Chapter 1149 Return to South America

As a large market, arms trade also needs publicity, and the most effective way to promote weapons is through war.

For example, in the Gulf War in the previous life, the United States suppressed Soviet weapons in one fell swoop, but this does not mean that Soviet weapons are not good, and they have not adapted to the new fighting style of the US military. One of the main reasons is that the Iraqi army is too poor.

In fact, if the Soviet Union had not disintegrated, a big country like this would have been able to quickly formulate a suitable solution for battlefield changes, but at that time, the Soviet Union no longer had this opportunity.

In many cases, the performance of weapons depends on who the user is. In the hands of an excellent army, even a fire stick can fully exert its value. If it is in the hands of those African countries in the previous life, it is completely impossible to reason with common sense.

And Bulgaria is the resentful species chosen by Ernst. Of course, Bulgaria is not at a disadvantage for East Africa to do this. It is really like Ukraine in the previous life. It is also a skill to find the United States and a bunch of European countries to ask for military assistance. If even the West abandons Ukraine, it will be truly desperate.

Therefore, when Germany is unable to get away and Bulgaria is heavily dependent on German weapons, East Africa is Bulgaria's "great savior".

After talking about Europe, John Lear began to talk about the focus of the arms market: "When European countries are involved in the European war, the arms market in Asia, Africa and Latin America is the biggest."

"These non-European arms markets are not just a single business. As long as we can make good use of the gap where the major European countries cannot get away, we can lay a good foundation for the future arms trade in East Africa."

"For example, the Far East, the Middle East, Central Asia, West Africa, and Latin America, these markets were originally divided up by the major countries in the world, and now our only competitors are Americans."

Today, land warfare is still the era of rifles and artillery, and in this case, the United States has a unique advantage. After all, the United States is a country that does not ban guns, so rifle production in the United States is a large and complete industrial chain.

In addition, the United States is a completely liberalized market, so the United States produces almost all kinds of mainstream types of guns, such as the East African version of the Mauser rifle, which can also be found in the United States.

The United States has a strong gun production industry, and the United States has not been involved in the muddy waters of war, which has also increased the competitive pressure on East Africa in the arms market.

Except for big countries like the Far East Empire, in fact, the consumption capacity of many countries is not as strong as imagined. Some island countries do not even need an army, and naturally do not need high-end products such as artillery and warships. Instead, the most basic rifles can meet the needs of these small and poor countries.

Today, East Africa's foreign trade can be said to be in full bloom. At the same time, East Africa's financial pressure has also been significantly alleviated. After all, East Africa borrowed a lot of money from Europe and the United States before the war, and now it is equivalent to a process of paying back debts.

This is also an important reason why East Africa can receive a large number of orders. East Africa is originally a debtor. Now the warring parties in Europe can get the strategic materials they want from East Africa without using gold reserves. It is a win-win situation.

If East Africa did not owe so much debt before the war, it would be detrimental to its own industrial exports. After all, if there is no debt, Europe and the United States must use real money to exchange for materials imported from East Africa, which is psychologically difficult for any country to accept.

However, if European countries choose East Africa to settle accounts with materials, they will then form a path dependence on East African exports, which will be difficult to get rid of at least before the end of the war.

East Africa has been preparing for World War I for several years, and at this time, the United States has not even laid out its production line, and the quality of industrial products between the two countries will definitely be different, that is to say, the overall quality of East African products is higher than that of the United States.

For example, medicines, beverages and other products produced in East Africa entered Europe before the United States, and then they will continue to maintain their advantages in product competitiveness.

…

October 1914.

While the European war firmly controlled the headlines every day, East Africa suddenly made a big move in South America and taught the South American countries a lesson.

On October 1, the East African Navy officially opened a large-scale visit to South America, sending a large visiting team of five battleships, one battlecruiser, and ten cruisers.

It can be said that the East African Navy took out a large part of the Atlantic Fleet's assets to carry out this visit to South America, or to demonstrate.

With the outbreak of the European war, the East African Navy also made adjustments, transferring most of the country's main naval ships to the Atlantic Ocean. The main task is to escort the country's merchant ships in Europe and ensure the smooth flow of sea routes.

After all, only by "showing the sword" can Britain and France see the strength of East Africa and prevent them from interfering with East Africa's maritime trade.

This is also an important reason why East African merchant ships can arrive in Germany smoothly. Although East Africa and the United States' trade with Germany has obvious enemy-aiding behavior during this period, Britain and France can only turn a blind eye.

After all, East Africa and the United States are important neutral countries that can change the situation in Europe. If they offend any of them, they may be brought into an abyss of no return.

East Africa and the United States also maintain a tacit understanding and silently maintain the right of "free navigation". After all, this is beneficial for the two countries to make money.

However, compared with the tacit understanding shown by the two countries in the face of European countries, the competition between East Africa and the United States in other parts of the world is completely different.

The Americas, which the United States regards as its back garden, is also the main battlefield for the two countries to compete for the world market. As Britain and France are dragged down by Germany.

South America has also made room, and the United States, which proposed the Monroe Doctrine, naturally wants to take over the sphere of influence of Britain and France in South America.

However, in the eyes of the East African government, it is another matter. After all, in terms of distance alone, East Africa is not far from the South American continent, so East Africa certainly does not agree with some of the contents of the Monroe Doctrine.

So in order to compete for the sphere of influence and market of Britain, France and other countries in South America, the United States and East Africa have shown their magical powers.

But in the final analysis, it still depends on who has the bigger fist, so as to force South American countries to make the most "reasonable" choice.

And this time the East African Navy's visit to South America is huge in scale, even starting from Mexico, which is not South America, and finally ending in Argentina, which is far more than the scale of the last visit of the East African Navy to South America.

The last visit of the East African Navy to South American countries was mainly limited to the five southern South American countries, namely Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.

This time, all coastal countries are within the scope of the East African Navy's visit, and there are basically no landlocked countries in South America, except for Paraguay and Bolivia.

However, visiting Paraguay is also within the East African Navy's plan. With the help of the Paraguay River, it is completely possible to reach Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.

As for Bolivia, there is really no way. Bolivia has no outlet to the sea, and without a waterway like the Paraguay River connecting to the outside, the East African Navy naturally has no chance to visit Bolivia.

Of course, this does not mean that Bolivia has no navy. Although there is no outlet to the sea, Bolivia has the largest freshwater lake in South America, Lake Titicaca, and the Bolivian Navy is in Lake Titicaca.

In the past, the Bolivian Navy was also a major feature of the world. Although it was just a large lake, the Bolivian Navy was stronger than many countries, with more than 5,000 personnel, which was much more worthy of the name than the Outer Mongolian Navy, which is also a landlocked country.

This is also a big regret of the East African Navy's trip to South America. If the time goes back a few decades, Bolivia at that time at least had an outlet to the sea.

Bolivia lost its outlet to the sea because of the failure of the Guano War, which was after 1879. At that time, the East African Navy was not as powerful as it is now. This was also the first time that the East African Navy visited the west coast of South America.