African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1749 The Soviet Union and Germany Go to War

This is similar to the trains that transported coal from the north to the south in the previous life, which would then carry water on the return trip. Carrying water certainly wouldn't allow the coal trains to break even, but it was still better than running empty on the way back.

East Africa does not have much demand for the products of the Far Eastern Empire. For example, tung oil, pig bristles and tungsten are the most competitive export products of the Far Eastern Empire at present, but the production of these products is relatively limited and it is difficult to support large-scale freight.

As an agricultural country, the Far Eastern Empire could only export large quantities of agricultural products and handicrafts, such as tea, cotton, grain, and silk.

But to put it bluntly, a large portion of East Africa is self-sufficient and also exports.

For example, East Africa is one of the world's three major tea-producing regions. Even when tea is imported from the Far East, it is to obtain more flavors and meet the needs of certain groups of people.

Not to mention cotton and grain, East Africa no longer imports them from the Far Eastern Empire; on the contrary, it exports them to the Far Eastern Empire, since many of the Far Eastern Empire's cotton and grain producing areas have already fallen into enemy hands.

Silk is quite unique compared to cotton and grain, mainly serving the mid-to-high-end consumer market, and its production is also relatively limited. However, before the war, and even until Japan completely blockaded the coast of the Far Eastern Empire, the Far Eastern Empire was a major producer of imported raw silk and silk from East Africa.

Meanwhile, the two core raw silk producing areas of the Far Eastern Empire, namely the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, have had their sea outlets cut off and are under strict control by the enemy.

Fortunately, the raw silk production areas in the Sichuan Basin were not affected, and are now an important source of foreign exchange income for the Chongqing government.

However, the problem is also obvious: due to its location deep inland, it is extremely difficult to transport the local raw silk and finished silk products out of the area.

Previously, the Far Eastern Empire exported goods through two routes: the southwest and the northwest. The southwest route is easy to understand; it involved going through Burma and then exporting to Europe and America.

The Northwest Route wasn't just about East Africa; the Soviet Union also accounted for a significant share. In fact, due to geographical and climatic reasons, the Soviet Union had an even stronger demand for raw silk from the Far Eastern Empire.

East Africa is capable of developing a complete raw silk industry on its own, from breeding to processing and finally to finished products. East Africa can be self-reliant in every link, but it is unwilling to put in the effort, so the scale is relatively small.

Given the climate of the Soviet Union, even raising silkworms was a major problem. Of course, it wasn't entirely impossible to raise silkworms in the Soviet Union; for example, it was possible in some relatively mild climates such as the Caucasus and Central Asia.

However, this did not change anything. Silk remained an extremely scarce high-end textile in the Soviet Union, and the domestic industry was heavily reliant on state subsidies to survive.

Moreover, raw silk was only a minor issue for the Soviet Union. After all, the Soviet Union was not yet able to achieve complete self-sufficiency in cotton, a more important raw material for the textile industry, even after it had already invested a great deal of effort in cotton cultivation.

In the 1920s, Soviet cotton production was extremely low, with domestic cotton production only meeting about 10 percent of the country's needs. In the 1930s, Joseph proposed a "cotton self-sufficiency" strategy, designating Central Asia as a cotton production base and forcibly expanding the planting area through collective farms and mandatory plans.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was building large-scale irrigation systems and promoting agricultural mechanization in Central Asia, as well as cultivating cotton varieties suitable for the Central Asian climate.

The Soviet Union utilized the water resources of the arid Central Asian region to the fullest extent, which allowed its cotton production to exceed 2.5 million tons, barely meeting the minimum standard of self-sufficiency.

Even cotton, the most basic raw material for the textile industry, was only recently initially resolved by the Soviet Union, let alone raw silk, a high-end raw material for the textile industry that was not urgently needed.

Therefore, silk was an extremely sought-after imported commodity in the Soviet Union, while East Africa and Western countries did not have this concern.

Therefore, a large portion of the Far Eastern Empire's silk exports were supplied to the Soviet Union in exchange for urgently needed supplies.

Now that the Central Asian Highway has been opened, East Africa will increase its imports of raw silk from the Far Eastern Empire. However, unlike the Soviet Union, East Africa is supporting the Far Eastern Empire's war through trade, rather than because East Africa actually needs the relevant goods.

……

East Africa's plan to use the Central Asian Highway for immigration is rather unusual, given that East Africa had previously reached an agreement with Japan that would no longer restrict immigration from the Far Eastern Empire to East Africa.

