Chapter 463: Taking sides

The German Parliament is in session, so nothing can be hidden. At least Britain, France and other countries already know that there is a force in Germany that has evil intentions for its overseas colonies.

As Bismarck said, the current German government cannot waste time on those bad places. The bad places are nothing more than islands in Africa and the Pacific. Good places include India, Indochina, the Caribbean coast, the Middle East, North Africa, and Australia, all in Britain and France. under the control.

Latin America is a special region. It is now considered an independent continent. It is not a colony of anyone. It is at most a semi-economic colony of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States.

Much of Latin America was formerly a colony of Spain and Portugal. After the Spanish and Portuguese colonial forces were expelled from Latin America, a power vacuum emerged in Latin America. European colonial powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands tried to fill this gap, but they encountered firm opposition from the United States and the original sovereigns, Spain and Portugal.

In 1823, the United States even issued the Monroe Declaration, declaring that America is the America of Americans and opposing European countries' colonization and interference in American affairs. Britain, France and other countries were concerned about the power of the three countries, so they did not forcibly carve up the country. After the rapid growth of the United States' national power in the 19th century, the European powers no longer had the strength to carve up the country.

Now there is Bismarck in Germany who can suppress the colonialists, but in the end Bismarck is just a prime minister and can only represent this government.

Hohenzollern Castle.

"Congressman Klein, thank you very much for your message. Please accept this." Tom skillfully took out a red envelope and handed it to Klein.

"Haha, I'm being polite. It's just a small favor, but don't worry, Mr. Thomas, I will pay attention to any useful information!" Klein happily stuffed the red envelope into his pocket, and then said: "Please tell the king for me Your Majesty says hello!"

"no problem!"

After sending Klein away, Tom carefully sorted out the contents of this parliament and then sent it to East Africa via telegram.

As Hechingen is part of the Hohenzollern Province of the Kingdom of Prussia, the local parliamentarians are naturally inseparable from the royal family of Hechingen.

In fact, it was not Constantine who went to East Africa. This time, the Prince of Hechingen was indispensable for having a seat in the Upper House of the Imperial Parliament.

But it doesn’t matter. There is Sigmaringen next door in the Imperial Parliament. If there is any disturbance, the Hechingen royal family can also get the news. In the same way, the Hechingen royal family can get the news. Basically, the content of this meeting will also be known to others. The country knows.

This aspect also reflects the reason why East Africa has been obscured for ten years. East Africa has no parliament at all, so the risk of information leaking is basically non-existent.

Moreover, European exploration of Africa progressed very slowly. Before Ernst colonized East Africa, European exploration of sub-Saharan Africa was almost limited to coastal areas and rivers such as the Nile.

(Picture: Map of the explored areas of Africa in 1901. The red area is a well-known area, only North Africa and the Nile River in Egypt. The blue area is the coast and some rivers, which are relatively well-known. The gray area is a completely unexplored area.)

East Africa soon received the message from Tom.

Constantine asked: "It seems that after Germany was unified, it also began to try to exert its influence in the world. At least some people are no longer satisfied with the current reality. What should we do?"

Ernst said: "Taking advantage of this warship transaction between us and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we should finalize the relationship between the two countries. Now we should also take sides!"

Constantine: "Choose the Austro-Hungarian Empire?"

Ernst: "Yes, East Africa needs allies, and there is no one more suitable than Austria-Hungary."

Ferdinand: “I’m afraid some people within the Austro-Hungarian Empire do not think that East Africa is qualified to be their ally.

After all, the status of African countries in the eyes of Europe is indeed too low, just short of being tied with Antarctica.

Ernst said with a smile: "We don't care what some people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire think. Just by relying on the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we can avoid a lot of trouble."

Rather than being an ally, it is better to say that Ernst wanted to give East Africa the status of an Austro-Hungarian protectorate. Of course, it was not the original protectorate of Zanzibar.

However, this matter is not easy. It is impossible to just get benefits, so Ernst also plans to give some benefits to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The specific benefits will depend on the bargaining chips in East Africa.

Ferdinand volunteered: "Leave this matter to me!"

"No problem!" Ernst said. There was indeed no more suitable candidate than Archduke Ferdinand.

…

In May, Archduke Ferdinand went to Austria in the name of inspecting the ironclad Friedrich and stopped by Schönbrunn Palace.

"What? An alliance?" Even though Franz himself is usually more serious, he was shocked by his brother's remarks, "Do you know what you are talking about?"

"What's all the fuss about! The alliance between the Kingdom of Hechingen and the Austro-Hungarian Empire seems to me to be a match made in heaven."

"When did you change your name? Isn't it called the Kingdom of East Africa?"

"The name East Africa is no longer appropriate. Now the number of Germans in the kingdom has reached tens of millions, so it is not surprising that we changed it to a German name."

"Do you include black people in the population?" Franz asked.

"Black people are not qualified to be our citizens. If black people are included, the population of East Africa will be more than 30 million."

But Franz still remained skeptical: "It's okay to deceive others, but don't deceive yourself. My dear brother, there are only more than 10 million Germans in the empire. You said there are more than 10 million Germans in one area of ​​Africa." Is it possible for the Germans?”

Ferdinand said: "It depends on how you define Germans. Without counting the newly born population, the real German population in East Africa is probably close to four million, of which South Germany contributed more than 150 million, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, North Germany and the United States contributed about 2.5 million."

"Is this data reliable?"

"In 1870, Germany's population was about 40 million, and the German region has always been the region with the largest population outflow in Europe, especially after the economic crisis."

"Are you sure you didn't include Slavic and other ethnic groups?"

"If you add Slavs and other Europeans, it's probably between 40 and 50 percent, and more than half of the Slavs are Slovenia, Croatia and Serbs."

Franz's eyelids twitched. This was poaching people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire! If you include these Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa poached at least two million people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But that’s fine, no wonder Slovenian and Croatian nationalists have been inactive in recent years.

"Even if you include the Slavs, the population should not be more than 10 million."

"Aren't there nearly half of the immigrants from the Far East? The total number of both parties is exactly 10 million."

"Aren't you afraid that such a country will collapse?" Franz asked his own question.

"You should worry more about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, brother! Compared with the population problem in East Africa, the problem in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is really serious. Germans only account for more than 20%, and these ethnic groups have their own historical identities. , the crisis of division always hangs over your empire!"

The problem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a long-standing problem. The Habsburg family's set of loyalty to the imperial emperor is obviously unable to cope with the rise of nationalism, unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire can create a new nation that can cover all nations.

"It is true that the empire's problems cannot be solved, so you also choose to take this path?"

Archduke Ferdinand shook his head and said: "National integration, East Africa is a country of pure immigrants, and as the rulers of this country, the Hechingen royal family has greater power than any monarch in European history, so in East Africa engaged in extremely strong assimilation policies and just had to wait until the next generation grew up and there was no longer a cognitive problem.”

"Is that still Germany?"

"Who knows! If the Austro-Hungarian Empire can do the same, I believe you will choose the same way. We, the Habsburg family, don't care about the source of the people, because this is how we established the Austrian Empire in the past, but now they Some people, especially the Slavs, identified themselves with the nation in Napoleon's conspiracy thinking and severed their relationship with the empire, but leaving the empire would not benefit them at all except establishing their own country."

No matter how many Slavic countries were established, they would not be as good as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later history also proved this. The Austro-Hungarian Empire could become a major force in Europe and even the world, with both the dignity of a big country and the freedom of small people, but later it was fragmented. A bunch of Balkan countries, even the small people cannot get freedom.

It may be true that things are very unsatisfactory under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is definitely much happier than other countries.