Chapter 1070: France and Germany Conflict

The core of the German government's discussion on East Africa is still to pull East Africa into its own camp. If it can bind a big country with a population of over 100 million and a land area of ​​over 10 million square kilometers, the benefits to Germany are self-evident.

William II said with some dissatisfaction: "In the past, we have always shown goodwill to East Africa, but the attitude of the East African government is ambiguous. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should think more about ways to make East Africa's attitude lean towards us as much as possible, and it would be best to sign an alliance."

Prime Minister Bateman was also quite troubled by the East African government's slipperiness. He said helplessly: "In recent years, we have been trying to infiltrate East Africa, but with little success. East Africa is not like those countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Even if it accepts our investment, there are more restrictions."

"This is not what I am most worried about. The biggest problem in East Africa is their economic system, which is naturally exclusive. If you want to influence domestic public opinion in East Africa through the economy, it is almost impossible to achieve. It is also impossible to effectively support forces that tend to us."

Economic aid and loans are never taken for free, especially aid and loans from the great powers. Moreover, Germany is not like Britain. Its economic aid is more concerned with political returns, and it does not care much about benefits compared to Britain.

In Central and Eastern Europe, due to the relatively backward economy, it is difficult to accumulate industrial development funds, even for semi-industrialized countries such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

By infiltrating these regions, German capital has achieved a certain degree of binding with local forces in terms of interests, so that national decision-making will naturally favor Germany as the financial sponsor, especially for these free market countries.

East Africa is obviously different from these countries and regions. East Africa has never been a free market country, and the state-owned economy is a bit outrageous, so it is almost impossible to kidnap the East African government through the economy.

Even most of Germany's investment in East Africa can only be achieved through joint ventures. In this case, German capital cannot even occupy the full dominance of these joint ventures, let alone influence East African domestic politics.

William II looked a little gloomy, which was also the most incomprehensible thing for William II, or the East African government was obviously ignorant.

Culturally speaking, the root culture of East Africa is the same as that of Germany. From the perspective of the royal family, everyone belongs to the Hohenzollern family. In terms of economy and geography, there is also strong complementarity. Therefore, in the eyes of William II, East Africa should naturally join hands with Germany.

William II: "No matter what, East Africa is a country that cannot be ignored. Even if a country of this size cannot be used by me, it must not be allowed to turn to France and other countries. I heard that the French and East Africa are also very close economically."

Bettman nodded and said: "The East African government may be out of the need for checks and balances, but the Rhine royal family does not have much hatred with France, and it is not surprising that they cooperate in economics. Not to mention France, even if Britain and Portugal have had dirty dealings with East Africa, East Africa still has trade with them as usual."

William II: "East Africa's position is still too comfortable! If our Germany is the same as East Africa in terms of geography, we will not be so passive."

East Africa can engage in balanced diplomacy and thus achieve a win-win situation. In the final analysis, it is still East Africa's huge geographical advantage. East Africa, like the United States, is far away from the disputes in Europe and Asia. There are almost no powerful countries around the region to compete with it, so it has strong flexibility and autonomy.

This is not good news for Germany. Strong autonomy means that Germany cannot smoothly control East Africa, even if Germany and East Africa are deeply bound economically.

In the economic trade between the two countries, there is no question of who is in charge. Germany is an important market in East Africa, and East Africa is also an important market for Germany. East Africa is also the main supplier of raw materials for Germany, but East Africa has basically no demand for Germany in this regard.

So Germany's economy is very strong, but it cannot form a huge advantage over East Africa. From the perspective of economic size alone, East Africa is actually similar to Germany, but East Africa has a large population, so the per capita data is not as good as Germany.

Bateman: "In short, for East Africa, we can only take the means of winning over, but we also have to put some pressure on East Africa, at least to make them realize that without the help of Germany, it is difficult for East Africa to complete industrial construction alone, so that East Africa will need more from us."

...

Paris.

Compared with the German government, the French government pays more attention to the future diplomatic direction of East Africa.

The then French President Fallier said: "We must never let Germany and East Africa, a country with a large population, join forces, otherwise it will be a disaster for the whole world and for France."

"Imagine if East Africa joins the German camp, then our rear, as well as the colonies in Asia and Africa, will be threatened by East Africans."

As the strongest country in Africa, East Africa is a mountain on the head for any African country or colony. This is the political influence extended by East Africa's strong strength in Africa.

Even though most of France's colonies do not border East Africa, France dare not underestimate East Africa. For example, France's Gabon colony, Djibouti and Madagascar Island colony face the threat of East Africa directly.

As for those colonies in West Africa and North Africa, they cannot effectively isolate the influence of East Africa. After all, the naval strength of East Africa is not weak, and East Africa's development of the west coast has become a reality at a visible speed in recent years, which is in front of people all over the world.

The trade between East Africa and France is mainly transited through the west coast of East Africa, so France is not unfamiliar with the development of the west coast of East Africa.

If the East African Navy goes north along the west coast of Africa, it can threaten almost all West African countries and colonies. If it is more extreme, the East African Navy can also reach the coast of France along the Atlantic Ocean.

Just from the map, we can see the significant impact of East Africa on the world pattern. Now that the population data of East Africa has been exposed, Fallier's idea has been further strengthened.

"A big country with a population of 100 million, even if we add our homeland and overseas colonies, there are not so many. At the same time, the military strength of East Africa cannot be ignored. Its navy has always been one of the important forces of the world's navy. It has four most advanced dreadnought fleets. If East Africa and Germany are allowed to reach partial cooperation, East Africa's attack at any point may cause us huge trouble."

As of this year, France has only started to build its first dreadnought, while East Africa has built four dreadnoughts and is equipped with a quasi-dreadnought. From this perspective alone, the East African Navy has surpassed the French Navy.

Therefore, Britain, the United States, and Germany can despise the East African navy, but France cannot. In recent years, France has actually fallen behind in naval construction.

"We should try our best to make East Africa stand on our side, just like Britain and Russia, or at least ensure neutrality. The relationship between East Africa and Germany is far from that between Britain and Russia. They originally belong to the same culture and the same language, so we must increase our attention to East Africa."

"Especially monitoring the Germans' small moves. Now most of our energy is concentrated in the eastern interior. Any unstable factors that may affect our future decisive battle with Germany must be resolved first."

President Fallier's major contribution to France is that he achieved a major improvement in the relationship between Britain and France and France and Russia during his term of office. In his previous life, he directly created the Allied Powers and completed the final victory in the war against Germany.

Therefore, from Fallier's means, it can be seen that he attaches great importance to cooperation in the field of diplomacy, thereby uniting all forces that can restrict the development of Germany.