African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1632 The Enemy in East Africa
This is under normal circumstances. If necessary, a Ju52 transport plane can carry a few more people. In addition to German planes, Italy also sent more than a dozen planes to support Franco, and Morocco itself also has some military aircraft.

Therefore, the German and Italian air forces were fully capable of sending the Afrika Korps, personnel and equipment, to wherever Franco wanted to go.

……

End of July 1936.

While the Spanish Civil War raged on, Germany, the main financier of the rebellion, was enjoying a period of peace, prosperity, and celebration.

Berlin, the capital of Germany, is making final preparations for the Olympic Games, an international event symbolizing peace.

More than sixty countries and regions have confirmed their participation in the Berlin Olympics, with five African countries and regions participating for the first time ever: East Africa, the Kingdom of South Germany, Egypt, the Abyssinian Empire, and South Africa.

In the previous Berlin Olympics, only two African countries and regions participated: Egypt and South Africa, both of which were British colonies.

At the newly built Berlin Olympic Stadium, Adolf himself is personally inspecting the construction progress of the venue.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the Berlin Olympic Stadium has been fully completed. It is a super stadium that can accommodate 100,000 spectators and was designed by architects such as Werner Maher."

"It is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including changing rooms, lounges, and a press room, reflecting Germany's care for athletes and spectators..."

Speer, the supervising builder of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, followed behind Adolf, showing him the stadium's various facilities and grand design concepts.

Speer can be considered Adolf's personal architect, as many of Germany's iconic buildings over the years have been completed by him, including Adolf's official residence.

Adolf turned to Speer and said, "Albert, you've done a great job. The construction of the Berlin Olympic Stadium is stunning. I think it will be a testament to the outstanding achievements of our Aryan athletes in the upcoming Olympic Games."

"At the same time, it also allows the world to see the outstanding achievements of Germany in many fields such as architecture, art, and technology."

"The construction of the venues and supporting facilities for this Berlin Olympics proves that you are an outstanding German. After the Olympics, I will entrust you with an important task, which is to transform the entire Berlin into a unique city in the world."

Adolf was not satisfied with Berlin's current urban development. In his view, Berlin lacked artistry and grandeur, falling far short of Paris and Vienna. Berlin's architecture resembled a jumbled pile of disparate pieces.

Therefore, in Adolf's view, Berlin was just a big city, but not a truly world-renowned metropolis.

Speer was thrilled by Adolf's promise. He composed himself and assured him firmly, "Prime Minister, rest assured, Berlin will become the greatest and most artistic city in the world under our leadership, the center of the German nation and even the world."

With Adolf's instructions, the massive project to renovate Berlin might officially begin this year, given the high efficiency of the government led by Adolf.

At the same time, Germany's national strength was unprecedented. After annexing Austria-Hungary, Germany's population exceeded 100 million, its total economic output ranked among the top three in the world, and its industrial strength was unmatched in Europe.

In addition, Germany suffered very little damage after World War I in this timeline, which gave Germany a stronger economic foundation than in the previous life.

Therefore, transforming Berlin is not a major challenge for Germany at present, and Speer hopes to take this opportunity to leave a significant mark on German history.

Just as Adolf and his entourage were immersed in the grandeur of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, his secretary came over and whispered something.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, this is a battle report from Spain. Our planes have arrived at airports such as Melilla and have successfully assisted Franco in sending a portion of his troops to southern Spain."

After carefully reading the document, Adolf nodded in satisfaction and said, "Our air force performed well. They have done a great job this time. Goring will award them medals and bonuses later."

Adolf was generous in praising the air force's outstanding performance. Now that they could airlift Spanish soldiers to the Spanish mainland, they could later deploy imperial troops behind enemy lines to catch the enemy off guard.

At this point, Adolf added, "At the same time, have Göring prepare. The upcoming Spanish war may require the assistance of the Imperial Air Force. The Spanish Labour Party still holds the advantage and controls most of Spain's resources."

