African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1626 Arms Market
South America in 1936 was generally chaotic, especially influenced by the extreme ideologies of Germany and the Soviet Union in Europe. This intensified the political struggle in South America and caused some trouble for East Africa's expansion in the region.

The United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries, have also been engaging in underhanded tactics in South America, inciting hatred against East Africa in certain regions and among certain groups.

To deal with these troubles, East Africa can only adopt a steady and cautious expansion strategy, and will never resort to war unless absolutely necessary.

This situation is particularly prominent in Bolivia. In a sense, East Africa is an aggressor to Bolivia, after all, East Africa was an accomplice of Paraguay in the previous war between Bolivia and Paraguay.

Therefore, if East Africa wants to turn Bolivia into a loyal follower of the United States, like Japan and South Korea in the past, and make Bolivia truly submit, the best way is to tightly bind Bolivia and East Africa economically.

One of the means to promote the eastward shift of Bolivia's economic center is to promote the eastward shift of Bolivia's economic center.

Kouachi said, "Ultimately, it's about getting these South American countries to integrate with the empire's economic system and eventually merge with it."

“By curbing the development of these countries at the economic level, we can then stimulate them to embrace empire in a cultural and ideological way.”

"Countries and powers that follow the empire can enjoy the fruits of its labor, while those that choose to oppose the empire will not achieve the expected development and will have their sense of independence and autonomy undermined."

"Only through this gradual process can South America truly become the empire's most stable and important overseas market."

After listening to Kuyach's words, Val replied in agreement, "Manager, you are right. Compared to other imperialist countries in the world, the Empire's current expansion strategy is indeed more sophisticated."

……

The East African strategy in South America may seem impressive, but it's not really anything new. Spain, Portugal, then Britain and France, and then the United States—their expansion in South America was not much different from that in East Africa.

In Rhine City.

Ernst told Crown Prince Friedrich, "Military and economic expansion are the two most direct ways of expansion. The current expansion model is completely different from that of the 19th century. Solving problems by force alone is unlikely to work unless international opinion is disregarded and the problem is eradicated."

“Take Japan for example. Their expansion methods were extremely crude and could not be sustained at all, which aroused fierce resistance and resentment in the colonies.”

In other words, Japan is actually still following the old ways of Western colonizers before the 20th century, but times have changed now.

Crown Prince Frederick agreed wholeheartedly: "The so-called colonies of the Empire are actually overseas administrative regions of the Empire. They cannot be simply summarized as colonies. By strict standards, the Empire has no colonies in the true sense."

"This is similar to the relationship between Britain and Canada, and Australia, two places that were basically unrelated to colonies. However, this historical trend is clearly not seen in countries like Japan, Germany, and Italy."

The Axis powers in the past were extremely enthusiastic about colonies, but now, apart from Japan, Germany and Italy have no room to maneuver. Germany is limited by geography, while Italy is relatively too weak.

If Germany wanted to expand its colonies, it had to seize European hegemony so that its navy could break free from the blockade of countries like Britain and France. As for the vassal states around Germany, it was difficult for Germany to treat them as colonies.

Although Italy was a great power, its geographical environment was very unfavorable. There were too many powerful countries around it. On land, it bordered Germany and France directly, and in the Mediterranean, it had to face Britain. Other countries in the Mediterranean were also quite powerful, including Spain and the Ottoman Empire, which were not easy to control.

Beyond North Africa lies East Africa, a superpower that makes it difficult for Italy to find room for expansion. For example, at this time in my previous life, Italy would probably have already gone to war with Ethiopia.

However, if Italians knew the details of the war between Italy and Ethiopia in their past lives, they would probably be glad that the war directly turned Italy into a "disgrace to the great powers".

Therefore, the lack of opportunity to compete with the Abyssinian Empire made it difficult for other powers to see Italy's true strength and weaknesses.

At this moment, Ernst suddenly asked, "How is the situation in Spain lately?"

