#1403 - European Consensus

Germany's situation was very awkward. After failing to challenge the hegemony of Britain and France in World War I, Germany only nominally maintained and consolidated its position as the overlord of continental Europe.

After all, since the Franco-Prussian War, Germany had always been the number one military power on the European continent. Although France emphasized its army as the best in Europe in pre-war propaganda, France had never militarily surpassed Germany again since the Franco-Prussian War. World War I further solidified the French army's position as the second-best in Europe.

However, this did not change the situation of Germany, the current overlord of continental Europe. The idea of seizing Britain and France's vast overseas colonies through war was shattered.

Germany could only continue to cultivate its original markets and spheres of influence, and expand outwards based on this. The two directions of expansion were Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

However, Germany's expansion in these two directions was clearly not smooth. In Eastern Europe, the current Russian regime led by the Russian Labor Party continued the fundamental policy of expansion towards Europe from the Tsarist era.

In the previous life, the Far East Empire's investment in Asia accounted for more than 60%, while Europe and North America only accounted for about 10%. Next were Latin America and Africa, with similar proportions, around 7%. Oceania was the least, less than 3%.

Therefore, the expansion of spheres of influence is generally from near to far. European countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Russia will inevitably fight to the death for European hegemony.

The United States regards the Americas as its backyard, and Japan focuses on the Pacific Rim, especially the East Asian region.

Compared with these countries, East Africa is a relatively strange existence. It was not until recently that it created a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and began to integrate resources on the African continent.

This, to some extent, reflects East Africa's vacillation in its expansion policy. The Middle East, Southeast Asia, South America, and West Africa, East Africa all want to get involved, which has led to the dispersion of East African power.

However, overall, East Africa still regards countries and regions along the Indian Ocean as its core sphere of influence.

As a result, East Africa, Russia, Britain, Germany, and even the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, have conflicts of interest. Other countries are also reluctant to let East Africa control the Indian Ocean, after all, the Indian Ocean is the main artery of Eurasian trade in the age of maritime transport.

Hermann said to Wilhelm II: "East Africa is already too strong. Coupled with its geographical advantages, its threat to the world is no less than that of Russia."

"To the north, they have the ability to control the entire African continent and create an African version of the 'Monroe Doctrine'. To the east, they can control the Indian Ocean and block communication and trade between Europe and the Far East."

"To the west, East Africa has already interfered in the Americas and has conflicts of interest with the United States. In the future, they may very well continue north along the Atlantic Ocean and spread their influence to the entire Atlantic coast."

"If Russia can connect the Eurasian continent through land, East Africa is the most powerful force that can divide Eurasia into two through sea and land."

Speaking of this, Hermann couldn't help but fall into deep jealousy. Compared with Germany, East Africa's geographical conditions were simply "invincible."

East Africa is geographically offensive and defensive, and because of the particularity of Africa's location, they are more aggressive than the United States.

"In recent years, East Africa has relied on this geographical advantage to carry out expansion activities on a global scale. Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Far East, West Africa, etc., all have newly established East African colonies."

The reason for East Africa's advantage is that East Africa is surrounded by soft persimmons. To the north of East Africa are North Africa and West Africa, and these two regions obviously cannot pose a threat to East Africa.

The east is the Indian Ocean region, which is also mostly colonies and backward countries.

The two most powerful countries in South America to the west, Brazil and Argentina, are too far apart from East Africa.

Looking at Germany again, there is not a single good neighbor around. Europe in this era can be said to be a "monster room."

Hermann couldn't imagine how fragrant it would be if East Africa's geographical location were changed to Germany.

Wilhelm II also gritted his teeth and said: "East Africa's natural endowments are indeed enviable, jealous, and hateful. This is also their confidence in being able to handle the First World War with ease. I am afraid that the benefits the Americans have gained are dwarfed by East Africa."

The reason why Germany's attitude towards East Africa is so bad now actually has roots, mainly in two aspects: first, colonies, and second, economic interests.

Before the war, East Africa "took advantage of the fire" and robbed Germany of its colonies. Although this transaction was objectively "fair and just" before World War I, the Germans obviously did not see it that way. From the German perspective, they were the losing party.

