is responsible for monitoring the Gulf of Aden, as well as several key areas in South Asia and the Persian Gulf, while also safeguarding the security of our northeastern sea areas."

"The Eastern Indian Ocean Theater is responsible for coordinating our naval forces in the Sunda Strait and the Strait of Malacca to safeguard the Empire's maritime passages in the Pacific."

"The Southern Indian Ocean Theater serves as a naval reserve force, capable of supporting other theaters at any time. To the west, it can monitor South Africa while crossing the Cape of Good Hope to support the Atlantic Theater. To the east, it can provide support to the Eastern Indian Ocean and Pacific Theaters, and to the north, it can support the Northwest Indian Ocean Theater."

The division of theaters of operations in East Africa clearly demonstrates the importance East Africa places on the Indian Ocean. For this single ocean, East Africa has divided it into three theaters, two of which are directly addressing potential external threats.

As for the South Indian Ocean theater, the only enemy it might encounter is South Africa. However, South Africa would only provoke East Africa if it lost its mind.

Taulfis said, "Of the five overseas theaters, the Pacific theater is the farthest from the homeland, and the imperial territories and interests in the Pacific are very dispersed. Moreover, both the United States and Japan have relatively strong naval forces in the Pacific, so it is not suitable to deploy too many naval forces there."

"Although the Atlantic is also a whole theater of operations, the situation is quite different from that of the Pacific because our colonies and overseas interests in the Atlantic are more concentrated."

In the Pacific direction, the situation of East Africa's colonies is too complicated, scattered in different parts. In the Atlantic direction, East Africa only has one overseas colony, Togoland. Therefore, there is no need for a separate East African Atlantic Navy.

(End of this chapter)