Chapter 1083 The worried British

It is obviously impossible to surpass the United Kingdom. The release of East Africa's domestically produced dreadnoughts has nothing to do with East Africa's early preparations. On the contrary, Britain responded quickly after the Russo-Japanese War and built the world's first dreadnoughts in less than a year. Its strong shipbuilding industry heritage is evident.

Even so, the East African Navy still attracted the focus of the Royal Navy, and since the birth of East Africa's first dreadnought ship, the East African Navy has also changed its past style and re-entered the road of naval competition. Currently, the number of dreadnought ships is second only to the United Kingdom. and Germany, ranked third in the world.

For this reason alone, it is impossible for Britain not to guard against East Africa. After all, the movements of any country's navy are the focus of Britain's attention, especially Germany. The German navy can be said to be Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows it, and East Africa is also the focus of attention. Impossible to be easily ignored.

George: "Now the East African navy has re-expanded. The number of dreadnoughts alone has reached four, and one is launched almost every year. Among the countries in the world, except for us and Germany, only East Africa has made such a big move in the navy. Soon, East Africa will A powerful main naval fleet composed of dreadnoughts can be formed, which will also increase the pressure on the empire in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. "

"The situation in Europe is also becoming increasingly tense. If we cannot withdraw, I am afraid that the power of East Africa will accelerate its spread to the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. Judging from the current offensive in East Africa, it is very likely to end our influence in the Persian Gulf and South America."

"And this is not the most terrifying thing. On this basis, East Africa will even have an irreparable negative impact on the empire in Egypt, India and other regions. Therefore, curb the development of the East African navy to ensure that it will not have a negative impact on the empire in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. Challenges should be put first in the empire.”

"Even if we temporarily give up some interests, we must stabilize East Africa. After the situation in Europe stabilizes, we will liquidate it. The same principle applies to the United States. We cannot let these two countries become factors of instability. The United States The navy is even more powerful than the East African navy, so by suppressing the development of the two navies, we can better deal with possible changes in Europe. "

George's thinking can be summarized as trying to deal with foreign countries before settling at home. Countries outside the region such as the United States and East Africa will indeed challenge British hegemony, but Britain's core interests are still in Europe.

If Europe is not settled, and a powerful country similar to Napoleon's regime appears on the European continent, Britain will be really uncomfortable. It will directly pose a huge threat to the British mainland, unless Britain moves its capital to India, Canada or Australia, and this will happen in the future. Eurocentrism is obviously unacceptable.

Asquith agreed with George's view, but he still asked: "We can no longer limit the development of the United States and East Africa, and these two countries are very independent. How can we make them willing to reduce their navies?"

This is also the biggest headache for the British government at the moment. As a world power, why do other countries have to listen to the British? This is also the main reason why the British economic sanctions on East Africa failed before. After all, there are Germany, France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the world. Many other great powers are not the sole proponent of the UK, and the UK is ugly, let alone letting other countries become its pawns.

As the finance minister, George didn't have any good solutions. He said: "We may have to contact diplomats who have been dealing with East Africans all year round to learn about the specific situation in East Africa first, so that we can prescribe the right medicine."

Soon Cromwell, the former British ambassador to East Africa, was called over by the two to talk.

Cromwell: "When I was in East Africa, it was during the national industrial construction stage in East Africa. East Africa launched the so-called first five-year industrial plan. At that time, East Africa was building factories and mining minerals across the country. Based on my understanding of East African cities, Observe, the industrial development speed in East Africa is quite fast.”

"Take their capital Rhine City as an example. Rhine City is located in the hinterland of East Africa, more than a thousand kilometers away from the coast. It has been built on a large scale and has a population of hundreds of thousands. It is no less than the coastal cities in East Africa. This kind of city is in East Africa. There are many big cities within the scope of the East African Railway, such as Morogoro, Dodoma, and Mbeya.”

"As for the coastal economy of East Africa, it is even more prominent. I believe that I don't need to say more. Everyone knows that East Africa has built dozens of modern port cities on the African coast, which are not inferior to any country in Europe. Among them, the population of Dar es Salaam I’m afraid it’s over a million, and cities like Mombasa are also quite prosperous.”

"So now East Africa has built quite complete industries from the inland to the coast, and the entire society is highly developed. Although it is not as good as Europe and the United States, it is certainly much stronger than other regions or countries in the world..."

With Cromwell's description, the development of East Africa was more objectively presented in the minds of Asquith and George.

Asquith asked: "What level do you think East Africa's national power should be now?"

Cromwell said: "Based on the situation when I left office, that is, in 1906, East Africa should be stronger than the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

"How does that compare to Russia?" George asked.

Cromwell said more conservatively: "The total economic volume should not be comparable to Russia, but the development speed should be much higher than Russia, and the domestic political stability should also exceed Russia."

This is just Cromwell's speculation. After all, Russia, as the world's second most populous country, has a huge economy, and East Africa has only been developing for a few years. This impression is difficult to change if the East African government deliberately conceals it.

Asquith said: "In other words, the current national power of East Africa is between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, which is almost the same as France itself."

Although France continues to decline, it is definitely the world's top power. Even if East Africa's national power is equal to France, it can cause major changes in the international structure. Not to mention other things, even Britain now dare not say that it has the ability to overpower France.

In fact, France's performance in World War I in its previous life was worthy of France's external propaganda. Facing a powerful opponent like Germany, France showed amazing resilience. You must know that during World War I in its previous life, the German economy was equivalent to one-seventh of the world's economy. First, the war potential is even more amazing.

Therefore, comparing East Africa with France does not mean that the British government despises East Africa, but that it attaches great importance to it. However, because of this, the British attitude towards East Africa is even more difficult to handle.

Imagine that Britain said to France at this time: "Your navy is too powerful, so let's limit it!"

Will France agree? The answer is obviously no. France is actually at the same level as the United Kingdom. The two countries are not affiliated. In fact, they are not the common enemy Germany. So the one who opposes the United Kingdom in the current European situation is probably France.

Asquith thought for a while and said: "First contact the East African government. We want to test the bottom line of the East African government. If we can persuade East Africa to make concessions, everyone will be happy. It is acceptable to pay a certain price and sacrifice for this. If it cannot be achieved, For our purpose, we can only take relatively extreme measures.”

East Africa has reached a point where Britain has to pay attention to it and weaken it. Even geographically speaking, East Africa poses a greater threat to Britain than the United States. Although the United States is stronger than East Africa, it is currently impossible for the United States to affect British rule in India. .

India is the core interest of British colonialism and is also the bottom line of current British hegemony. East Africa is much closer to India than the British mainland. If the development of the East African navy cannot be restricted, then India's colonies in the Indian Ocean will be affected by East Africa, and even leading to the collapse of the entire colonial system.

Therefore, the development of the East African Navy's strength is what Britain is most afraid of. In order to maintain imperial hegemony, even if it sacrifices some of its interests, it is better than waiting for the East African Navy to fully grow and take it from Britain.