African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1639 The "Troublemaker" Strikes

East African investment in the Western Regions is concentrated in light industry and agriculture, which has indeed promoted local development, but has not had a significant impact on the overall economic structure of the Western Regions.

This system relies almost entirely on East African technology and personnel for operation. Once the East African personnel withdraw, the effectiveness will be greatly reduced. Furthermore, in terms of education and ideology, the Western Regions Province has not implemented corresponding reforms, making it difficult to transform the existing achievements into its own.

This can be seen in the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union implemented its first Five-Year Plan, its industrial development was characterized by chaotic management, serious waste of resources, and low worker quality. However, by the time of the Second Five-Year Plan, the Soviet government and enterprises were much more at ease.

The Soviet Union's industrialization required a long adaptation process, and this was based on the fact that the Soviet Union had a certain industrial base and a relatively well-developed education system. The predicament faced by the Western Regions Province will only be greater than that of the Soviet Union.

However, East Africa itself did not intend to completely change the Western Regions Province, so it is not surprising that the support for the Western Regions Province was only superficial. This was more like a Western Regions version of the "Westernization Movement".

In the future, after East Africa withdraws from the Western Regions, at most it will leave behind a group of experienced workers and a bunch of factories and enterprises that are difficult to operate independently without being reorganized.

However, such a short period of prosperity was quite rare and precious for a northwestern region in the context of the Far Eastern empires of the 20s.

……

1936 10 Month 21 Day.

As East Africa steadily expands its influence and military presence in Europe, Africa, and Asia, this has also touched a nerve with the British.

It can be said that at this stage, the two countries that Britain is most worried about are Germany and East Africa.

Because in 1936, almost all of the political, diplomatic and military actions in East Africa were related to Britain's sphere of influence or areas of interest.

In Europe, East Africans were behind the Spanish Civil War, and Britain itself had significant investments in Spain. At the same time, Britain was also considering East African involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Does this mean that East Africa, Germany, and Italy had reached a tacit agreement?

This is a crucial point: Britain could not tolerate East Africa cooperating with Germany. If East Africa cooperated with Germany, it would inevitably have an "enemy," and the "enemy" that could unite East Africa and Germany would most likely be Britain and France.

This scenario is not impossible. For example, if Germany seeks European interests while East Africa demands British, French, and German overseas colonies, then there would be a basis for cooperation between the two countries in the short term.

In Africa, the opening of the North African Railway and the activities of East Africa in West Africa also posed a threat to British interests in Africa, such as colonies like Egypt and Nigeria.

Finally, in the Asian region, the activities in Gwadar, the Western Provinces, and the South Pacific also alarmed the British government, since these regions almost surrounded British India.

In response, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin convened an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the East African issue.

"Gentlemen, since 1936, our country has experienced a relatively chaotic period, and due to the threat from Germany, the Reich has now neglected international changes in other directions."

The chaos referred to here is the political turmoil in Britain caused at the beginning of the year due to the issue of the throne.

In early 1936, George V died, and Edward ascended the throne as Edward VIII. A few months after his accession, he proposed to American socialite Wallis Simpson, triggering a constitutional crisis.
Britain and the dominions explicitly opposed Edward VIII's move, unable to accept the reality that a woman who had been divorced twice and whose ex-husbands were both still alive would become queen. Ultimately, Edward VIII abdicated, and his throne was inherited by his brother Albert, who became George VI, thus resolving the crisis.

Edward VIII's marriage clashed greatly with British religion, leading to a conflict between the king and the government. This challenged the principle of "constitutional monarchy," had a detrimental effect on the stability of the Commonwealth, and ultimately raised social and moral issues.

Faced with immense pressure from the government, the church, the public, and the entire Commonwealth, Edward VIII had only two choices: either give up his marriage to Wallis Simpson or abdicate.

In conclusion, Edward VIII's abdication caused considerable turmoil in Britain in early 1936, bringing the British government's work to a standstill to some extent and naturally reducing its international attention.

