Chapter 661 Berlin Conference
As 1884 approaches, a conspiracy "gathering" is brewing in Europe. As in the previous life, the venue was chosen to be Berlin. However, the purpose and content of the Berlin Conference this time were quite different, and surprisingly, the East African government also received invite.
The previous Berlin Conference was mainly caused by the Congo River Basin dispute, but the trigger of this Berlin Conference is the Niger River Basin.
After all, East Africa already controls most of the Congo River Basin. Only the lower reaches of the Congo River are controlled by Belgium and Portugal respectively, while the outlet of the Congo River is completely controlled by the Portuguese colony of Angola. Therefore, there is currently no so-called dispute in the Congo River Basin. question.
"German Prime Minister Bismarck plans to convene an international conference on West African affairs. Nominally, it is to bring civilization to West Africa and change the local backwardness. In fact, it is to completely resolve the increasingly fierce confrontation and disputes in West Africa. In other words, the West African countries The colonists should divide the interests of West Africa and speed up the colonization of West Africa."
"Invite us? Will they let East Africa enter West Africa?" Constantine said jokingly.
"This is the weird thing. We in East Africa are definitely the leading force in Africa now. If they get involved in West Africa, wouldn't they be asking for trouble! So I'm afraid there are some bad actors this time."
"This Berlin Conference is actually a competition between Britain, France and Germany in West Africa, along with traditional colonial powers such as Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal."
Portugal's colonies in West Africa are mainly the small territory off the coast of the Kingdom of Dahomey - Vida, as well as the Portuguese islands of Sao Tome and Principe in the Atlantic Ocean. There are also three broken ships, which is what Portugal is talking about. situation, so the Berlin Conference cannot bypass this colonial power that has completely declined.
Of course, the main reason for mentioning Portugal in particular is that Portugal’s participation in this international conference is quite ironic. As in its previous life, the countries eligible to participate in this Berlin Conference are the sixteen “world powers” by Western standards.
Specifically, they include the five major gangsters in Europe, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Austria, then the United States, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the Kingdom of Italy, Portugal, and the only African country qualified to participate - the Kingdom of Hechingen (East African Kingdom).
If Portugal is not counted as a "powerful country", then Denmark, Norway, and only half of Italy are very embarrassed. Although Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden are small in size, they are either developed or wealthy, or like Sweden. It is quite influential in Northern Europe, and these countries are no worse than several major powers in terms of industrialization.
"This Berlin Conference did not invite us to Sigmaringen. Will this affect our strategic layout of Sigmaringen?" Prince Karl asked.
Sigmaringen is indeed more concerned about the content of this conference than East Africa, because the main expansion direction of Sigmaringen's future territory is West Africa in order to seek an independent sea outlet. However, this Berlin Conference disrupted Sigmaringen's layout.
What is even more embarrassing is that Sigmaringen is not qualified to sit at the negotiating table, that is, the mainstream countries in the world do not recognize the existence of the Sigmaringen royal territory.
In fact, this is not because Europe is discriminating, but because many countries do not know the existence of the Sigmaringen colony at all, including Germany, which led this meeting.
Because the geographical location of Sigmaringen is indeed too remote, even the Eastern Azand Province at the junction of East Africa and Sigmaringen actually has a small population except for the army, not to mention the fact that Sigmalingen has to go through East Africa to develop the Chad region. Mullingen.
Some French expeditions knew the existence of the royal territory of Sigmaringen, but they mistook it for East Africa.
Because before Sigmaringen, the indigenous people in the Chad region mainly dealt with East Africa. Many indigenous forces who fled from the Great Lakes region to the Chad region naturally regarded East Africa as their suzerainty.
Therefore, before the royal territory of Sigmaringen colonized the Chad region, the East African Army often patrolled the Chad region to escort East African geologists and expedition teams deep into West Africa.
In this way, the Chad region was regarded as East African territory by the French, but in fact it has become the territory of the Sigmaringen royal family in recent years, and the local indigenous forces were expelled by East Africa in advance.
"Karl, you don't have to worry. At this meeting, we will definitely guarantee the basic interests of Sigmaringen. However, because of the sudden incident, I think it may be difficult for Sigmaringen to obtain access to the sea in the future!" Constantine Ding analyzed.
The final result of the Berlin Conference will definitely be to divide the spheres of influence according to the strength of each party in West Africa. Therefore, in addition to those countries that have colonies in West Africa, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Tsarist Russia, Norway, Sweden, and even East Africa, etc. They are all spectators. Of course, since they participate in the meeting, they will definitely compensate the participating countries in terms of economic benefits, including business, transportation, development and other rights in West Africa.
In fact, large areas of land in West Africa have not been developed, especially the inland areas. In this era, a quick way for colonists to develop inland areas was to follow the waterways and go deep into the inland areas.
This is also the reason why expedition teams from European and American countries like to explore the source of rivers. In his previous life, Stanley used the banner of exploring the source of the Congo River to carry out preliminary preparations for the colonization of the Congo Basin with the funding of Belgium.
This time, he did not have this opportunity, because everything west of the Kinshasa area was within the control area of East Africa, and the East African inland river and lake troops could cruise the entire middle reaches of the Congo River.
The outlet of the Congo River was also completely controlled by the Portuguese with the demise of the Kingdom of Congo. The Portuguese are still a considerable force in Africa, especially in recent years, in order to deal with East Africa, they have greatly improved their military strength.
Therefore, explorers like Stanley could only carry out activities in the Niger River Basin. In addition, the fierce competition between Britain, France and Germany in West Africa in recent years led to the convening of the Berlin Conference.
Originally, France was the strongest in West Africa, but Britain also occupied many good places, the most famous of which was the Gold Coast. Now Germany, a new world power, has also plunged into the quagmire of West Africa, and the entire West African coastline has become a mess.
There was nothing that could be done about it. East Africa blocked the British roads to the south and north, so they had no choice but to sacrifice themselves and compete with Germany and France for the last uncolonized area of West Africa.
"This time Germany invited us to participate in the Berlin Conference. In all likelihood, it wanted us to support its colonial activities in West Africa. As for East Africa wanting to benefit from this conference, it is basically impossible. After all, Britain, France and Germany, including other countries, No one wants a giant country to emerge in Africa.
Therefore, our primary purpose is still the same as that of Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is to strive for conditions based on economic interests while ensuring the relevant rights and interests of the Sigmaringen royal family. However, the current situation on the West African coastline is complicated, and the distribution of West Africa by the last few great powers is Unanimity is difficult to achieve. " said Ernst.
The main reason is that Sigmaringen entered Africa too late. If Sigmaringen colonized Africa at the same time as Belgium, then this matter would be much easier to handle.
Constantine also said to Prince Karl: "If Sigmaringen wants to obtain access to the sea, it must negotiate with Germany. You ask Leopold to discuss this matter with the Prussian royal family in advance. If Germany agrees, then this matter will be fine. It’s a lot to do, but in this way, Sigmaringen will also be in debt to Germany in the future.”
We are not afraid of owed favors anyway, especially the three royal families, which are all branches of the Hohenzollern family, and are the three main branches, so the Prussian royal family will definitely support Sigmaringen, but the attitude of the Prussian royal family is not It must represent the attitude of the German government.