In other words, East Africa can continue to receive large-scale migrants from the Far East via sea routes.

As for why the East African government would use the Central Asian Highway for immigration at this time, in addition to the reasons mentioned earlier, it was also related to relieving pressure from the Far Eastern Empire.

Consul General Eborn mentioned: "In the past three years, your country has experienced a large number of refugees due to war and disasters. They have fled from the east to the rear of your country."

"This is also a burden for the Far Eastern Empire, so we are now absorbing your country's disaster victims through the Central Asian Highway and then emigrating them overseas, which can also alleviate your pressure."

The natural and man-made disasters of the Far Eastern Empire resulted in a large number of refugees in the east. First, there was the war, which caused a large number of people to flee. Then there were various natural disasters. Finally, there were problems within the Far Eastern Empire government itself. For example, the Huaihai region was artificially created as a large area of ​​Yellow River flooding due to the decisions made by the Far Eastern Empire government.

Therefore, Consul General Eborn's words made Commissioner Short feel somewhat embarrassed and awkward, but he had to pretend to be extremely grateful to East Africa.

After all, the influx of immigrants into East Africa from the Far East can indeed greatly alleviate the pressure on the Far Eastern Empire government. Those refugees who fled to the rear have no land or assets, and even food is a problem for them.

If people can't get enough to eat, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble. Now that East Africa is sending some people to West Africa, the Far Eastern Empire government is naturally happy to see it happen.

Commissioner Xiao understood this as well, and he said to Consul General Eiborn, "Consul General Eiborn, rest assured, our government will cooperate with the Rhine Empire on the issue of immigration."

As the two were talking, the first caravan to arrive in Shule had already left the port and continued towards the eastern part of the Far Eastern Empire.

The final destination of this batch of supplies was Baoji in the Far East Empire, which is now one of the most important railway hubs in the Far East Empire's rear.

In Baoji, these supplies can be transported along the Longhai Railway to Guanzhong and the Luoyang Basin, or southward via the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway to the southwest.

In other words, Baoji has in fact become the most important transportation hub for the two rear areas of the Far Eastern Empire in the northwest and southwest. This also takes into account that Baoji itself has become the most important aviation hub of the Far Eastern Empire.

It is clear to the naked eye how much trouble the supplies from the Central Asia Highway will cause Japan in the future.

However, the East African government is no longer too concerned about this issue, since Japan has already launched a war in Southeast Asia.

Furthermore, with the opening of the Central Asian Highway, the Far Eastern Empire received stronger external aid, increasing Japan's military pressure. This meant Japan would feel a greater sense of urgency, potentially accelerating its eventual all-or-nothing confrontation with East Africa—a scenario East Africa desired. ...

1939 6 Month 19 Day.

A shocking piece of news suddenly arrived: on this day, the Soviet Union officially declared war on Germany! In Moscow, Joseph addressed the nation in an extremely solemn tone via Soviet state radio.

"Since 1929, the capitalist world has experienced the most severe economic crisis in its history, a crisis that has nearly destroyed the economy and order of the capitalist world..."

"Against this backdrop, some capitalist countries underwent extreme alienation, embarking on the path of extreme nationalism and militarism, the most typical examples being Germany and its ally Japan!"

“From the moment they were born, they harbored a strong ambition for territorial expansion and spread extreme racial rhetoric, making them a cancer on the entire world.”

"They attempt to divert class contradictions within their own country through war and shift these contradictions onto other countries and nations, thereby concealing the contradictions and conflicts between their own ruling class and the lower classes."

"At the same time, the Axis powers harbored serious hostility toward our great motherland. They wanted to disrupt the Soviet Union's peace and development, imposed a severe blockade and economic suppression on our motherland, and also bloodily suppressed our comrades in the international arena within their own borders."

"Imperialism has never given up its desire to destroy us, and the tipping point was the Nomonhan Incident. The outbreak of this war has shown that the claws of imperialism have unscrupulously reached into the head of our great motherland."

"Enough is enough! Therefore, in order to defend our great motherland, uphold the common ideals of the people of the world, and maintain world peace, we must take up arms, say no to the enemy, and completely shatter their illusions of defeating our great motherland!"

Joseph then focused on the harm the Axis powers posed to the Soviet Union, as well as the various real contradictions and conflicts between the Axis powers and the Soviet Union in recent years.

For example, the economic sanctions and blockade imposed on the Soviet Union by the Axis powers, led by Germany, the provocations on the border, and the ideological slander and suppression of the Soviet Union by Germany and other countries.