That was more than one million square kilometers, involving Central and West Africa, the South Pacific, the Far East, and other regions. Since Germany's unification, decades of overseas colonial achievements were easily taken into East Africa's pocket.

Obviously, East Africa does not see it that way. In East Africa's view, this is a completely voluntary and fair transaction. After all, if Germany does not sell these colonies to East Africa, these colonies will only benefit countries such as Britain and France.

However, now that the war is over, Germany wants to take these colonies back, and East Africa will definitely not agree.

This is one of the important differences between the two countries. For Germany, because of the final result of World War I, Germany's gains were not enough to offset the losses. The loss of these overseas colonies made Germany even more heartbroken.

In terms of territory, Germany only gained 50,000 square kilometers of new land in Eastern Europe after the war. Compared with the loss of millions of square kilometers of territory overseas, it would be strange if they could be at peace.

In terms of economic interests, Germany not only does not feel grateful to East Africa, but also complains that East Africa harvested too much wealth from Germany in World War I.

As Germany's most important supplier in World War I, the more money East Africa made, the more heartbroken Germany was after the war. We fought to the death in Europe and paid a heavy price. As a result, East Africa did not contribute any effort and emptied a large amount of wealth accumulated by Germany.

That's not all. During World War I, a large number of overseas markets that Germany had painstakingly cultivated were also harvested by East Africa, such as the markets for military supplies and electrical equipment.

Although there are differences between East Africa and Germany in terms of weapons, there are also many commonalities. For example, the rifles and artillery of the two countries, many of East Africa's technologies come from Germany and Austria.

However, during World War I, Germany was caught in the war and weapon exports stagnated. Those countries that originally imported military equipment from Germany naturally had to choose alternatives. Without a doubt, East Africa, which had some commonalities with German equipment, was the best choice. This made the overseas arms market that Germany had painstakingly cultivated before the war benefit East Africa for nothing.

Once a country that originally equipped German military products has its weapons and equipment largely replaced by East African products, it will obviously be very difficult to replace them again.

In the international arms trade market, brand, quality, performance, and price are important influencing factors. However, in these areas, German military industry does not have a clear advantage over East African military industry. Both are of "German origin." Although East Africa's overall industrial level is not as good as Germany's, its military industry is on par with Germany's.

Perhaps German weapons are indeed of higher quality than those from East Africa, but it is also a fact that East African weapons are cheaper than German ones.

At the political level, East Africa's sphere of influence is clearly wider than Germany's. This is also an important advantage for East Africa in seizing Germany's original overseas military market.

For example, the Far Eastern Empire, a huge military market in the early 20th century, imports a large number of foreign military products every year due to its weak domestic military industry and frequent wars.

Which country's military products are imported obviously needs to be considered from a political perspective. After all, many factions have the support of different countries behind them.

The most typical examples are Russia and Japan, two malicious neighbors. Countries that are close to the Far Eastern Empire and can easily manipulate and interfere in its internal affairs are more likely to obtain large military orders.

In this era, the military products of Russia and Japan are undoubtedly not outstanding among the great powers, and it would not be an exaggeration to describe them as "scrap." However, the fact that these two countries can obtain a large number of military orders in the Far Eastern Empire speaks volumes.

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Reflecting on Germany and East Africa, East Africa clearly has more advantages. East Africa has many colonies in the Far East, and its navy is stationed in the Pacific region, which are influences that Germany does not have.

World War I lasted for five years. A large part of the overseas military market of Germany and Austria was devoured by East Africa. Therefore, it is strange that Germany would have a good impression of East Africa on this issue alone.

Therefore, in the eyes of Wilhelm II and Hermann and other Germans, East Africa is a "thief" in the international market, stealing a large amount of benefits that should have belonged to Germany.

However, even if they feel dissatisfied with East Africa, Germany can only hold it in their hearts now. Germany's attitude towards East Africa is quite contradictory.

Wilhelm II said: "Although the East Africans are very annoying, our main enemy now is still Russia. Reaching an agreement with Britain on the issue of the League of Nations to bring the entire Europe to confront Russia is indeed a good idea."

East Africa is a long-term concern, and East Africa should not even be a problem for Germany to consider. Now Germany cannot even get out of Europe. On the contrary, Britain and France have deeper intersections with East Africa in overseas interests. It's just that East Africa is simply more annoying to Germany, so the monarch and his minister said so much.

