Chapter 479: Outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War
Chapter 468 – Outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War
On May 12, 1870, Governor Delphi’s led an army of 30,000 men and launched an invasion of the Orange Free State, and the Great South African War broke out.
After the news spread, the Boers were instantly thrown into a panic, and the manor where Viscount Fikeni temporarily resided was filled with guests for a time.
The Transvaal and the Orange Free State were almost one and the same, and when facing the British the two countries had always joined forces against the enemy.
The difference in strength between the two sides was so great that no one had the confidence to defeat the British. When facing the British, the Boer Republic had always chosen to hold back.
But that was before, and now the situation had changed. Since everyone was going to join Austria, naturally they would no longer be afraid of the British.
There were two main reasons for everyone to visit at this time: firstly, to make their position clear to Viscount Fikeni and to take sides publicly; and secondly, to hope that Austria would intervene in this war.
Viscount Fikeni said confidently: “You do not need to worry, the British army seems to be powerful, but in reality, it is strong and dry.
The British garrison in Cape Town does not exceed 3,000 troops, and in recent times, the London government has not made any major troop movements.
Even if the colonial government of Cape Town had recruited civilian forces, there could not have been more than 5,000 fighting troops. Beyond that, it is conceivable what the remaining British troops are.”
The one who knows best is always the enemy, and the British and Austrians have been competing in the South African region, not for a day or two, gathering intelligence on each other.
For the civilian armed forces scattered all over the world, there is no way to monitor, but the army troop movements are still staring at the dead.
Britain and Austria are colonial powers, it is impossible to station a large number of regular troops in a region, otherwise even one million troops are not enough.
The responsibility of maintaining local stability naturally fell on the heads of the colonial army and civilian armies. The British were more dependent on the colonial companies, while Austria was mainly armed by the nobility.
Of course there was no difference between the two in essence, the main fighting force of the British colonization was also the sons of the nobility. The difference was that the British had more capital power, while the Austrian capitalists were in a subordinate position.
Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, can not be generalized, this is the respective national conditions decided, not personal power can change.
The Austrian model had the advantage of maintaining the imperial power. With the addition of new blood, the power of the aristocracy was strengthened and the position of the emperor was naturally more consolidated.
In the time of foreign expansion, the outbreak of fighting force is also stronger, to fight for themselves naturally more than for others to sell their lives.
This point can now be proved, the British want to conscript civil armament to the battlefield, must be negotiated beforehand, if the benefits are not enough negative idleness is inevitable.
The Austrian nobility, however, is actively seeking war, which is the problem of distribution of benefits. A large part of the British colonial gains fell into the pockets of the capitalists, while Austria was taken by the aristocrats to take the lion’s share.
It’s not that the capitalists didn’t participate in the Austrian colonization, it’s mainly because in the process of achieving the results, they had already completed the transformation to the aristocracy.
The class had changed, and the position naturally changed. People are inclined to be interested and naturally choose the side that is most favorable to them.
Now that the war had broken out, although Viscount Fikeni did not show it on his face, deep down he was actually happy.
Even if the war is temporarily failed, it is no harm, just take the opportunity to combat the local vested interests, lest let these outbreak of households to grow bigger.
Anyway, Austria is sure to win the victory, this is the strength of the confidence.
Viscount Fikeni is not in a hurry, he has already discussed with the nobles who came to fish for the war, before getting the local power, everyone will not make a move.
The Orange Free State capitalist Marcoslyn said anxiously, “Your Excellency the Viscount, this army of the English is nothing to your country. But to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, it is doom.
If your country does not intervene, our forces alone are no match for the English. There is no way for us to fight this war.”
What appeared to be panic was in fact a sign of discontent.
However, these words turned sour in Viscount Fikeni’s ears, and he had already labeled Marcosin as unavailable in his mind.
The phrase “your country” showed that Marcosin had not yet recognized Austria. The latter “no way to fight”, in the eyes of Viscount Fikeni is a threat.
If Marcosin had known what Fikeni was thinking, he probably wouldn’t have had time to cry. His industry was mainly in the Orange Free State, and he would have to lose a lot of money once the war broke out.
In the heat of the moment, he blurted it out, not even thinking that Viscount Fikni would actually think of so much.
Although Marcoslin was also playing politics, but how could the politics of the Boer Republic be compared to Austria? These details of expression, they simply will not think so much.
Seeing the expressions of the crowd, Viscount Fikeni mistakenly thought that these people were forcing the issue. This wonderful misunderstanding cost many of those present dearly in the war that followed.
Now that these people were still useful, Viscount Fikeni would not turn his back on them, and immediately assured, ”All of you don’t need to worry, if the war is unfavorable, Austria won’t just sit back and do nothing.
Since the British now dare to make a move, they are not putting Austria in their eyes, we must retaliate and give them a lesson in blood.
However, Britain and Austria are both great powers, if they clash directly, it is likely to ignite a full-scale war in Europe, and I’m sure you all don’t want to see that.
So next, it is still necessary to go to war with the British in the name of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. People don’t have to be concerned, they can use whatever means they have.
Whatever consequences there are in the end, Austria will bear them, and you don’t have to worry about British retaliation.
The government in Vienna has authorized to teach the British a lesson in the South African region. It won’t take long for reinforcements to arrive, everyone just needs to hold out for a month or two.”
This assurance reassured a lot, as long as Austria didn’t give up the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, then there was a war to be fought.
