African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1137: Chapter 146: Military Assets

Compared to Germany and Japan, East Africa indeed falls short of the imperialist reputation on the diplomatic level, but this also indicates the growing maturity of East African politics.

Germany and Japan are typical militaristic countries, and East Africa initially followed suit, adopting the all-armed organizational form to deal with indigenous and other colonizers on the African continent. However, once East Africa was founded, national security was initially guaranteed, and major political changes followed.

Of course, at present, all European countries are expanding their armaments. Germany’s military construction is quite common in Europe because Russia next door, Austria-Hungary, and France are all doing the same; as for the United Kingdom and Japan, they overstretched their national strength to build massive navies. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was truly rare for countries not to develop strong armies.

Thus, given the era’s background, Germany’s military construction appears particularly normal, but its radicalism genuinely frightens Ernst, as Germany initially planned for one against many, which is unwise.

Therefore, Ernst advised Kamon: ”The situation Germany faces in Europe is particularly severe. Your enemies are not only France, but you must also consider Russia and the United Kingdom. Even if you can defeat France, it’s challenging to digest the results under Russian and British intervention. The lesson from Napoleon’s regime’s downfall must be learned; sometimes, having too many enemies means they’ll deplete your advantages simply by their deep foundation.”

In Ernst’s view, Napoleonic France was even more outrageous than today’s Germany. At least Ernst doesn’t believe Germany can easily reach Moscow like Napoleon; Napoleon’s military achievements even surpass Germany’s in World War II.

However, Russia is an insoluble existence. With vast territory and harsh transportation conditions, it’s hard for any country to crush Russia unless Russia first collapses internally.

Kamon dismissed Ernst’s advice, somewhat arrogantly stating: ”We Germans can totally recreate the glory of the first Franco-Prussian War. As long as we defeat France before the United Kingdom reacts, other countries are insignificant. As for Russia, too backward; Austria-Hungary can contain Russia in Eastern Europe, and after we defeat France, we’ll turn and team up with Austria-Hungary to ensure Russia’s intervention fails.”

Clearly, this is an ideal scenario, which can’t convince Ernst. The main issue is Germany’s poor choice of allies, which is also Germany’s helplessness, as late-developing countries have few options in alliances.

Germany is such, the Soviet Union is such, and so was the later Far East Empire; the world second faces challenges finding good allies when confronting the world first.

This is also the advantage established by hegemony. When the Far East Empire was in its prime, various East Asian subordinates took pride in becoming its lackeys, from the northern grasslands to eastern islands and Southeast Asian countries, all proud of Far East Empire civilization. Even the raiders of the grasslands felt culturally inferior facing the Far East Empire.

Under the current world system constructed by the United Kingdom, Germany and East Africa are prominently labeled as ”barbaric countries.” This is a form of political and cultural isolation and bullying.

Although Germany and East Africa have many shortcomings, the United Kingdom isn’t innocent either; instead, it commits numerous wrongs because it holds vast colonies and world hegemony.

Of course, countries like Germany, daring to challenge the current world system, naturally have their admirers; conversely, countries like East Africa and the United States, who bury their heads in the sand, are more easily despised.

Ernst told Kamon: ”That’s it for now. We East Africans are located in the southern part of the African continent, separated from Europe by the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea. It’s hard to coordinate with Germany; although we can’t support Germany militarily, we can assist in other ways.”

Although Kamon was accustomed to Ernst’s refusal, he still felt a little uncomfortable, but fortunately, some achievements were still made.

Thus, Kamon politely said: ”Then I thank you, on behalf of our government, for His Majesty’s support.”

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After sending Kamon away, with Ernst’s consent, the East African government tried its best to offer Germany some trade concessions. This is indeed a form of development support for Germany, but for a nation of Germany’s scale, it counts as a drop in the bucket.

After successive ”friendly” exchanges with diplomatic missions from various countries, the East African government’s attitude became relatively clear; it would try to choose neutrality in upcoming disputes.

This way, among the globally recognized major powers, the United States and East Africa are temporarily considered neutral countries, which gives European countries the confidence to challenge each other, and this is exactly what both East Africa and the United States hope to see.

Meanwhile, Ernst also began calculating East Africa’s current assets; powerful military strength is the main reason East Africa can maintain its neutral country status.

Merk: ”In terms of manpower, our military currently has a total of 460,000 troops, ranking slightly ahead of Austria-Hungary, behind only Russia, Germany, and France, ranking fourth in the world.”

Of course, this cannot be simply equated with each country’s military strength. Take Russia, which has the most troops, but its military strength surely can’t rank first in the world.

Aside from population, Russia lacks anything noteworthy, and its population is not much larger than East Africa. The difference is only two to three million, but East Africa surpasses Russia in artillery, machine guns, military vehicles, railways, etc.

Nonetheless, troop strength is a good reference point. In terms of manpower alone, East Africa currently ranks fourth globally, and East Africa’s mobilization potential indeed ranks among the top three. Mobilization potential involves many factors, including population, logistics, transportation, material reserves, etc. With East Africa’s nearly double railroad advantage over Russia and millions of kilometers of roads, East Africa would find nationwide mobilization not inferior to Russia. According to Russian military standards, mobilizing 5 million people would not be difficult.

East Africa’s military manpower ranks mid-high globally. In comparison, maritime powers like the United States and the United Kingdom differ greatly from East Africa. Of course, if the United Kingdom counts its colonial troops, the overall numbers are similar to East Africa’s, but many colonies are scattered, resulting in considerable defense pressure.

However, the expenditure of colonial troops certainly can’t compare to the East African Defense Army, as the primary mission of colonial troops is to prevent colonial uprisings rather than to combat other military powers.

”In terms of Army equipment, we’ve reached the level of various European powers. Our rifles, machine guns, and artillery quantities rival those of any country. In some fields, such as military vehicles, armored units, and army aviation units, we are even ahead of European nations.”

Nowadays, the East African Air Force has been separated from the Army while the Army retains an aviation branch to train cooperation abilities. Only the Navy’s aviation branch hasn’t been established yet.

The Navy is mainly deployed along the coastlines, forming a Naval Air Force is too conspicuous at the moment, and without aircraft carriers as carriers, the Naval Air Force can’t operate effectively.

Moreover, at this stage, the East African Air Force is already the strongest globally; many countries don’t even possess aircraft, meaning East Africa has no immediate need in this respect.

Considering the East African Army’s current equipment, the Army leads its peers by half an era, but this advantage is not obvious. The primary reason is that tanks and aircraft currently do not meet performance standards, limiting their capability for cross-region operations.

As Ernst told Kamon, East Africa is an African continent country, which ensures East Africa’s national security to a certain extent but, conversely, limits the military’s capacity.

As the leading military power on the African continent, East Africa has no adversaries nearby, but participating in overseas wars requires crossing vast oceans, which evidently needs the Navy and national shipping capabilities for support; therefore, currently, the East African Army finds it difficult to support overseas operations.