Chapter 1163: The Basda Railway

In response to Franz IV's words, Friedrich said: "The development of East Africa today is ultimately the joint efforts of more than 100 million people, and this also shows the resilience of the German nation. After all, Brazil is also one of the world's major countries. It was founded earlier than us, but it could only become an economic vassal of Europe. Therefore, the development of East Africa is the result of many factors, and it cannot be summarized in one or two sentences..."

Looking back to the time when the Hechingen royal family colonized East Africa, the Maasai on the East African grasslands were still fighting with the animals on the African grasslands. It can be said that the civilization of the whole of Africa was quite primitive.

It is simply difficult to let the indigenous people skip the primitive society and directly transition to the industrial society. In the agricultural society, East Africa is just a large version of Brazil. Therefore, the introduction of relatively civilized immigrants is the key to the rapid rise of East Africa, which saves a lot of time for education.

After chatting for a while, Friedrich brought the topic back to the point: "Your Excellency, Archduke, I wonder what is the purpose of your group coming to East Africa this time? After all, it is rare for your three countries to form a group to East Africa."

More than rare, this is the first time in history that Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire have formed a group to conduct diplomatic activities in East Africa, and the leader of this group, Franz IV, is also of a very high status. Now that the situation in Europe is chaotic, the main leaders have to stay in Europe, so Germany can send an archduke, Franz IV, to East Africa, which is enough to show Germany's sincerity.

Franz IV said straight to the point: "The main reason why our three countries came here this time is because of the Baghdad Railway issue."

"Now Britain, France and other countries are relying on their geographical advantages to blockade our allies, so for the victory of the war, I represent the three governments this time to restart the construction of the last section of the Baghdad Railway, the Basda Railway."

Basda is the most important port of the Ottoman Empire in the Persian Gulf, and it is also an important part of the Berlin-Baghdad-Basda Railway planned by Germany before the war. Germany began planning the construction of this railway in the last century.

However, due to the intervention of Britain and Russia, the railway finally only achieved the overall construction of the Berlin-Baghdad section.

It can be said that this railway is the German version of the "China-Europe Express". After all, the German government is not a fool. As early as the last century, Germany knew that if it offended Britain and France, Britain and France would definitely strike Germany by blocking Germany's maritime trade routes.

The Berlin-Baghdad-Basra Railway is an important part of breaking the British-French maritime blockade through land transportation. If Germany could open up this land route before the war, it would undoubtedly have a major impact on the entire European war situation.

Of course, Britain obviously saw this, so under Britain's obstruction, Germany's 2B (Berlin, Basra) railway plan eventually became a dead end and failed to achieve the strategic goal of reaching the Persian Gulf.

Now, the consequences are showing. As the situation on the European battlefield becomes increasingly worse, Germany is increasingly dependent on cargo transportation in the Persian Gulf region, but this trade route is not unobstructed due to the interruption of the Baghdad and Basra railway plans.

Franz IV went on to say: "With the tightening of the blockade on sea transportation by Britain and France, the trade between your country and our country has finally been affected, so restarting the construction of the Baghdad and Basra railways is very beneficial to our countries."

This is true. Although East Africa has opened up the maritime trade between East Africa and Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire with its strength, Britain and France can also block it through various means.

If the East African Navy had not invested 70% of its naval power in the Atlantic region, it would be a pipe dream for East African goods to reach Germany and Austria-Hungary directly.

Although Britain and France did not cut off the trade routes due to East Africa's strength, they could achieve the corresponding results as long as the time for transporting goods to the Allies was extended.

In general, East Africa has done its best for Germany and Austria, and has even offended Britain and France.

All this is based on the deterrent power of East Africa. Although East Africa's trade with Europe is blocked by the two countries, it is also limited. After all, East Africa also controls the overseas material transportation channels of the two countries, especially Britain, which relied heavily on India for blood transfusions during the war, and from India to the British mainland, East Africa cannot be bypassed.

This is a fragile balance. Once Britain and France lose their temper in Europe, they will definitely fight to the death, and the tacit understanding between the three countries will be difficult to maintain. Of course, Germany will definitely be the most hurt.

Therefore, Germany now urgently needs the Basra section of the railway to ensure that its trade channels are unobstructed after Britain and France seal the demon, and the 2B railway is the most important link.

Among them, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire are allies of Germany. As long as the Basra-Basra Railway is opened, materials from East Africa can be stably supplied to the three countries through the 2B Railway, which is the last retreat for the logistics of the three countries.

"It is difficult to complete large-scale transportation operations on the hundreds of kilometers long line from Baghdad to Basra relying on manpower and camels. Now we need to restart the construction of this railway, so that the chances of victory among the three alliances can be greatly increased." An Ottoman official also interrupted at this time.

It seems that the Ottoman Empire can't sit still. It intends to completely ally with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Friedrich looked at the Ottoman officials in front of him and thought in his heart.

At present, the Ottoman Empire is still a neutral country. Since it can run to East Africa with Franz IV, it is obvious that the two countries have reached a complete agreement.

This is also easy to understand. Now the situation of the Allies on the battlefield can be said to be very good, so the Ottoman Empire has been convinced that the Allies will win the final victory.

And the key reason for the Ottoman Empire's determination is not difficult to guess. In addition to Germany's excellent performance in the early stage of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was truly unexpected.

Or it was beyond Ernst's expectations. The Austro-Hungarian Empire in the previous life was very embarrassed in World War I, so Ernst was not optimistic about the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning.

However, Ernst did not expect that many of the hidden cards he had buried at the time had a huge impact on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the previous life have many similar problems, they can never be equated.

For example, Crown Prince Rudolf, now Rudolf has completely taken over the battlefield command from Franz, which did not exist in the previous life, and Rudolf is obviously younger than Emperor Franz, and is more energetic in commanding and mastering the battlefield.

Take boosting morale as an example. Crown Prince Rudolf went to the front line in person, which was difficult for the old Emperor Franz to do. Moreover, Rudolf was more courageous than Franz to use young generals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, anyone who got older would have more concerns.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire in this time and space is much stronger than in the previous life. There are more territories such as Venice and Lombardy. In terms of population, Ernst has stuffed a lot of immigrants into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Including the Neretva region, at least 600,000 people have immigrated from East Africa to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in recent years, and these people will continue to grow in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For example, the population of the Neretva region has doubled.

The industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also stronger than that of the same period in history. This is also because the emergence of East Africa has made up for the shortcomings of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in energy and minerals, such as the development of the oil industry in the Austro-Hungarian Empire by East African companies, or the export of cotton, rubber and other materials from East Africa to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In terms of the navy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has also made some progress. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has an additional coastline in the Venice area. Even if Hungary opposes the expansion of the imperial navy, the Austro-Hungarian Navy has reasonable reasons to add a few more warships.

In short, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been strengthened to a great extent. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot show the strong military capabilities of Germany, its combat effectiveness has at least reached its original level.

At present, the main opponent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is only Russia. Under the normal performance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the two countries can only be regarded as equals, and have already fallen into a stalemate in the border area in advance. This is different from the historical defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by Russia.