The Boers also do not lack the courage to fight, in the original time and space they dared to fight with the British, and now with Austria as a backing, they are even less afraid of war with the British.
At this time, Skorman suddenly asked: ”His Excellency the Viscount, if we don’t turn our backs on the British, what about this reinforcement? I’m afraid that if we use the African native troops, it’s not a match for the British.”
Among the 30,000 British troops now, there were more than 20,000 troops composed of local natives, otherwise the Cape Town area could not take 30,000 troops.
These indigenous troops had very limited fighting strength, perhaps these people did not lack blood and courage, but the overall quality was far from being good.
The Boers also trained the indigenous army, but unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, the trained troops did not have much fighting power.
Now that he heard about the reinforcements, Skorman’s first reaction was the indigenous army. After all, in the case of not turning the other cheek, it was easiest to use the indigenous army to shadow the identity.
Even if they were captured by the British, the words of these people could not be brought to the table as evidence.
Viscount Fikeni shook his head and said very calmly, ”The fact that the government army cannot be mobilized doesn’t mean that we don’t have an army available.
The various civilian armies in the Austrian African region total more than three hundred thousand. You guys give them a replacement nationality, and then just enter the war as the Transvaal regular army.”
Viscount Fikeni was being facetious, never mentioning the matter of noble private armies. Otherwise, everyone would know that it was to come and mix up military honors.
Although the British army has a large amount of water, which has a large number of indigenous troops, but after all, the top of the signboard of the British Empire, to defeat them is also considered to defeat the regular army, this kind of military credit than to fight the African natives grade is much higher.
The military grades are also no way, if there is no such difference, Austria has long been famous generals, nobles flying all over the sky.
If you find a war report, it says that with a small force of a few hundred people in dozens of bitter battles, annihilating thousands of enemy troops and capturing tens of thousands of enemies.
Don’t feel strange, this is all normal in the African continent. A colonial team of a few hundred people attacked a few indigenous tribes, and this kind of heaven-defying battle results came out.
If there are more of these “extraordinary” victories, the gold content will naturally decrease. Nowadays, if you don’t have a record of defeating tens of thousands of enemy troops, you can’t even call yourself a colonization team.
Take Viscount Fikeni for example, so many years of colonization career, that is also experienced in a hundred battles, defeated the enemy army’s record added up, that is enough hundreds of thousands of more.
If he had fought such a battle in the European continent, he would have been worshipped as a military god. However, if the enemy was the colonial natives, this record would be greatly reduced.
This is also the reason why everyone is eager to come to pick up the cheap, yes these aristocrats with their own dry food, the British as a “cheap”.
Who let the British Navy is too powerful, the army gives people the impression that is not good. In the last few wars, the British army has performed very poorly.
In the opinion of many people, the British army’s fighting ability is not good, and now there is a group of indigenous troops to make up the numbers, many people take them as a soft persimmon, ready to step on them to get to the top.
If 30,000 British regulars come, it is estimated that the nobles who come to pick up heads will have to think hard about whether they can eat them.
……
Vienna, the news of the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War surprised Franz, how he could not understand, why the British will now move.
The small secret actions of the nobles would not be reported to the Emperor. Everyone wanted to brush off the war effort from the British, and if the Emperor ordered to stop it, they would be working for nothing.
The nobles had many advantages and likewise many restrictions, one of which was not being able to refuse the emperor’s naming, at least they, the minor nobles, didn’t dare to.
Times are different nowadays, even the few kings in the country don’t have the ability to fight against the Emperor, let alone them, the Emperor’s direct bannermen.
Even if they can’t just abolish their titles, but they can still be transferred, for example: to the desert to eat sand; or transferred to the ice and snow world, every day wind and snow.
Even if the emperor wants to face and give them a piece of rich fiefdom, it is still necessary to start the operation again, and a great injury is inevitable.
If you can’t think about it, you’re too lazy to think about it. Franz’s mentality is still very good, this world has so many people with jerking heads, all kinds of ludicrous farces, he has seen a lot.
The colonial bureaucrats would take care of such minor matters. The fact that the Foreign Ministry had not been offered to intervene until now meant that the situation was still under control.
Maybe there was a colonial government involved, none of that mattered. Franz wasn’t the type to blow off steam; as long as the outcome was good, the process didn’t matter.
The gold in South Africa hadn’t been exposed yet, and if he was too concerned about it as emperor, he could easily attract the attention of someone who wanted to do something about it.
In his current position, Franz’s every move would be interpreted as a political signal. If he reveals that he has an overriding interest in South Africa, it is expected that many people will see this as targeting the British.
Instead of that, it would be better to hint to his men to do the job, so as not to cause trouble.
The annexation of the Boer Republic was what Franz meant, and after the partition of the African nobility two years ago, he casually mentioned at a banquet that “the Boers are part of the Empire.”
As a result, someone ran to implement it. This is the benefit of being the boss. Put out a signal and there are minions to fulfill it.
If you do a good job, naturally the emperor’s leadership is indispensable; if you mess things up, it doesn’t matter, it’s all the work of the people underneath you, and it has nothing to do with His Majesty, the great emperor.
Of course, Franz was a good leader. This kind of person who did what he wanted, even if he messed things up, the end wouldn’t be too bad.
After hesitating for a few moments of effort, Franz commanded, “Send a message to Stephen to secretly teach the British a lesson so that they will learn a lesson.”
This kind of unseen order was naturally only verbalized. What exactly to do, the following people will think more thoughtfully.
(End of chapter)