"Therefore, Franco and his forces will inevitably lag behind the Madrid Labour Party government in terms of weaponry and equipment. If necessary, we should not only support Franco, but also send troops to personally help him quell the Labour Party regime."

In Adolf's eyes, the current Republican government in Spain is no different from the Labour Party regime, since Adolf's own belief is that it is better to kill a thousand innocent people than to let one guilty person go free.

Since there are Labour Party members in the Spanish Republican government, then this government is no different from the Labour Party, and both are targets that he must eliminate.

"The Air Force must be on standby at all times. Of course, we will not get involved in Spain's affairs during the Berlin Olympics."

"This Games were intended to showcase the Empire's image to the outside world, and at the same time to mislead European countries and make them lower their guard against Germany."

Admittedly, in Adolf's eyes, the other European countries were nothing but a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp, but he was not so arrogant as to think he could take on the whole of Europe by himself.

To achieve his goal of conquering Europe, Adolf had a clear plan in mind: first, to deal with Germany's old rival, France, and then turn to the Soviet Union. By starting with the weak and then moving to the strong, the situation in Europe would be largely settled. Then, Germany would join forces with Britain and other countries to keep the United States and East African countries out and compete with them.

At this time, Adolf still harbored illusions about Britain, after all, Britain was also part of what he considered to be the Aryan people.

Of course, if the French knew what Adolf was thinking, they would probably be furious.

They became easy targets in Adolf's eyes, and indeed they were. Currently, only two countries on the European continent were considered a threat by Adolf: France and the Soviet Union. As for Poland, its strength had been significantly weakened compared to his previous life, and it had now become a subordinate of Germany. Although Adolf looked down on Poland, he wouldn't completely overthrow it simply because of its Slavic heritage. At least, he had no such intention until Germany unified Europe. However, if Germany did unify Europe, that was another story.

Adolf made no attempt to conceal his plans, telling the two men, "The battle in Europe must be swift, and our primary target is France. Once France is dealt with, the Soviet Union will naturally become no longer a match for us."

"Actually, we can't say we're 100% sure about Europe right now, but we have more than a 70% chance of winning. What really worries me is the attitude of the United States and two East African countries."

"However, given the current situation, the United States is not very interested in European affairs; instead, we should be wary of East Africa."

"Intelligence indicates that East Africa has become involved in Spanish affairs, and now East Africa also has economic cooperation with Italy, and its relations with France and the Soviet Union are also ambiguous. This is a very dangerous sign."

After nearly a century of packaging by the United States, most countries do indeed have a more friendly attitude towards the US. In addition, the US news media now likes to portray itself as "gloriously isolated," so in the eyes of many countries, the US really does appear harmless.

East Africa certainly cannot do this, because since its founding, all of its diplomatic and military actions have revealed an extremely exaggerated aggressiveness. Otherwise, East Africa could not have become the world's second largest country by area while also occupying numerous overseas colonies.

Adolf said, "East Africa will inevitably be a major enemy of the empire in the future. Their sphere of influence covers the entire Southern Hemisphere and is too close to Europe. After we unify Europe, we will inevitably have conflicts or even war with East Africa."

East Africa's perceived pressure on Europe on the map is second only to the Soviet Union, but its actual strength far surpasses that of the Soviet Union.

Adolf said, "If East Africa is allowed to extend its reach into North Africa, then the Mediterranean will no longer be dominated by Europe, but will be shared with this behemoth."

"At the same time, they will also pose a great threat to the security of the Mediterranean coast. In addition, East Africa's own advantage in the Indian Ocean is too great, which is something the empire cannot tolerate in the future."

After Germany took control of Europe, its ultimate goal was economic interests, namely trade with other continents. However, South America was controlled by East Africa and the United States, while East Africa also had a strong influence in North and West Africa. East Africa also held an advantage in the Middle East and South Asia. Trade routes between Europe and the Far East markets had to pass through East Africa's sphere of influence.

