Chapter 1056: Germany takes the lead

Chapter 1056: Germany takes the lead

East Africa's support for the Ottoman Empire and Persia is relatively simple and direct, that is, to help the two countries, especially the Ottoman Empire, build certain military capabilities.

The Ottoman Empire, which once dominated Europe and Asia, is not bad in military terms even now. It can actually manufacture all kinds of mainstream military weapons in the world, which is the same as the Far East Empire.

After all, the Ottoman Empire has a population of only more than 30 million. If its military capabilities are not good, it would have been eaten alive by Tsarist Russia or the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The fact is that the Ottoman Empire dragged its ancient body to fight Tsarist Russia for hundreds of years, and its exchanges with European countries have never been interrupted. The reason why the Ottoman Empire has difficulty in making achievements is that the establishment of a modern industrial system is slow, which is a common problem for many traditional ancient countries.

"Constantinople, Istanbul of the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire is located at the junction of the Eurasian continent, so it has frequent cultural, political and economic exchanges with Europe. For various reasons, when Europe was rapidly industrializing, the Ottoman Empire's ships were too big to turn around, but it did not hinder the prosperity of Constantinople at all." Moslade, the head of the East African mission, stood on the bow and looked at Constantinople.

The Ottoman Empire was considered a half-European country, especially when its capital was still Constantinople, the whole Constantinople was not inferior to other European cities in all aspects.

Of course, it would not be the case if you go deep into the entire Ottoman Empire, because the capital is not representative. The capitals of African countries in the past were also beautifully built, but it is not an exaggeration to say that walking out of the capital is actually a whole rural area.

And Constantinople is the core of the Ottoman Empire and is at the forefront of exchanges with the Western world. There is no lack of some characteristics of industrial civilization here, and many modern things have been applied in urban construction.

Of course, Moslade did not come here to appreciate the beauty of Constantinople. Constantinople's location can be said to be quite advantageous, but with the threat of war, Tsarist Russia and the countries on the Balkan Peninsula are eyeing it covetously.

Moslade's deputy Hans introduced to him: "The Germans have had a close relationship with the Ottoman Empire in the past few years. For various reasons, Germany hopes to support the Ottoman Empire as its potential ally. Through commercial and military cooperation, Germany's influence in the Ottoman Empire is increasing day by day. The Austro-Hungarian Empire also has frequent economic exchanges with the Ottoman Empire. It is one of the main markets for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's industry, and the Ottoman Empire is also one of my country's major trading countries. In the past, a large part of my country's black slaves were sold to the Ottoman Empire."

Moslade: "In this way, the Ottoman Empire has close ties with us, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the relationship between East Africa and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire involves more economic aspects."

Hans: "Yes, The Ottoman Empire's territory covers North Africa, the Red Sea coast, a small part of Europe and many areas in Asia. It has the foundation of a great power, and it is a natural commercial power in terms of geographical location. European countries have a certain degree of commercial exchanges with the Ottoman Empire. "

"However, the internal problems of the Ottoman Empire are very prominent. Today, the power of the Ottoman Sultan is almost hollowed out. The forces within the Ottoman Empire are complex, especially in many areas. There is a risk of division or invasion. For example, the Ottoman Empire's territory in North Africa is inconvenient to communicate with the Ottoman Empire because of Egypt's independence. In addition, with the instigation of France, the Ottoman Empire's rule in the local area is actually in name only. "

The situation of the Ottoman Empire in this life is slightly better, at least the land area is slightly larger than before.

Because Italy has not completed its unification, Italy did not erode the Ottoman Empire's North African territory like in the previous life, but in this way, the baton was passed to the French. France used Tunisia as a springboard to continuously infiltrate the Libyan region of the Ottoman Empire.

France has always attached great importance to North Africa, even more than West Africa. If it can establish effective rule in North Africa, it will be of great benefit to France's Mediterranean strategy. Therefore, when there is no unified Italy as a competitor, France plays the role of Italy in the past.

As for the Libyan issue and other influences, the Ottoman Empire and France have a very bad relationship, which further strengthens the cooperation between the Ottoman Empire and Germany.

Hans: "Germany helped the Ottoman Empire to build factories, military facilities, and train troops. Our mission this time is to cooperate with the Ottoman Empire on this basis, so we need to get in touch with the Germans in advance."

The East African government's support for the Ottoman Empire this time is still mainly based on Germany. On the one hand, East Africa is not really helping the Ottoman Empire to build, but just to use the Ottoman Empire to threaten Britain and Tsarist Russia, so as to gain influence in the Middle East, especially along the Persian Gulf.

The territory of the Ottoman Empire extends all the way to the Persian Gulf. It is a major country along the Persian Gulf. Iraq and Kuwait are both core territories of the Ottoman Empire.

On the other hand, Ernst hopes to strengthen the Ottoman Empire, so that Germany will expand in the future, and eventually trigger a war on the European continent.

In the previous world war, at least before the war, the three Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy faced the Allied Powers led by Britain, France and Russia. At least the number of powers was similar. Now Italy is just a regional regime, not a power, and because of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is impossible for it to join the Allied Powers, even temporarily.

As a result, Germany lacks allies on the European continent. If it relies on Austria-Hungary alone, the two countries may not dare to start a war.

Although Italy was a traitor in the past, as a great power, even the weakest one, it is a kind of psychological comfort for Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Without Italy, Germany will inevitably support new forces in European countries to help Germany seize European hegemony. As far as East Africa is concerned, Romania, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire are all objects that Germany is more concerned about.

In fact, if William II had been more honest and did not threaten Britain's maritime hegemony, Germany would not have fallen into such a bad diplomatic dilemma.

Britain is happy to fight between Germany and France. If Britain did not participate, the war would not have started, and at most it would have developed into an enhanced version of the "Franco-Prussian War".

In fact, at present, Britain's emotions towards Germany are more complicated, because the core of Britain's foreign policy is continental balance, and it is naturally best not to end it directly.

However, Germany's vigorous development of the navy violated the bottom line of the British. In addition, the growth of Germany's industrial strength posed a huge threat to British industry. Various factors have made Germany the number one target of suppression by Britain.

Of course, any of the most powerful countries on the European continent will become the primary target of suppression by Britain. Russia has lost face because of the Russo-Japanese War, and France is far less powerful than Germany. Therefore, Germany is currently the most powerful country on the European continent, so Britain will inevitably try its best to weaken Germany to a certain extent, so as to maintain the balance of the entire European continent.

Therefore, the key to the outbreak of World War I was Germany. Germany's "arrogance" before World War I led to the formation of a huge "anti-German alliance" in Europe.