Prime Minister Baldwin stated, "The Empire is now facing unprecedented difficulties, and its global dominance is under tremendous challenge. Our Cabinet must shoulder this responsibility and help the Empire overcome this crisis."

"In 1936 we were on guard against countries like Germany and Italy, but we overlooked the actions in East Africa, which had quietly completed its strategic encirclement of the empire in 1936."

"From the Gulf of Dahra in West Africa to Togoland, then to the port of Benghazi in North Africa, to Spain and Dalmatia in Europe, and then to the Persian Gulf, Gwadar and the Far East, East Africans can be seen everywhere."

"The East African military is accelerating the construction of a powerful overseas military system, building a powerful region of influence spanning three continents: Eurasia and Africa, through the continuous construction of ports, airports and military bases."

“East Africa, especially along the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean coasts, has become one of the most significant potential threats to British overseas interests.”

"If East Africa continues to collude with other countries, it will undoubtedly be a terrible disaster for the world system established by the empire."

"If we cannot figure out what East Africa is really thinking, we may lose India, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand... regions where British interests are closely intertwined."

British Colonial Secretary William Ormsby-Gore then said: "I agree with His Excellency the Prime Minister's assessment that, arguably, the worst strategic mistake Britain made throughout the 19th century was ignoring the rise of East Africa."

"Without East Africa, Britain would undoubtedly be the most influential and largest colonial power in Africa, instead of having a behemoth in Africa that threatens its imperial hegemony."

"Moreover, East Africa's growth rate is too astonishing. Its ambitions are no longer limited to the African continent, but are spreading to South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania."

"These regions are all core areas of British interests. Our interests in South America have already been taken away by East Africa and the United States, and our interests in Europe are facing a severe challenge from Germany. During the World War, East Africa was also an important factor that prevented us from completely suppressing Germany."

"In the Indian Ocean direction, East Africa poses a direct threat to us. Countries and regions such as India, Australia, and Persia all face military threats from East Africa."

Marquis Zetland, the Indian Affairs Minister, was well aware of this point. He told his cabinet members, “Over the past two decades, East Africa has built an encirclement of India. To the east, they have the Phuket military base; to the west, the Gwadar military base; and to the north, their reach extends into the western regions of the Far Eastern Empire, Afghanistan, and Sikkim.”

"This means that as long as we are at odds with East Africa, East Africa is fully capable of severing India's connection with the mainland in a short period of time, causing us to lose India, the most core colony of our empire, forever..."

Following the accounts of the two colonial secretaries, other members of the British cabinet also analyzed East Africa, ultimately concluding with great sadness that Britain had no way to deal with it. Prime Minister Baldwin said with a wry smile, "As early as the end of the 19th century, we had already anticipated that we could not contain the development of East Africa, but we could not have imagined that East Africa would develop so rapidly in the early 20th century."

"This overseas monster can be said to have been left to fester by our own hands, but it's too late to hold anyone accountable now."

Since the end of the South African war, Britain has been very clear that it can no longer restrict the development of East Africa. In fact, Britain has no one to use as a pawn to contain the development of East Africa.

Even Britain couldn't deal with East Africa the way it did with the United States. At least the United States had Mexico, a hopeless case, in its vicinity, and Brazil and Argentina, countries of barely passable size, in South America.

There wasn't a single decent country next to East Africa, so Britain would never consider Egypt, and South Africa became a pawn in its confrontation with East Africa.

Prime Minister Baldwin said helplessly, "Our diplomacy with East Africa can only be passive, and we can't even afford to offend East Africa. The fact that East Africa is still able to maintain restraint is already the best outcome for us. If it were a country like Germany, they might have already uprooted our overseas interests."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Chamberlain then spoke up, saying, "Even so, we cannot simply sit idly by and do nothing in dealing with the East African problem."

"The task for Britain now should be to prevent us from being dragged into a war, and to prevent a major war against Britain from breaking out in either Europe or Asia."

For Britain in 1936, all activities now revolved around two points: trying to maintain its vast global empire and avoiding involvement in a large-scale war in Europe and Asia.

