Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 120: Will Britain, Prussia, Holland and Portugal divide Zimbabwe?

Portugal has long had colonial presence in Mozambique and Angola.

For more than 100 years, a systematic colonial management system has been formed here.

Angola, in particular, is also the base of exchanges between Portugal and Brazil.

Therefore, Portugal has actually been longing for South Africa for a long time and has great ambitions.

However, there was the Netherlands who was not weaker than them, and even stronger than them.

Then came the British, which made Portugal's desire to dominate southern Africa never come true.

As a result, Lisbon changed its focus and gave up its extravagant hope of controlling the sea channel at the Cape of Good Hope. Instead, it wanted to open up the land channel between Mozambique and Angola in order to avoid British surveillance.

In particular, they want to use the Zambezi River, which runs from east to west, as a link between Mozambique and Angola, taking advantage of the geographical convenience.

But the prerequisite is that the Kingdom of Portugal needs to capture Rhodesia between these two places (Zambia in the north + Zimbabwe in the south).

However, Rhodesia is not so easy to get, because the southern part of Rhodesia is close to the former Transvaal Republic and is called Southern Rhodesia.

The Transvaal Republic has always been very wary of Portugal, fearing that Portugal would cooperate with the British to encircle and suppress them. Therefore, Portugal has never dared to move, for fear of attracting these desperate Dutch people to attack Portugal's Mozambique.

So there was Rhodesia, which grew wildly and freely for decades.

Except for the natives, the place became ownerless.

They originally thought that the Transvaal Republic would finally be disbanded, and they wanted to take advantage of the fact that Britain had not yet freed up its hands to strike first like other countries. However, what Portugal did not expect was that the Netherlands would be so cunning and leave. The route turned out to be so tricky.

It turned out that when the Dutch left, the old, weak, sick, disabled, etc., along with part of the army, were all moved away from the place along the normal route. The leader was George Nash, the leader of the Orange Free State.

But there was another force, more than [-] soldiers, who crossed the northern border of the Transvaal Republic and went north from Southern Rhodesia. After reaching the Zambezi River, some of them quietly went north.

Then they began to fully occupy Northern Rhodesia, north of the Zambezi River, and established a new military residence in Lusaka to form a military base.

Malamba in the southwest has fully constructed a defense system, making it difficult for opponents to easily face the threat of the powerful Dutch garrison after crossing Zambezi.

He took root in Northern Rhodesia and quickly conquered the local indigenous people. It turned out that the leader of the team this time was none other than Martinas, the new deputy minister of army of the Netherlands and the former leader of the Transvaal Republic.

Martinas' reputation resounds throughout Central and South Africa, especially as he has raised the anti-British banner in South Africa in recent years. Therefore, he is vaguely the famous person that the native Africans want to make friends with. One of the characters.

They were very familiar with his ferocity, so as soon as he arrived in Northern Rhodesia, all the local indigenous people did not dare to resist at all, not to mention that he was accompanied by [-] fully armed Transvaal troops.

In addition, he actually left a large team stationed in Chinoy, a town in the northern part of Southern Rhodesia south of the Zambezi River.

By this time, both Portugal, Prussia and the United Kingdom had understood the Netherlands' purpose.

It turns out that the Netherlands actually wanted to take over Congo, Northern Rhodesia, Tanzania and Kenya. The purpose was the same as Portugal, which wanted to cut off the entire Africa. Unfortunately, Portugal fell into the hands of the Netherlands because of Northern Rhodesia. , so the idea was given up.Therefore, we can only look southward and prepare for the idea of ​​​​others eating meat and drinking soup, but it is also unlucky.

Because, when it was preparing to march west from the south, it encountered the oncoming Prussian and British troops, plus the Dutch Transvaal Army from the north. The four armies from all directions met in Salisbury. .

Prussia occupied Bulawayo, the British occupied Gwanda and Masvingo, Portugal occupied Mutare, Harare and Bindura from south to north, and the Netherlands occupied Chinoi and Victoria Falls. city.

The armies of the four countries all have ambitions to occupy the central town of Kuilu in the middle, but they have not taken the first action because if they do, they are afraid of attracting a joint attack from the other three parties.

As a result, the situation was settled.

Southern Africa is in full swing, and Central Africa is not giving up.

After the Austrian Empire occupied Nigeria, it saw that Prussia was not satisfied after occupying Cameroon. It even took over Somalia and Namicia one after another. It even now confronts the British in Bechuanaland, and in the western and southern parts of Southern Rhodesia. Britain in the east, Portugal in the east and the Netherlands in the north.

The four countries also carved up new colonies in Northern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Their emperor Franz Joseph I was naturally dissatisfied with this, because in his opinion, he could lose to anyone, but he couldn't. Lost to Prussia.

As a result, the situation in Central Africa began to undergo major changes.

The Austrian Empire suddenly increased its troops in Nigeria to 5, leaving 1 permanently resident in Ikeja in the west and 1 outside Port Harcourt in the southeast. The remaining [-] were deployed in Abuja, where the central government headquarters is located.

Of the remaining [-], [-] went west. In just one month, they captured Benin in the west and occupied Cotonou.

The other 1 people marched north towards Niger, but they encountered two old rivals.

It turned out that the French and Italians had already started taking action there.

Even the towns of Niamey, Tahoua and Agadez in northwestern Niger have been taken south by the French Empire from occupied Mali and Algeria.

In the northeast, including the Jado Plateau and the Kawar Oasis, they all fell into the hands of the Kingdom of Italy, which occupied Libya.

However, Austria still occupied Zinder in the south and moved all the way east to the northern part of Lake Chad.

The Three Kingdoms have demarcated their territories in Niger by default. Everyone has a tacit understanding, and not even a single bullet was wasted.

However, in the south, Austria will not be polite.

The Austrian Empire has long known that the Prussian army in Cameroon has 2 troops stationed, but the Austrian army here has 5 troops. The huge disparity makes the Austrian Empire feel arrogant, and some do not take the Prussian army in their eyes.
Therefore, conflicts often arise in the border towns of both sides, such as Laro and Concha, especially in the huge deep forest of Fogel Peak that straddles the two places. Soldiers from the two countries often die inexplicably, so both countries accuse the other party of being murderer.

The disputes between the two countries on the African border have been fed back to the German Confederation Parliament many times, where the two German Confederations often quarreled, and their respective allies cheered vigorously for their allies.

Their tensions in Africa are like adding fuel to the fire, attracting everyone's thoughts on the European continent, and the fighting within the German Confederation has also triggered pessimistic thoughts among various member states about the future of the German Confederation. .

In short, everything that is happening in Africa now has a spillover effect on the European continent and has a profound impact on the European pattern.

(End of this chapter)