Chapter 509: The Treaty of Cape Town
Chapter 498 The Treaty of Cape Town
The sudden plague made the situation even more complicated. It was fine if it was only confined to the South African region, but if it spread to the entire African continent, Franz would have to cry.
There was no way, a colony was a colony, and even though Austria had been operating in the African continent for more than a decade, it still couldn’t change the backward medical conditions.
Don’t look at the number of infected people now is not small, but it can’t help the high mortality rate. Many patients went to meet God before they knew what was going on.
Franz was also a fan of the authorities, and if he read the information carefully, he understood why the death rate was high.
At present, the most infected were the cannon fodder troops, because they did not pay attention to hygiene and did not have effective treatment, the death rate was naturally high.
There was nothing Franz could do other than order the strengthening of epidemic prevention.
Since there is an epidemic in the “Boer Republican Army”, the neighboring indigenous tribes will not be able to escape, the number of deserters in the cannon fodder troops has always been high, carrying the virus to leave is normal.
Viscount Fikeni has only 30,000 to 40,000 troops in his hands, and he also has to ensure the combat effectiveness of his troops, so he can’t give the British a chance, and there are only a few thousand soldiers at most who can be used to guard the cannon fodder troops.
Using a few thousand people to watch over a hundred and twenty thousand people, running off a hundred and eighty people is inconspicuous, coupled with the cause of the battle, the number of casualties every day is quite a lot, making supervision even more difficult.
Unless they were running in groups, the officers usually didn’t care if a handful went missing.
There are still patrols out there, so it’s their bad luck if they run into them, and God’s blessing if they get past them, even though they don’t necessarily believe in God.
Franz’s judgment was not wrong, the South African region has indeed been an outbreak of epidemic, the consequences are more serious than imagined.
However, the highest death rate is not the local natives, nor these colonists, but the Indian colonial soldiers in the city.
The poor sanitary conditions created good conditions for the virus to flourish. The small size of the territory, the high density of people, and the lack of medical resources, so many harsh conditions collided together, accelerating the spread of the virus.
The real culprit in the mortality rate of Indian soldiers was still the result of the water and soil. Of course there was a direct relationship with the diet, bureaucrats in the London government did not take into account the habits of the Indians, and just shoved potatoes and bread down their throats.
This was something that could not be helped, the bureaucrats in the London government did not even pay attention to their own people, let alone these cannon fodder.
Compared to the period of the Near East War, the British logistical system had not changed much and still played by the rules.
What was relatively better was that the Cape Town area was at least supplemented with fresh fish, much better than eating beef jerky every day.
Of course, most Indians don’t eat beef, but the British gave them a standard of logistical supply that wasn’t enough to supply on beef either.
And even crap beef jerky was more expensive than potatoes. This annoyance Indians can’t meet, the bureaucrats in London never treat them as cheap as they want, how else can they rake in the money?
With the worsening of the epidemic, the Governor of Delphi is having a hard time, as the interests of the two sides are so different that the negotiations have reached a stalemate.
The plague is spreading again in the city, looking at the increasing number of deaths every day, Governor Delphi’s whole body is not good.
From the beginning to now, the number of deaths caused by the plague had accumulated to 3,817, and this number was still increasing at a rate of 500 people per day. If it continues like this, without the need for the enemy to attack, they will be finished off by the plague.
The biggest problem in containing the epidemic was the lack of water, but unfortunately since the news of the outbreak of the plague in Cape Town spread, the number of supply ships that came over every day decreased rather than increased.
People are afraid of death, no one wants to go towards the plague pile, if there is no other way, Governor Delphi himself wants to run away.
Even with the fifty percent increase in freight rates, there were still not many people willing to take the risk of transporting supplies over, which worsened the situation in Cape Town.
There were now 150,000 troops in the Cape Town area, half of which were Indian colonial regiments, and it was with these cannon fodder troops that the two sides fought to a stalemate.
Do not look at the rear of the fortress bunker are tofu dregs project, the city’s buildings are still real, the Indian colonial army against the African dispatched troops on both sides is also a chess match.
Looking at the Red Cross flag flying outside the city, Governor Delphi was disgusted, once wanted to order the troops to fight out.
Winning the battle was naturally a great formality. Breaking the enemy’s siege, getting rid of the water crisis, reducing the population density, epidemic prevention work will be good.
Losing the fight wasn’t too bad. The war depleted the population, lowered the population density, and reduced the demand for fresh water resources. For epidemic prevention, it has a very positive effect.
Thinking about it, but if he really went to do it, Governor Delphi still didn’t dare. Now the two sides are still negotiating, take the risk of starting a war, win is good, lose the court martial will have to go on.
Can win? This question Delphi Governor has long had the answer in mind, with the current military morale, out of the city to find the Austrians duel, the chances of mutiny than the chances of winning.
In fact, from the outbreak of the war to the present, Governor Delphi has suppressed five mutinies, really do not dare to stimulate the fragile nerves of the soldiers.
There was no way around it, the rabble being what it was. Most of the white soldiers in the city were recruited temporarily from the colonies, or else the London government drew reinforcements from the colonies, and the regular army was only a minority.
In the opinion of many in the London government, suppressing the land forces was more important than this war. The Anglo-Boer War in the original time and space, which was fought so badly, was actually the result of the London government’s suppression of the army.