Hermann said: "To deal with Russia, we must first stabilize the front line, and then look for opportunities to end this war, to prevent other countries from once again acting as the fisherman behind the scenes. After all, it is impossible for us to take down Russia now, and the war with Russia will only be detrimental to Germany."

"We need a period of peaceful development to smooth out the wounds of war, restore the national economy, and then consider military investment and the future direction of the country."

"During this period, we should win over more allies internationally, restrict Russia's development, and reduce the empire's military expenditures. The financial crisis has not yet been resolved, so we cannot be the only ones contributing to confronting Russia."

Germany is locked in a deadly struggle with Russia. No one knows what the final outcome of Russia will be, but it will definitely be detrimental to Germany. After all, even if Germany beats Russia half to death, the international community is unlikely to allow Germany to digest the spoils of war.

While Germany has the idea of a truce, Russia is the main obstacle to whether Eastern Europe can be peaceful. Judging from the current state of the Russian Labor Party, they support the continuation of the war, because as of now, the war situation is favorable to Russia, and the Russian Labor Party currently has the attributes of a world political party. Their political slogan is to liberate the whole world, and the liberation of the whole world naturally needs to be achieved through war.

Therefore, Hermann proposed that the war situation should be stabilized first, and Russia should be "beaten hard" to bring the Russian Labor Party back to rationality.

Although the Russian Labor Party temporarily occupies an advantage, don't forget that the Russian people are not equal to the Russian Labor Party. The collapse of Tsarist Russia in World War I was due to the lower-level people's aversion to war, so it ultimately did not end well.

Therefore, Hermann believes that as long as Russia suffers losses on the front line or finds it difficult to continue to advance, they must return to the negotiating table, otherwise, even if the Russian Labor Party is more able to bewitch people, they are destined to repeat the mistakes of the Tsarist Russian government.

Hermann continued: "At the same time, for the Russian Labor Party, we should also launch counterattacks against them in the ideological and public opinion fields, especially within the empire and the empire's sphere of influence. We must strengthen the propaganda offensive and study how to crack the ideological weapons of the Russian Labor Party."

"Avoid the people in the country and surrounding areas from being incited by the Labor Party. The Labor Party's theory is the most terrible, like Satan. This time, our lessons in Eastern Europe tell us that we must find a way to curb the spread of this evil thought."

"Otherwise, not to mention Poland and Ukraine and other regions, I am afraid that the empire itself may be infiltrated by Labor Party members, and ultimately endanger the foundation of rule."

Regarding this point, Wilhelm II also said with a solemn expression: "The Labor Party's ideology is extremely destructive. Although we have carried out long-term strikes against Labor Party members, these evil thoughts of the Labor Party are like weeds, still growing wildly. Therefore, when negotiating with the British, we should also take this opportunity to discuss how countries around the world should respond to the spread of this evil thought."

Leaving aside the so-called "evil" ideological factors, Russia is actually the same Russia as before, even weaker in national strength than in the era of Tsarist Russia, but its combat effectiveness is exactly the opposite. Under the armament of this evil thought, the combat effectiveness of the Russian army is obviously more "ferocious" and "rapid" than the gray livestock of Tsarist Russia.

Therefore, curbing the spread of this ideology has become a problem that the current German government believes must be solved. If this problem can be solved, then the situation in Ukraine and Belarus will not be repeated.

Therefore, with these problems in mind, in 1923, in addition to further strengthening military support to Eastern Europe to prevent Russia's expansion, the German government also began exchanges and cooperation with Britain and other countries.

Britain naturally supports the change in Germany's attitude. With the active promotion of the two countries, the progress of establishing the League of Nations, a worldwide organization for coordinating international affairs and relations and resolving international disputes, has greatly accelerated.

After experiencing the mutual slaughter of World War I, the four major European imperialist countries, Britain, France, Germany, and Austria, finally had to sit together again because of various threats outside Europe (including Russia) to form alliances on the issue of Europe's destiny.

This also doomed the League of Nations, an international organization, to have the nature of suppressing the development of countries outside Europe from its birth. This is also the only consensus that can unite the four countries at present. This also reflects the current trend of decline in Europe to a certain extent.