Chapter 1057: Arms business first
In Ernst's view, Germany's diplomatic form should not be like this. Although Germany is currently the most powerful country on the European continent, it does not have an absolute advantage over France and Russia. At least this is the common concept among European countries. .
As far as France is concerned, although French industry and population have been far behind Germany, France's military strength has been growing rapidly over the years. It can be said that the French army is completely prepared for Germany, both in quantity and quality. Not inferior to Germany.
Before the outbreak of World War I in the previous life, France declared that it had the strongest army in Europe. After the outbreak of World War I, the performance of the French Army was indeed impressive.
Therefore, France alone is not a hard nut that Germany can easily chew off. If Britain and Russia are added to it, Germany will eventually be surrounded and suppressed by the Allied Powers.
Of course, the poor quality of Germany's allies was also the main reason. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was in a mess, and its military actions were completely inconsistent with its status as a traditional European power. And Italy, a young kid, jumped directly to the Allied camp before the war started.
All in all, the current development of the world situation has completely separated from Ernst's judgment. In the absence of Italy, whether Germany can launch a war is a question.
Of course, due to its own development needs, East Africa naturally hopes that European countries will fight hard. No matter which side wins, East Africa will gain a lot of benefits. It is estimated that the United States has a similar idea.
The key to the outbreak of World War I was Germany. In order for this war to break out, Germany must be strengthened, allowing it to expand and eventually detonate the entire Europe.
Therefore, helping Germany control the Ottoman Empire is just a matter of convenience for East Africa. In order not to disrupt Germany's layout, East Africa must rely on Germany to act in the Ottoman Empire.
In January 1908, the East African diplomatic mission formally communicated with German diplomats in the Ottoman Empire. Germany responded positively to the "gift package" sent by East Africa.
After all, the main purpose of this action in East Africa is to cause trouble for Britain and Russia, and the two countries also have a certain consensus on supporting the Ottoman Empire.
With Germany acting as a communication bridge, East Africa and the Ottoman Empire easily reached some cooperation, and the prerequisites for these cooperation basically cannot circumvent Germany's approval. After all, an important prerequisite for Germany to influence the Ottoman Empire is the presence of the Ottoman Empire's army. Support pro-German forces.
For example, if Germany helped train the Ottoman Empire's army, it would easily lead to an error if East Africa did not consult with Germany.
The German Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire emphasized: "The current military training in the Ottoman Empire should be led by our instructors. East Africa should not interfere too much. Even if it intervenes, it should be consistent with Germany. It is best not to conduct it as an East African, but as an East African." German identity."
It is very common to have an influence on a country's military through military instructors and consultants. For example, in the previous life of Germany and Japan, the United States dispatched military personnel or consultants within the army of the Republic of China government in the Far East Empire.
Therefore, Germany does not want East Africa to establish contact with the Ottoman Empire army in a separate capacity. Since Germany has invested a lot of resources, if East Africa acts alone, it will easily make people suspect that East Africa is here to "pick peaches."
East Africa readily accepted Germany's request. East Africa did not expect its country to have much influence on the Ottoman Empire. As long as the Ottoman Empire could exert a certain restraint on Britain and Russia, East Africa's goal would be achieved.
Germany was naturally very satisfied with East Africa's cooperation, and the Ottoman Empire also had a very friendly attitude towards East Africa. After communication between East Africa and Germany, the Ottoman Empire mistakenly believed that East Africa belonged to Germany, and allowed the Ottoman Empire to continue to maintain this wonderful misunderstanding. It will be beneficial and harmless to East Africa.
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Compared with the smooth development of diplomatic activities in the Ottoman Empire, East Africa's diplomatic activities in Persia were more complicated.
The main reason is that the strength of the country of Persia is far from comparable to that of the Ottoman Empire. Facing Britain and Russia, Persia does not even have the intention to resist.
"We have communicated with the Persian government, but Persia has been dealing with Russia and the United Kingdom all year round. The Persian government has always been the loser. It is not as enterprising as the Ottoman Empire government, so it is difficult to achieve anything."
The Al-Shabaab currently in power in the Ottoman Empire has a relatively high spirit. It can be regarded as the "Westernization faction" of the Ottoman Empire. It is not willing to keep bowing its head in front of Western countries.
But Persia is completely different. Whether facing Britain or Russia, Persia has to be too "weak" in the eyes of East African diplomats.
"The top-level government in Persia has no ambition at all, and although Persia has political forces that hate Britain and Russia, they are not popular, so it is more difficult for us to make an issue with Persia."
"The Persian government's attitude toward us is more about vigilance and use to check and balance Russia and Britain."
Ernst was not surprised by this idea of the Persian government. He said: "Persia is an important country in the Persian Gulf. If we want to intervene there, we cannot avoid Persia. Since Persia does not have the confidence to confront Britain and Russia, we will As long as giving them confidence can arouse the fear of Britain and Russia, even if it only has a small effect, our goal will be achieved. As for supporting Persia, it has never been our real goal. "
East Africa just wants to confuse the situation in the Middle East and Central Asia, and does not really want to contribute to local development, so Persia's attitude is not important.
"First expand the local arms trade market. As long as weapons flow into the Persian Gulf, it will not be us who will have a headache, but Britain and Russia. At that time, Britain and Russia will have to negotiate with us."
In fact, the Middle East and Central Asia have always been East Africa's arms market. East Africa's local arms trade began in the 1970s. The most typical example is the Afghan War. East Africa exported a large number of weapons to local armed forces, which gave the British a headache for a while.
With the expansion of this round of arms trade in East Africa, it is not just Afghanistan, but all those who can become potential customers in the region. The influx of a large number of arms will inevitably cause turmoil in the rule built by Britain and Russia in the local area.
Of course, in addition to disrupting the local situation, Ernst also has an important purpose, which is to strengthen the military industrial production capacity of East Africa.
At present, the military industry in East Africa is not too large because of the size of the army, especially reflected in rifles, machine guns, artillery and other weapons. After all, the total number of East African defense forces does not exceed 400,000, which is not even comparable to Germany and France.
In Ernst's opinion, the military industry is more profitable in the short term. If the military capacity is temporarily expanded after the outbreak of World War I, it will be easy to be in a hurry.
In addition to strengthening the country's military strength, the main purpose of East Africa's current round of military capacity expansion is to make a fortune when World War I breaks out. If World War I really breaks out, military products will definitely be very popular. In order to have both ends, East Africa must not only survive weapons that meet its own standards, but also adapt to weapons popular in other countries on the market.
Even if the European arms market cannot be squeezed in, other regions of the world will temporarily lose the way to purchase arms due to the wars in European countries during World War I. Therefore, Ernst judged that there will be a window period in the future arms market, and this window period is a good opportunity for East Africa to make a fortune from the war.
At that time, East Africa's main competitor was the United States. Unlike East Africa, the United States actually had greater potential for weapons production than East Africa at that time. After all, the United States is a country that does not ban guns, so the American gun manufacturing industry can be said to be flourishing. In the early 20th century, the types of weapons were far less abundant than in later generations. Many countries were highly dependent on rifles, which was also reflected in wars. Only the great powers could afford large-scale artillery bombardments.