If it was the regular army and had double the strength advantage, Governor Delphi wouldn’t have fought such a lousy battle, and was pressed from beginning to end.
Militarily speaking, being able to keep the vast majority of your troops despite constant defeats is a passable commanding ability. Of course long-distance running generals don’t count, just being able to run isn’t good enough.
Despite being north passive, this sudden plague has pushed the Yingbu negotiation process. The deteriorating situation is also constantly refreshing the bottom line of the British.
This time the lead negotiator is the colonial government of Cape Town, the situation is a clear understanding of the situation, simply do not dare to drag on.
The cause of the plague led to a reduction in the number of transportation ships, Cape Town’s reserves of supplies not only did not grow, but continued to decline. Fresh water resources, in particular, are scarce.
There was no way around it, it wasn’t easy to save large amounts of fresh water, it could only be put into reservoirs or storage tanks. Now that it was a time of war, reservoirs were out of the question.
The artillery outside the city is not vegetarian, from time to time also shells explode in the reservoir, even if you do not care about gunpowder, heavy metal poisoning, the reservoir can not store water ah!
Have to, the British can only build a large number of reservoirs, which is not so easy to accomplish, to solve the drinking water problem of so many people, is not a small project.
This is not just dig a hole, can solve the problem. If the leakage problem is not solved, it is estimated that the water will leak out before the winter.
In order to save water, the British army in Cape Town has long been limited to 5 liters of water per day for white soldiers and 3 liters of water per day for each Indian soldier.
Just drinking water, this is almost enough, the rest may probably be used to wipe a face, the British soldiers save a little use, probably able to wipe the body.
This is just a theory, water for domestic use is not just for drinking. One couldn’t go without washing clothes, washing hands, or bathing all the time, but of course it’s true that Indians didn’t bathe much in this day and age.
With this supply, it was merely enough to ensure survival, don’t expect anything else. Unless the British open up and play with desalination at sea, it simply won’t be enough to meet the demand.
There was no way to detect the internal situation in Cape Town, but the number of ships entering the harbor every day could not be kept secret.
The number of ships entering and leaving Cape Town every day has decreased, this is a math problem is very good to calculate, everyone knows that this is the transportation of supplies is decreasing.
Without sufficient supplies, Cape Town will fall sooner or later, which makes the “representatives of the Boer Republic” in the negotiations even more confident.
Of course, this is only theoretical, but in reality, as long as the plague does not end, the “Boer Republican Army” outside the city will not dare to attack the city.
The Cape of Good Hope was important, but its importance to Austria was just that, not enough for Franz to take it at all costs.
The lack of supplies was not a problem that could not be solved by reducing the number of troops in the city, as the plague was the best barrier.
If we risk the plague to attack the city, when the Cape of Good Hope is captured, the Boer army will be almost useless. This “waste” does not only mean casualties, but also the morale of the army.
When the soldiers are tired of fighting and are not willing to sell their lives for the country, even the strongest army will instantly turn into a soft shrimp.
Watching the winter approaching day by day, the British still can not hold out, had to make major concessions.
On June 18, 1871, the British and the Boers signed an armistice in their barracks outside Cape Town, declaring the end of a war that had lasted more than a year.
The contents of the treaty:
1, That the war between Great Britain and the Republic of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State was a complete accident, and that in the interests of world peace the war between the two parties was ended as of the date of the treaty; (June 18, 1817)
2, The British side paid a ransom of 3.6 million pounds sterling to buy back 200 miles square of land in Cape Town;
3, The two sides exchanged prisoners of war with each other, with ransom paid for any excess in numbers in accordance with international practice. The agreed price was £180 per man for soldiers and from £300 to £20,000 for officers, depending on rank and title.
There was no accountability for the war, no mention of whether the war was won or lost, as if it were an insignificant skirmish, not worth mentioning.
Reality is so cruel, Britain also wants to save face, let them admit that the war was lost, but not so easy. Even if the colonial government of Cape Town is willing to accept, the officials in London do not agree.
Cession of land compensation is never possible, the London government can not afford the political impact of losing the war, but the land ransom and prisoner of war ransom, more acceptable.
Instead, land ransom and prisoner of war ransom were more acceptable. Anyway, most of the land lost was owned by the South African Colonial Corporation, not by the British government.
With a thicker skin, let’s just say that the Colonial Company failed in its colonial activities and the London government bought back another colony from the Boers.
Prisoner of war ransom is even simpler, European societies don’t reject that. If the number of captives is a bit large and the ransom paid is large, an exchange of prisoners is covered up.
And if it was really shameless, it could be declared a great victory. The enemy’s plot for the Cape of Good Hope was strategically crushed, and the enemy was forced to abandon this unrealistic fantasy.
Politics has never been like that, including this Anglo-Boer War, which can be dumped on the South African Colonial Corporation. Anyway, this unlucky company, which had gone bankrupt during the war, no one would come out to plead its case.
As a matter of fact, Governor Delphi has already started to do so. As a qualified politician, even if you lose a battle and sign an unfavorable treaty, you still have to minimize the responsibility for the war.
In any case, the Cape Town colony was saved. Even though it was a scaled down version, the British public would not know, and no one would care about how big the Cape Town Colony was 10,000 miles away.
(End of chapter)