African Entrepreneurship Record

Of course, the development of the East African Navy in the 1870s was also a last resort. Ernst wanted to proceed with gradual development, but knowing the global situation, he could not afford to hesitate.

At that time, the demand of the East African Navy was to be able to take shape in a short period and form combat capability to cope with the severe national defense situation of the 1880s.

After all, Ernst knew that the 1880s was a peak period for the expansion of great powers worldwide, and the African continent was a key area. In this case, the East African Navy must have a certain scale and strength to maintain East Africa’s substantial interests, and it was apparent that building a relatively strong navy in a short time came at a cost.

However, fortunately, the East African Navy excelled in fulfilling its historic mission, withstanding the pressure of the British Royal Navy during the South African war.

The East African Navy took shape in the 1870s and began to form combat power in the 1880s. If it were like the Far East Empire, the United States, and Japan, which only began expanding their navies in the 1880s, the East African Navy would have found it difficult to confront the British Royal Navy in the South African war. After all, adapting to ships and naval training is a relatively long process.

Now, according to Ernst’s judgment, the dangerous period for East Africa has passed, so the troop reduction action of the East African Army and Navy is inevitable, not only due to the need to cut expenses but also to recover funds.

Especially given the large amount of equipment lagging behind or captured during the South African War, it is urgent to sell these off at a good price while it’s still possible.

Of course, the East African Navy has a certain degree of domestic production capability and still needs to import warships from Germany and Austria, beyond political factors; the more important thing is to absorb advanced experience and technology from other countries.

In the field of experience and technology, there is no doubt that the most powerful is the United Kingdom. The reason why East Africa did not import warships from the United Kingdom is quite Versailles—namely, East Africa captured two British warships and sank three during the South African war.

After the South African war, East Africa did not return them to the British government, considering the cost of six million British Pounds was not enough to recoup East Africa’s expenses. These two British warships were just right to make up for the losses of the South African war.

In fact, of the three sunken warships, one has already been salvaged, which means the East African Navy has three active British warships, including two ironclad ships and one cruiser.

These three warships, two severely damaged, are under major repair, while the salvaged ironclad ship has been dismantled for research by Bajamojo Shipyard technicians.

When counting the two British warships about to enter the East African Navy and the East African government’s shipbuilding plans for the coming years, East African Navy losses are actually not significant and even completed a small-scale renewal.

However, after this update, the East African Navy has shifted from being dominated by Austria-Hungary alone to contending equally among the British, Austrian, and German, fully comparing the pros and cons of each navy’s warships in actual combat and then providing feedback to Bajamojo and other shipyards.

Now, it just lacks French warships for reference. As for Tsarist Russia and the United States, they can be completely ignored. Neither is too strong in technology, and East Africa is on the same level. Tsarist Russia’s industrial level is too poor, with low naval investment, while the United States is not focused on military development. Although the United States Navy achieved great development in the 1880s, prior to that, the United States Navy could be said to have developed in a ’paralytic’ manner. Since the end of the Civil War, the United States had hardly invested in military, and the naval development in the 1880s was due to the current international environment.

After all, the expansion activities of Europe in the 1880s were too frequent and intense, leaving other regions and countries in the world feeling uneasy. Any country with eyes was expanding its armaments.

As for those blind countries and regions, their future will end up like West Africa, where the powers carve them up with carving knives, leaving no scraps behind.

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First Town.

After each major war ends, Ernst begins troop reductions. This has almost become a rule, and in 1890, the East African Defense Army remained the same.

Ernst: ”In the next ten years, the navy’s size should remain unchanged. The main task is to slowly replace the current main warships, decommissioning them according to construction time and other parameters. Maintaining the current naval size is sufficient to ensure the safety of our maritime areas.”

”Of course, considering the recent acquisition of Angola and Mozambique colonies, thereby gaining more coastline and ports, the naval defense pressure is even greater. In this regard, my opinion is to develop more small and multi-purpose vessels to fill the East African Navy’s shortcomings in this area.”

The development of the East African Navy in small and multi-purpose vessels has always been relatively backward, such as torpedo boats, supply ships, and troop carriers.

So, the naval arrangements in this troop reduction actually increased rather than decreased, not achieving the ”troop reduction” purpose, but instead realizing some strengthening of the navy.

Of course, this should be the case, after all, East Africa is now, in a real sense, a two-ocean and even three-ocean country. The navy cannot be reduced, and even increasing the budget is not excessive.

However, while maintaining the overall size of the navy, the East African Navy is still among the top ten in the world, so there is no need for excessive expansion, which also conforms to the current level of economic development in East Africa.

Like Japan, investing in naval construction regardless of cost is actually a serious burden on the national economy, which is why Japan is eager for war. Without plundering elsewhere, Japan’s economy would collapse.

In this regard, East Africa’s attitude is similar to the United States, that is, it just needs to be enough. Of course, East Africa has always been more proactive in military construction than the United States. After all, in Ernst’s view, military development is a long-term need and cannot be directly halted for short-term interests.

”As for the army, it should be reduced to pre-war levels. After solving Angola and Mozambique, our land defense pressure has greatly reduced, the national border has shortened by nearly three thousand kilometers, and with the Portuguese out, we have removed tens of thousands of threatening troop deployments around us, eliminating the need to deploy large troops on the border.”

The incorporation of Angola and Mozambique has completely changed East Africa’s national defense security situation, making the north the future focus of East Africa’s ground defense.

However, the threat in northern East Africa is insignificant compared to the pre-South African war South African region. Among the northern forces, the strongest remains the British, that is, their colony of Egypt.

But between Egypt and East Africa lies the Sahara Desert, a natural geographical barrier. Historically, although South Sudan was part of Egypt, the South Sudan area was actually semi-independent and could leave Egypt at any time.

Now, East Africa only needs to deploy a small number of troops on the Jezira Plain to completely block Egypt (British) from moving south. As for going around the Kordofan Plateau, they will also face the southern tropical rainforest area, which is almost impossible without guides and sufficient supplies. If any army can achieve this, it would be a ”military miracle” enough for the annals.

As for other northern forces, there is even less to worry about. The strongest might be the Abyssinia Empire, but it is too backward and has a good relationship with East Africa.

As for the south, after the Boer Republic was exterminated, East Africa completely controlled the north bank of the Orange River, escaping the military and geographical disadvantages according to the terrain. Only a small number of troops are needed to defend Cape Town colony’s military strength, and after the South African war, Cape Town colony probably won’t have such an idea.

”So, the final number of the Defense Army should be maintained at about two hundred thousand. Of course, the newly formed cavalry units during the war can be retained, while less important troops from various military districts can be abolished or merged as deemed appropriate.”

This means that the East African Army will be reduced by almost half, but this is within everyone’s psychological expectations. After all, with the examples of the South African war, there are virtually no countries daring to start a direct war against East Africa.