There is no doubt that Adolf took these issues into account.

“A strong East Africa is one of the greatest threats to Europe, and this threat already exists in reality. The Soviet Union also had the potential to do so, but the Soviet Union is no match for Germany now, and we will not give the Soviet Union that opportunity in the future.”

At this point, the atmosphere at the scene became somewhat tense.

For any country in the early 20th century, East Africa was almost an insurmountable mountain, with virtually no weaknesses and a continuous outward expansion of its reach and influence.

This means that even if Germany had ruled Europe, it would have been very difficult to find a way to deal with East Africa. Dominating Europe would have simply been a ticket to confronting East Africa.

If we set aside issues of bloodline and ideology, East Africa has actually become a more dangerous country than the Soviet Union.

"If no country integrates European resources in the shortest time, East Africa will become increasingly powerful over time, and without any checks and balances, it will eventually completely marginalize Europe."

Europeans love to boast that they are the center of world civilization, but East Africa is currently the country most likely to cause the decline of European economy and industry. After all, the African continent, where East Africa is located, and Europe are geographically connected and competitive.

This could lead to a shift in the center of gravity of the world trade network. When the center of European trade shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, it directly led to the decline of Mediterranean countries such as Venice and allowed countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Britain to rise and become world powers.

This demonstrates the enormous impact of the shift in the center of trade. If trade between the world's continents no longer needs to pass through Europe but instead passes through Africa, then Europe will inevitably fall into decline.

In terms of economic size, East Africa alone can almost rival the whole of Europe. In terms of population, East Africa has a population of up to 200 million. Adding North Africa and West Africa, Africa's population size is now about 70% of Europe's. Moreover, Africa's population growth rate is significantly higher than Europe's.

In terms of area, Europe can't even come close to Africa, unless Asia is included, but Eurasia can't be integrated. In terms of resources, Europe is even worse than East Africa. East Africa is involved in almost all of the world's important oil and gas resources, iron ore and other producing areas, and East Africa itself is a major resource country.

In terms of geographical location, although passageways such as the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, and the Cape of Good Hope were controlled by Britain, East Africa could easily change the ownership of these areas.

In other words, if East Africa and Europe are enemies, East Africa could easily cut off trade between Europe and Asia, Oceania, and threaten its interests in South America.

Europe, on the other hand, finds it difficult to counterbalance East Africa in the global economic landscape. The African continent has relatively convenient access to other parts of the world, at least more convenient than Europe.

Therefore, East Africa has markets, scale, industry, raw materials, military, agriculture, and transportation...

How could Adolf possibly like the existence of such a country? Moreover, trade competition and conflicts between Germany and East Africa have been intensifying in recent years, because German industry is mainly characterized by high-tech and sophisticated industries, and East Africa's industrial upgrading has naturally dealt a huge blow to German companies.

Now, East Africa is also trying to capture more of the European market, which further intensifies its economic competition with Germany.

In terms of global strategy, relations between Germany and East Africa have deteriorated, particularly in the competition between the Middle East and South America. In the Middle East, in order to counterbalance East Africa, Germany supported countries such as the Ottoman Empire and Iran.

In South America, Germany is intensifying its penetration into countries such as Argentina and Brazil, and the geostrategic conflict between the two countries has become particularly evident.

A new battlefield may soon emerge: the Mediterranean region. Germany certainly didn't pay much attention to the Mediterranean region before, since it's not a Mediterranean country. But now Germany has gained access to the Adriatic Sea and has the basic conditions to develop along the Mediterranean coast.

Adolf said, "Right now we have no way to deal with East Africa, but once Europe's strategy is complete, we will become its most direct competitor. Moreover, while we are integrating Europe, East Africa will definitely encroach on more of its territory."

Here, Adolf refers to the overseas colonies of countries such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands. In Adolf's view, these colonies should belong to Germany in the future, so he naturally would not allow East Africa to take advantage of the situation and encroach upon them.

(End of this chapter)