Chamberlain continued, "Our dominance in the world is no longer secure; we are completely at the mercy of other countries, especially Germany and East Africa."

"If either of these two countries were to launch a war against Britain, Britain would inevitably and completely decline and relinquish its dominion over the world."

"Therefore, to avoid this situation, it is best to keep Britain completely out of the picture and preserve our interests as much as possible."

These are clearly discouraging words, and they also demonstrate Britain's current loss of influence in the world order.

"Not to mention East Africa and Germany, even the Soviet Union, the United States and Japan are not countries that Britain can handle right now."

"Our work should shift to stirring up conflicts and disputes among these countries, so that they will ignore Britain. At the same time, we should bring France into the picture. France faces the same predicament as us, so the two countries should be more aligned in their foreign policies and stick together for mutual support."

Prime Minister Baldwin affirmed Chamberlain's suggestion, saying, "Since we cannot contain East Africa, we should at least divert their attention, or at least prevent them from focusing all their attention on Britain."

"So in order to achieve this, I think the Empire's diplomatic work in East Africa should proceed as follows: in South America, sow discord between East Africa and the United States; in Europe, exacerbate the conflict between them and Germany; in the Middle East, let the Soviet Union compete with East Africa; and in the Far East, let Japan confront East Africa."

"This strategy also applies to other countries, such as instigating conflicts between the United States and Japan, East Africa, and the Soviet Union."

"To sow discord between Japan and the Soviet Union, the United States, and East Africa."

"To sow discord between Germany and the Soviet Union, and between East Africa."

"To sow discord between the Soviet Union and Germany, East Africa, the United States, and Japan."

"Only by creating chaos in five countries—Germany, East Africa, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Japan—can Britain remain uninvolved."

As a world-renowned troublemaker, Britain continues to disgust everyone with its foreign policy.

Chamberlain expressed his support for Prime Minister Baldwin's strategy, saying, "It would be most beneficial for Britain to exacerbate the conflicts between these five countries, which are also the five major threats to Britain."

Germany threatened British interests in Europe, which were Britain's most core interests and concerned the very survival of the British mainland.

Then there was the Soviet Union, whose threat to Britain, or more accurately, to the British upper class, was even greater than that to Germany.

East Africa was the biggest threat to British overseas interests, with more than half of Britain's overseas colonies facing the threat from East Africa.

Then there is Japan, which is currently the main disruptor of British interests in the Far East.

Finally, there is the United States. Compared to other countries, the United States undoubtedly poses the least threat to Britain, and to some extent, it is Britain's only partner. If Britain's decline is inevitable, then exchanging interests with the United States is Britain's only option to preserve its interests as much as possible.

Prime Minister Baldwin said: "Germany, East Africa, Japan and the Soviet Union are the four countries that Britain will focus on in its foreign policy, especially in stirring up conflicts between them."

"Letting Germany and the Soviet Union confront each other can relieve our pressure in Europe, while letting other countries and East Africa have conflicts can stabilize our interests in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Finally, there's Japan; we need to exacerbate the conflict between the United States and Japan first."

"We shouldn't let Japan and the Soviet Union clash first. The Soviet Union's main task right now should be dealing with Germany first, since Germany is still somewhat stronger than the Soviet Union..."

In Prime Minister Baldwin's view, it would be most advantageous for Britain if Germany and the Soviet Union could weaken each other first; otherwise, if Germany dealt with Western Europe first, Britain's other strategic directions would be out of the question.

At that time, the only question Britain had to consider was whether it could survive Germany's war against Western Europe.

Therefore, given that it was clear the Adolf government would inevitably launch a war, prioritizing the instigation of conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union became the top priority. In this situation, the Soviet Union could not be weakened too much, since it was already far behind Germany.

Therefore, before Germany and the Soviet Union went to war, the ideal situation for Britain was that Japan would not cooperate with Germany in launching an attack on the Soviet Union in the east.

Once the Soviet Union and Germany are nearly exhausted, Britain can bring in France to re-establish their dominance in European affairs and then leverage the power of the whole of Europe to maintain their overseas interests.

(End of this chapter)