Finally, it directly named the Nomonhan Incident as the beginning of imperialism's plan to destroy the Soviet Union, therefore, this war was inevitable for the Soviet Union.

Of course, since the Soviet Union was going to war with the Axis powers, it naturally had to mention two "allies," namely Britain and France.

After all, Britain and France are also members of the capitalist world. Now that the Soviet Union has formed a temporary alliance with the two countries due to the war, it naturally has to persuade its own people.

Joseph explained: "The Axis powers are the common enemy of all mankind, and they have become a terrifying military bloc. Therefore, the Soviet Union must unite all available forces and prioritize eliminating this formidable enemy, the Axis powers..."

The topic of the Soviet Union declaring war on the Axis powers quickly caused a huge uproar around the world.

On the same day Joseph delivered his speech, Soviet troops crossed the border and launched a war against the Axis powers in Europe. The Soviet Union's priority was the West, namely Germany, Poland, and western Ukraine, the three Axis members that directly bordered the Soviet Union.

As for the Ottoman Empire in the south, the Soviet Union did not take any action. Although the Soviet Union had completely broken ties with the Axis powers, it did not immediately define all Axis powers as enemies of the Soviet Union.

This included Bulgaria, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire, which the Soviet Union hoped would not side with Germany.

The Ottoman Empire did indeed hold similar views. Although they were hostile to the Soviet Union, the Ottoman Empire wanted to wait and see.

If Germany gains the upper hand in the subsequent war against the Soviet Union, the Ottoman Empire will naturally side with Germany; if the Soviet Union gains the upper hand, it will remain inactive and maintain de facto "neutrality" like Spain.

Besides the south, there was also Finland in the north of the Soviet Union, which was hostile to the Soviet Union. However, Finland was not actually a member of the Axis powers. As long as the Soviet Union did not directly wage war against Finland, Finland naturally did not want to get involved in the war between the Soviet Union and Germany.

Thus, for a time, the battlefields between the Soviet Union and Germany were mainly concentrated in three places: Poland, Lithuania, and western Ukraine.

These three countries also happened to be the most hostile to the Soviet Union, even more so than Germany.

When the Soviet Union crossed the border and launched an attack on them, the governments of these three countries were not afraid, but rather very excited.

The Soviet Union's war against them meant that Germany could no longer find a reason or opportunity to postpone the war against the Soviet Union.

Their allegiance to Germany stemmed from their hope that Germany would annihilate the "evil" Soviet regime and achieve the "restoration" or expansion of their respective territories.

For example, Western Ukraine naturally wanted to rule the entire Ukrainian region, and Poland had similar ideas. As for Lithuania, it simply hoped to get rid of Soviet influence. Of course, it would be even better if the Soviet Union could be defeated by Germany.

Under these circumstances, several Axis powers bordering the Soviet Union on the European continent almost united in their hatred of the enemy and cooperated with the German army to launch a counterattack against the Soviet Union.

Although the Soviet Union had the advantage of striking first, these countries had a very strong will to resist, and as the Soviet Union's neighbors, they had invested a lot in the eastern defense line over the years.

Thus, with the German army in charge and the Axis powers cooperating, the Soviet Union took the initiative in Eastern Europe, but did not gain the upper hand. Instead, it was temporarily locked in a stalemate with Germany on the border.

The two sides are temporarily locked in a standoff near the border, focusing on their respective defense systems.

Because of the Soviet Union's sudden declaration of war, Germany's frontline troops were caught off guard and had no plan to attack the Soviet Union.

The Adolf government originally assumed that the Soviet Union would not dare to attack Germany at this time, so it focused on defense in Eastern Europe and concentrated its efforts on dealing with France and Britain.

Now that the Soviet Union has suddenly started the war, even if we want to retaliate and launch an offensive against the Soviet Union, mobilization and troop deployment will take some time.

However, the German and Axis forces on the front lines were able to withstand Soviet pressure, and the defensive line remained extremely solid.

Therefore, despite learning that the Soviet army had launched the war ahead of schedule, Berlin did not panic. Adolf calmly began to deploy the German army's mission to fight against the Soviet Union.

On the contrary, in the Western European theater, due to the influence of the Soviet Union, Adolf decided to accelerate the offensive against Western Europe, eliminate the threats from France and Britain as soon as possible, and then turn his guns on the Soviets with all his might.

(End of this chapter)