Chapter 1319: Military Expansion Topic

Within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as long as there are no problems with the Habsburg family, the normal operation of the empire can basically be maintained. And as long as Austria and Hungary reach an agreement, 90% of the empire's strength can basically be used.

What's more, now that the Austro-Hungarian Empire's greatest enemy, Tsarist Russia, has disappeared, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military strength and political influence in the region have increased unprecedentedly.

As for the few remaining countries on the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria is its ally. Romania, Greece, Montenegro, and Albania are not opponents of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a whole.

If Britain cannot stop the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s offensive in the Balkans, then the next step is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire is likely to assist the Ottoman Empire in re-opening the Indian Ocean trade channel.

In this way, the Entente's attempt to blockade the Allies would go bankrupt, and the Allies, who had regained material support from East Africa, would return the war situation to the state before 1918.

Therefore, the effect of the United States joining the Allied Powers on the situation in Europe today is far less effective than in its previous life, and it is even possible that the confrontation between the two camps will remain. This is something East Africa is happy to see.

If the situation really developed in this order, then among the great powers, only East Africa, Spain and Japan could stay out of the matter and reap the benefits.

The topic returned to the military conference in East Africa. Pripyat said: "Today, the imperial army is second only to Britain, France, Germany and Austria in terms of number. At the same time, it has not joined the war in Europe, but we are still trapped in a situation where our troops are stretched thin. ’s predicament.”

"The number of troops stationed in overseas colonies has greatly exceeded the standard, exceeding more than 400,000, while the number of local armies is only more than 200,000, and we still need to increase our troops in the Horn of Africa."

"You can imagine that without expanding the size of the army, our country's tens of millions of square kilometers of land can only maintain an army of about 100,000. This is a very dangerous signal."

"As for the navy, its strength is also stretched thin. East Africa is different from other countries. Our country plays an important role in the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and even the Pacific Ocean."

"But the size of our navy is now only slightly stronger than that of Germany. At the same time, the construction of overseas military bases and colonial combat tasks also share a large number of naval personnel."

"At the same time, our country's air force is developing rapidly and is in urgent need of increasing research and development funding, personnel and pilot numbers."

Following Pripyat's analysis, it triggered thinking among East African senior officials.

Prime Minister Sweet of the National Planning Commission asked: "Now we are indeed slightly insufficient in the number of troops, but the more reason is due to frequent overseas wars, especially today's Kra Isthmus territory, but the colonial war is only a short-term process, do we need to expand our military for this?”

Cristiano, Minister of the General Staff, said: "Your Majesty the Duke, the reason why our military proposes to expand the army is not a short-sighted act. Instead, it is proposed from the perspective of the long-term interests of the empire."

"First of all, as General Pripyat said, our country's military currently has serious shortages of troops to deal with colonial expansion, maintenance of overseas interests, domestic security and regional wars."

"This is an urgent problem that the National Defense Forces currently need to solve. At the same time, the insufficient number of troops has also affected the long-term development of our country's military industry system."

"Especially with the increasing equipment level of our military, changes in combat systems, and exploration of combat experience, it is necessary to maintain a certain number of troops to achieve this purpose, especially for the army."

"The Empire is different from the United States. We attach great importance to the construction of the army. Only by maintaining a certain number of troops can our country's army military industry develop stably and healthily."

"In the past, the number of our country's army has remained below 500,000 people all year round. This level, corresponding to our country's current population size and economic development level, is far lower than the world average."

"Even though the number of troops has increased significantly in recent years, the main increase has been in infantry units. Especially in overseas colonial operations, the development of high-quality services such as armored units, mobile units, artillery, and information units has fallen into a sluggish state."

"After all, we can't expect these troops to be used in colonial operations. That would be a waste of time."

"Of course, these are not the key issues. The key issue is that if our country wants to protect Europe's post-war interests, it must have a strong military as a guarantee of strength."

"Today, the overseas markets we have opened up, it is no secret to say that they are snatching countries from other powers, especially South America and the Indian Ocean coast. The markets in these places used to be dominated by the British."

"So after the European war ends, we will face the risk of losing these overseas markets, and the only way to ensure the security of overseas markets is to build a strong military."

"Therefore, I propose to expand the National Defense Force to more than one million, with particular emphasis on developing the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet to safeguard our country's core interests in the two oceans."

"Expanding the total tonnage of the navy to 1.6 million tons will prevent our country from being passive in its maritime strategy. The number of the army, especially the local army, should not be less than 500,000. This will benefit our country on the mainland. to deal with any risks and conflicts.”

"Especially in response to external threats such as Europe and the possible blockade of East Africa, assuming that the navy cannot play a role, breaking the blockade from land will be the only option."

How to break the blockade from land is very simple, that is, to push Egypt horizontally, and thus push the East African sphere of influence directly to the Mediterranean coast.

Of course, this situation occurred when the European powers imposed a blockade on East Africa, and the East African navy could not play a role.

And why Cristiano had such considerations, we have to talk about the Atlantic pattern. The blockade of East Africa by European countries is nothing more than cutting off important channels such as the Suez Canal, which is very simple.

And because of the vast area of ​​the Atlantic Ocean, it is difficult to blockade East Africa, but it also has disadvantages, that is, it is not conducive to the defense of the western coast of East Africa.

After all, among the Atlantic countries, East Africa's naval strength is difficult to compete with Britain. At present, the total tonnage of the British fleet in the Atlantic exceeds more than two million tons, and there are one million tons in the Indian Ocean and other regions.

From the distribution of the British Navy, it can be seen that if a naval war breaks out between East Africa and Britain, East Africa's chances of winning are not great, unless the East African Navy expands to the same scale as Britain. The fact is that the size of the East African Navy is only close to half of the British Navy.

However, East Africa is not participating in the war now, so there is no reason for the East African Navy to expand its armaments so frantically. Maintaining the level of more than one million tons is enough to increase the financial pressure on East Africa.

Looking back at the last century, the navies of various countries were maintained at a scale of hundreds of thousands of tons, and East Africa had to take into account the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, so on this basis, a naval scale of one and a half million tons is a reasonable range.

Pripyat said: "According to comprehensive factors such as our country's area, population, and finance, we will increase the army to more than one million, which is almost the level of Russia before the war."

"This will not have a negative impact on the national economic production and operation, and at the same time ensure our core interests in the turbulent world pattern, so it is imperative to maintain a strong army."

No matter how the European war develops, the world pattern will eventually have a major impact, and if East Africa wants to get a share of this pattern change, it must have a convincing army, which is not only aimed at East Africa's competitors, that is, other powerful countries, but also to boost the confidence of countries with friendly relations with East Africa.

Of course, the friendly relations here mainly refer to countries that have important trade relations with East Africa, that is, the distribution area of ​​newly opened overseas markets in East Africa.