If we were to name any major international events that occurred in 1936, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War would undoubtedly be Ernst's biggest concern.

However, even now, the two factions in Spain have maintained restraint, or rather, are making final preparations for war.

Crown Prince Frederick said calmly, "According to the intelligence services and the Ministry of Defense, the Spanish Civil War is on the verge of breaking out."

"The weapons of both the German and Soviet camps have been basically arranged. It's just a matter of who fires the first shot and completely ignites this powder keg."

The so-called two camps actually only include the extreme nationalist political group in Europe led by Germany, which includes countries such as Germany and Italy. Germany and Italy are the leaders of this camp, followed by a bunch of Eastern European countries.

The Soviet bloc consisted of only the Soviet Union as the governing power, while the other allies were essentially in an "illegal" state. They might have some influence in their respective countries, but they lacked the ability to lead in national affairs.

Ernst said, "In that case, we should also be prepared to make advance investments in Franco's faction after the outbreak of war, as planned."

From beginning to end, Ernst favored the Nationalist faction led by Franco, and therefore, East Africa had already made contact with Franco.

Based on my past experience, this investment is definitely worthwhile.

Ernst said, "Spain has always been an important partner of the Empire in Europe, but we cannot, for that reason, completely ignore Spain's internal affairs."

"We can withhold support from Franco in terms of weapons and equipment, but we can provide some assistance to them in terms of non-sensitive materials. Of course, if both factions take the initiative to purchase weapons and equipment in East Africa, that would be a different story."

Ernst's subtext was also clear: in terms of weapons, although East Africa would not actively sell to Spain, East Africa would not refuse if Spain sent people to purchase them.

East Africa is currently very keen on the arms trade. After all, one of the key development priorities for East Africa during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period was to expand its military. However, once weapons are produced, outdated equipment needs to find a way to go, as simply destroying it would be a luxury and a waste.

When discussing arms deals, Crown Prince Frederick complained, "There are too many competitors in the international arms market now, to the point that the Empire's military exports have also been affected to some extent." "Besides the Empire, the United States and Germany are also major military exporters. Germany is the most prominent in the field of army equipment exports. They previously won large orders from the Far Eastern Empire."

"In South America, German military exports also posed a strong challenge to the Reich and had a high degree of influence over the militaries of various South American countries."

"The United States has a strong industrial base, and its arms sales are more flexible, which allows it to attract customers' attention when it comes to exports."

Many of America's weapons manufacturers are private companies, which makes them more flexible. In fact, they are willing to sell anything as long as the customer can afford it, giving them more room for negotiation.

Germany and the United States are also the biggest competitors in the East African arms market, especially in the competition for the non-colonial market, where the competition among the three countries is particularly fierce.

However, the situation is different when it comes to colonial markets. Crown Prince Frederick noted: "Britain and France, their industries are declining, but their military production capacity remains strong, and they have vast private markets where they can absorb their military production capacity in their colonies and spheres of influence."

The decline in industrial strength of Britain and France does not necessarily mean the decline of their military industries. After all, the decline in military industry capabilities often lags behind that of the market.

Just like the United States in its previous life, even when it was transferring industries, it would keep its military industry in the country and would not transfer its military industry abroad.

Therefore, even in the 21st century, when the United States’ industrial strength declined significantly, its military industry was still able to barely survive until it finally collapsed.

The development of the military industry in Britain and France is now significantly better than that in the United States in the early 21st century.

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States' military industry has come to a complete standstill, with little progress for decades, whereas Britain and France in the early 20th century dared not slack off in their military industries.

The saying "be prepared for danger in times of peace" applies to Britain and France today. In Europe, they face direct threats from the Soviet Union and Germany, while overseas, their colonies require military protection and they must be wary of countries like East Africa, the United States, and Japan.

Therefore, the military industries of Britain and France remained at a passable level, or even excellent. Of course, compared to East Africa, Germany and the United States could not compare.

