Chapter 400: A Whimsical Plan
Chapter 390 – Whimsical Plan
Putting down the African Strategy in his hand, Franz could only sigh at everyone’s ambitious goals, circling half of the African continent in one breath.
That’s right, it was circled, not occupied. At present, Austria had not yet accomplished one-third of the aforementioned plan, and the actual control area was probably less than one-fifth.
Even though Franz has made efforts to emigrate, the current population of Austrian Africa is still less than five million.
With such a small population controlling seven to eight million square kilometers of land, it can be imagined how sparsely populated it is.
Of course, this is not counting the local natives, otherwise there would have been more than ten million.
If the next strategy was to be accomplished, it would not be possible without tens of millions of people. However, the population of the entire New Holy Roman Empire has only just crossed the 60 million threshold.
Now that the world has been divided up, the last piece of terra incognita will definitely be a battle between the dragons and the tigers.
At present, France and Austria are at the forefront of the colonization of Africa, followed closely by the British, the Portuguese, and the Dutch, who also have a small colony.
This macro-strategy of the Ministry of Colonization should be better described as an “ideal strategy”.
As long as countries were not stupid, they would not let this plan become a reality.
After taking a brief look at the map, it is roughly as follows: from Guinea and Mali in the west to Libya in the north, the Boer Republic in the south and Somalia in the east.
Although there is no satellite positioning in this era, Franz roughly estimated that the total area of these areas add up, but also run to 20 million square kilometers.
After thinking about it, Franz picked up a pen and started to hit a fork on it, ready to hit back and let the colonial department redo it.
This impractical strategy was simply not feasible. Unless a world war was provoked and Austria became the big winner, only then would there be the capital to go ahead and realize it.
However, Franz was not a war monger, and Austria was not the German II Empire that had to challenge the world in history.
Although many people believe that the German II Empire started the war because of economic development and the need for resources and markets, Franz, however, believed that it was mainly the resources because the problem of markets could be solved.
The world economy is a big circle and the national economy is a small circle. Theoretically as long as this circular loop continues to function properly, the economy can continue to grow.
The core of this economic circle lies in population and resources, and the world’s population is now only about one billion.
Among them: about 275 million in the European region, mainly in Russia, Austria, France and the United Kingdom, which add up to more than 200 million.
The Asian region is about 820 million, the two eastern populous countries together have 700 million, the rest of the region is also sparsely populated.
The African continent has around 0.6 billion, with the effects of colonial activities giving rise to population growth there, as more emigrants have left in recent years, and many areas have experienced negative growth.
The Americas have about 60 million people, which is really sparsely populated, the North and South America together have only so many people, the two United States occupies half of it.
The volume of international trade is actually not very large, the economy of each country is still mainly based on the domestic, in Austria, for example, the proportion of international trade in the economy, less than 5% of the total.
If the colonial trade is included in the local economy, then international trade in the Austrian economy is even less worth mentioning.
This is the productivity of the decision, the total wealth of society is limited, can be exported goods is too single, the trade volume simply can not be raised up.
Nowadays, the biggest export commodity on the international market is textiles, followed by food. What industrial and commercial products, machinery and equipment, there is simply not much of a market.
On the entire international market, the total amount of all export commodities combined is less than one billion pounds, or even less than seven hundred million pounds.
The market is so big, the main force of the economy of each country is the local market. Britain, France and Austria just that one, the total amount of the local economy is not a billion can be measured, at least to use two or three.
In an era dominated by the domestic economy, the most important thing is still the internal cycle. As long as there are enough resources, the economy can theoretically develop normally.
Specific reference can be made to the U.S. Many people think that Latin America is the backyard of the Americans and the dumping ground for American industrial and commercial products.
The reality is that Latin America is a total of more than two million people, sixty to seventy percent or Indian tribes, there is a gross purchasing power.
South American countries and do not buy the account of the Americans, people would rather import European goods, and do not buy U.S. garbage products.
However, from the late 19th century the U.S. economy is still soaring, within forty years nine times.
This is the power of resources. The same lack of sufficient export markets for goods, the Germans were forced into battle by their capital, while American capital could hold steady, relying on its own abundant resources.
