Chapter 1184 Take All
In fact, the Sahara Railway is a completely achievable project. At least Ernst knew it very well. After all, in the previous life, the railways of Egypt and Sudan were connected, and in this time and space, East Africa has already extended the railway to the city of Gezira, so as long as After taking care of Egypt and the United Kingdom, there will be no obstacles to the completion of this railway.
It is the least difficult to connect to the Mediterranean from Egypt, which is entirely due to the existence of the Nile River. If other areas are chosen for construction, such as Libya, the difficulty and economic benefits will also deter East Africa.
Not only is the distance long, but the climate conditions are harsher, and the cost cannot be recovered in more densely populated areas like the Nile River.
Of course, if it involves mineral resources, that's a different story. This is not without cases. In its previous life, Mauritania built a railway deep into the hinterland of the Sahara Desert to develop its own iron ore resources.
Therefore, Ernst did not completely deny the possibility of other routes. He told senior government officials: "It is not impossible to go through Libya, but the premise is that Libya has enough resources to make us interested."
"Although the economy and population of Libya are basically distributed along the northern coast, this does not mean that there are no resources in the vast desert in the hinterland of Libya."
"After all, the Libyan region covers an area of more than one million square kilometers. Under such a large land area, even in the desert, there must be rich mineral deposits buried."
In fact, Ernst's conclusion is completely correct. In addition to oil, Libya is also rich in mineral reserves of iron, potash, manganese, phosphate, copper, tin, sulfur, kaolin and other minerals.
It's just that Libya's oil resources are so prominent that many people tend to ignore other mineral resources in Libya, and Ernst is one of them.
Of course, the development of these mine resources in desert areas is obviously much more difficult than in other areas. After all, the mining industry requires a lot of people, and desert areas generally lack water resources to supply a large number of people for production and life.
Ernst continued: "Libya is a French colony, but France's control over Libya is mainly concentrated in the coastal area. We can send professionals to the areas bordering southern Libya and South Germany to conduct surveys, and maybe we can use it in the future. "
Libya does not border East Africa, but borders the Kingdom of South Germany, a subordinate country in East Africa. The Kingdom of South Germany even annexed a lot of land from Libya in its previous life.
Therefore, if East Africa has the idea of building the western line of the Saharan Railway in the future, it cannot bypass the Kingdom of South Germany. It is certainly feasible to go through Sudan, but there are also closeness and distance between countries, and East Africa will definitely favor the Kingdom of South Germany.
The discussion on the "Sahara Railway" ends here. According to the current international situation, geopolitics, natural environment and other factors, it is simply impossible for the East African government to build the Sahara Railway.
Of course, Ernst still left some people with some suspense. After all, the Sahara Desert is in the north of East Africa. If East Africa wants to strengthen its influence on North Africa in the future, the Sahara Railway plan may not be impossible.
Although the Sahara desert is vast, the length of the Sahara railway will only be three to four thousand kilometers, which is not too long. If the Egyptian route plan is chosen, that is, the eastern route plan, the length will even be only more than two thousand kilometers. solve.
Returning to the topic, the wild idea of the Sahara Railway was thrown up at the East African government meeting, mainly to circumvent British restrictions on trade between East Africa and Europe.
Therefore, the primary goal of the East African government at this stage is to ensure the smooth flow of routes as much as possible and safeguard the interests of East African countries.
Ernst said: "The Sahara Railway does not solve the problem. The railway capacity is limited and the cost is too high. Especially the maintenance costs of operating in desert areas are unimaginable. And even if we plan to build this railway now, I am afraid it will take several years." Time, I’m afraid the war in Europe will be over by then, so the gains outweigh the losses, so everyone should think of other ways.”
In the final analysis, the British still do nothing. This also shows the advantages of maritime powers. By controlling a few core shipping channels, the British can achieve a material and trade blockade of most countries.
Taking the overseas colonies in East Africa as an example, Britain only needs to cut off the Strait of Malacca to isolate East Africa from the colonies in Southeast Asia, Alaska, the South Pacific and other regions, and it can also cut off the trade between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire.
What's more, the UK also has Gibraltar, the Cape of Good Hope, the English Channel, the North Sea, the Drake and the Falklands near the Strait of Magellan, etc. In addition, there are many important islands such as Malta, Cyprus, Seychelles, etc., coupled with the Royal Navy, This is the foundation for Britain to become a world hegemon.
East Africa does not have any of the maritime transportation hubs such as the Suez Canal, Gibraltar, and Malacca, so East Africa is quite passive now.
In the past few decades, East Africa has not planned any plans for these places that Britain attaches most importance to. For example, the South African War involves the Cape of Good Hope, so East Africa has not conquered all the battles.
If these core areas of the United Kingdom were really touched, the United Kingdom would not declare war with Germany, but with East Africa. After all, even if the European continent is unified, it would at most cause damage to the United Kingdom, but these strategic locations overseas are missing, and the United Kingdom's Hegemony is really over.
Of course, East Africa does not want to confront the United Kingdom, which is in its heyday. The resources that Britain can mobilize are still very huge, and under the accumulated power of hundreds of years, Britain's overseas colonies are still very loyal, such as South Africa, Australia, India, Canada and other loyal dogs of Britain.
If Britain uses all its strength to deal with East Africa, East Africa will definitely not feel good. Of course, what East Africa cannot accept is that East Africa and Britain fight to the death, and finally benefit the United States, Japan, Germany or France, Russia and other countries.
So it is easy to destroy the old system, but the final beneficiary is not East Africa, then East Africa would rather the old world system continue to survive.
And Germany is a typical case. Now Germany is a warrior who challenges the old world order, but even if Germany can win the final victory, East Africa and the United States will definitely not be inferior.
If this happens, East Africa will definitely be the first to add insult to injury to Britain and inherit the British legacy around the Indian Ocean, such as Egypt, India, South Africa, and Australia.
That is equivalent to East Africa directly controlling the trade of Eurasia and controlling the two continents of Africa and Australia. Even if Germany unified Europe at this time, East Africa would actually become the new British Empire.
So as long as East Africa does not end, whether the Allies or the Central Powers win in the end, East Africa will be the biggest beneficiary, which is not even comparable to the United States.
After all, the United States can only gain a lot of economic benefits in the European war, but it cannot go further in politics and territory. This has actually been reflected in the early stage of the war.
At this stage of the war, in addition to gaining a lot of economic benefits, East Africa has also successfully imported military forces into West Africa, the Persian Gulf, the South Pacific and other regions with the rapid expansion of East Africa's overseas territories, achieving a win-win situation in terms of economy, politics, and military.
The United States cannot do this, which is determined by its geographical location. After all, the United States is too far away from the world island. In fact, Africa can also be regarded as part of the world island. After all, Africa and the Eurasian continent are also bordered, and North Africa in the Mediterranean has always been an indispensable part of Western civilization.
Therefore, if East Africa's geographical location can be utilized, it is not inferior to the Middle East, which is the crossroads of the world. After all, the crossroads of the world also means a place of war, which has both advantages and disadvantages for the Middle East, while East Africa is relatively safe and has certain transportation advantages.
After East Africa has integrated its local resources, it has been in a position where it can attack or defend. At least in Ernst's view, East Africa's geographical location is very good.