East Africa, Germany, and the United States are all top scorers. However, getting a perfect score is just the score on the test. In reality, all three countries have their own unique skills in cutting-edge military industries, but they keep them hidden and do not show them.

Crown Prince Frederick said, "Of the five countries, we in East Africa are probably the most well-rounded, while Germany is more specialized, excelling in certain areas."

The so-called German imbalance in East Africa mentioned by Crown Prince Friedrich was only in relation to East Africa. In reality, Germany's weakness in military industry was not particularly prominent compared to other countries, especially after Germany annexed Austria-Hungary.

Germany's military industry today is actually a combination of the former Germany and Austria-Hungary. In terms of scale, only East Africa, the United States, and the Soviet Union can probably compare with it.

These four countries all have populations exceeding 100 million, with East Africa alone having 200 million. Consequently, these four countries possess the most comprehensive industrial systems, a feat unmatched by other countries in the world.

Compared to East Africa and the United States, the biggest disadvantage of Germany and the Soviet Union was their weak naval strength, but this was unavoidable, as their maritime conditions were not as good as those of East Africa and the United States.

Crown Prince Frederick said, "Germany is not so good when it comes to the navy, while Britain can still maintain a first-class level, on par with East Africa and the United States."

Judging from the data on paper alone, the British Navy is still at its zenith, with a huge arsenal and a constant influx of fresh blood.

As rising powers, East Africa and the United States will need time to surpass Britain, especially in terms of naval size. Of course, the United States is not as actively investing in its navy as East Africa is now.

Under Ernst's influence, East Africa has quietly begun a new round of naval competition in preparation for a possible World War II, while the United States is now dominated by isolationism and is not very concerned about international affairs.

"The Empire, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France are the five giants in the international arms market and the five countries with the most advanced military industries."

"Besides the five giants, this does not mean that other military industrial powers are not competitive. For example, Soviet weapons, which mainly rely on price advantages, have developed. Although their weapons are relatively crude, their low prices are still very attractive to some poor and weak countries."

"In this respect, Japan's situation is similar to that of the Soviet Union, and Japan even has lower labor costs. However, Japan's weapons can only be effective in the Far East and cannot even cover other parts of the Pacific."

"Next is Italy. Italy's military industry is very competitive even among second-tier industrial countries, especially its light weapons, which are no worse than those of other countries."

"Besides the major powers, some countries also have good military industries, but their industries are relatively singular, such as Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire, Spain, and Portugal. They have achieved remarkable results in some single fields and have a certain scale of military industrial capabilities."

"And those poor and weak countries have also seen some industrial development in recent years, so they no longer need to rely on imports for all their military products. This has further exacerbated the shrinking of the international arms market."

"There are too many powerful nations and too many industrialized countries in the world, which has led to fierce competition for the international military industry market share. Therefore, to end this situation, we must end the old international order and redistribute the pie."

Crown Prince Frederick's summary makes a lot of sense. The current arms market is in a state of severe "involution," which is itself a manifestation of the multipolarization of the current international landscape.

If we compare the arms market to a big pie, but there are a table of guests scrambling to grab it with knives and forks, then the competition in the arms market is naturally anything but easy.

In my previous life, this problem was resolved after World War II. With the US and the Soviet Union exiting the market, the international arms trade market was dominated by these two entities, forming two major weapons and equipment systems: the US system and the Soviet system. This situation persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States monopolized the international arms trade, and the US military industry was extremely prosperous during that period. This situation continued until the rise of the military industry of the Far Eastern empire.

Therefore, East Africa will definitely have to clear out the current arms trade market in the future. It is foreseeable that countries that have already been eliminated include Britain and France. Now, the only countries that can remain at the table are East Africa, the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and Germany will have to compete to decide who can stay at the table.

Thus, East Africa, the United States, and the Soviet Union (Germany) would most likely be the builders of a new international order, and these three countries would then engage in a new round of competition.

(End of this chapter)