In Franz’s view, “resources” were the core of colonization. It was under this concept that the colonial indigenization movement came into being.
After much hesitation, Franz did not reject this “whimsical plan” outright. He had a strong aversion to painting a big picture, but he had to paint a big picture that was very effective.
Otherwise, there would not have been so many whimsical plans in history, such as the British plan 2C, which went from Cairo to South Africa directly from the south to the north.
Including: Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania.
This plan, as huge as it was, was finally realized by John Bull. However it didn’t last long and the colonial empire collapsed.
The Germans, as a latecomer, also came up with the “Teutonic Plan for Africa”, which was not very ambitious and included only Namibia, Angola, Congo and Tanzania.
The success of the strategy depended on its strength, not on the size of its ambition, so the strategy died.
The French “Plan 2S” was a bit perverted, after occupying North Africa, the French were also prepared to kill from Senegal to Somalia.
This plan is similar to the Austrian strategic plan, and the difference between “Guinea to Somalia” and “Senegal to Somalia” is not very big.
As for the Austrian Republic of the Boers in the south, it has barely been realized, with the emergence of a 1,000-strong colonial stronghold in the Zimbabwean region.
Nor is it difficult to reach Libya to the north; after all, that is a landlocked part of Africa, and rivals are not yet able to reach the region.
Only east to Somalia is still a long way off, separated by Sudan and Ethiopia. Of course, it is possible to go around Uganda and Kenya.
In practice, it’s definitely not that simple to maneuver. Because of Austria’s colonization strategy, these areas were included together.
In any case, the spirit is recognizable. Since this plan was sent up, it meant that the Colonial Ministry thought there was a possibility of success.
Of course, this success is not that all the goals were accomplished, it just means that the plan was strategically accomplished, with a few colonies missing in the middle, that was inevitable.
Considering that this is a critical time for colonial indigenization, Franz acquiesced to the existence of this plan, but of course, when it comes to concrete implementation, it certainly can’t be so rigid.
For example: areas connected by rivers should be prioritized, desert areas should be placed at the back of the line, places with strong indigenous strength should be shelved first, and areas that may cause conflict should be restrained from expansion ……
In this day and age, there are no national boundaries on the African continent, mostly a bunch of indigenous tribes, and it’s still too much of a stretch to talk about the concept of nations.
This colonization strategy, naturally, will not follow the later generations of national boundaries, in fact, Franz also has no way to find out the later generations of national boundaries on the map.
After a while of modification, Franz managed to compress this strategic plan.
For example: the deserts of North Africa were not to be fought with the French, and could not be controlled in this era anyway.
Specifically: half of Mali is not wanted, and the Niger region is basically not wanted. If not for the connection to Libya, Chad Franz are ready to give up, now is reluctantly left behind.
The eastern part of Ethiopia, Somalia, also by Franz ranked last, other areas are not occupied before, will not hit these areas of attention.
Namibia, Tanzania came to the penultimate sequence, basically belonging to the abandoned regions. The rest of the region depends on the ability of the men to take as much as they can.
In this way, this plan has shrunk by almost one-third, and the feasibility has greatly increased.
Occupying half of the African continent is too hateful, but occupying one-third, or about forty percent of the African continent, Franz thinks it is possible to succeed.
This was a combination of strength + first mover advantage. Once the indigenization strategy was successful, there would be another peak of immigration. As long as there was enough population, Franz was not afraid of any challenge on the African continent.
Take for example the current West African region and Congo region, there are millions of people there, who has the ability to take these places away?
War also requires cost, without enough benefits, it is simply not enough to make the colonial empire start a war.
The African continent can trigger the war of the great powers, in addition to the gold mines in South Africa, other areas are not enough to make the great powers to meet each other.
In fact, the gold mines in South Africa were not worth a bloodbath between the two great powers. Despite the high reserves of gold, it was just that until it was mined.
Do not look at the production of several hundred tons per year, in fact, gold mining also needs cost, to rely on gold to recover the cost of the war, Franz does not think in his lifetime can be realized.
(End of chapter)