Chapter 1029 Defense Industry
This structural change is the inevitable result of East Africa's development in line with its own national conditions. In the past, East Africa planted a large amount of wheat, which was actually affected by the source of immigrants.
The early immigrant population of East Africa came from Europe or the northern part of the Far Eastern Empire (mainly the Huanghuai Plain). The food ration traditions of these two places greatly influenced the development of the early planting industry in East Africa.
However, as a tropical country, East Africa has the same conditions for growing wheat as India, but in the final analysis it is more suitable for rice cultivation, but rice cultivation is very dependent on water.
The early territories of East Africa were mainly in Tanzania and Kenya in the previous life. Because many places were relatively arid or had poor water conservancy facilities, it was naturally more reasonable to plant drought-tolerant crops such as wheat and millet.
Now that East Africa's water conservancy construction has been relatively complete, and with Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, or areas with relatively abundant water such as the Great Lakes region being merged into East Africa's territory, it is natural that the scale of rice planting will expand.
Similarly, the planting area of high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes is also expanding in East Africa. The overall latitude and climate of East Africa are actually similar to those of South America, so the two main South American food crops are also widely planted in East Africa.
Although Siberian potatoes are more famous for potatoes, the home of potatoes in the world is still South America. Peru and Chile are both famous potato kingdoms. There are thousands of potato varieties alone. Naturally, some potato cultivation has also been carried out in East Africa. With the introduction of varieties, it must be said that Native Americans made important contributions to modern agriculture.
In contrast, among the African indigenous people, apart from the Egyptians, only the Abyssinians have cultivated teff suitable for large-scale cultivation.
This also shows from the side that the African latitude is not an excuse for African agricultural crop cultivation to necessarily lag behind other continents. It is just that Africa, as a chosen land, has made the most rudimentary forms of hunting and gathering agriculture so deeply rooted that African indigenous people have not developed. The driving force of the plantation industry.
This also resulted in East Africa’s early food crop cultivation industry being largely introduced from other regions, with almost no native food crop varieties available.
Overall, the changes in the grain production structure in East Africa are, on the one hand, changes in the domestic agricultural production situation, and on the other hand, positive feedback on international food demand. The current agricultural development in East Africa has developed from eating enough to eating well.
Under this general situation, it becomes very reasonable for East Africa to introduce high-quality wheat or livestock products from Eastern Europe and South America.
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In addition to light and heavy industry and agriculture, the development of the defense industry in East Africa also achieved outstanding results during the First Five-Year Plan period.
During the First Five-Year Plan, the East African aviation industry officially started. From 1901 to 1904, the East African government invested in the construction of three aircraft manufacturing plants. This was one of the biggest highlights of the national defense industry. The current aircraft manufacturing industry clearly fully meets military needs. Lord.
As for the civil aviation industry, even in the East African spending line, it is estimated that no one would dare to fly, at least not Ernst himself. We have to wait until the technology matures, and the current passenger capacity of the aircraft is not up to standard.
Of course, it was Count Zeppelin of Germany who brought airships to the pinnacle of the aviation industry in his previous life. It can be said that the Zeppelin was the only practical airship used on a large scale in the civil aviation industry before the advent of airplanes. In other words, the emergence of the Zeppelin opened up It is not an exaggeration to mention the emerging industry of civil aviation.
At present, the development direction of aircraft in the world's mainstream industrial countries is still dominated by airships, while East Africa is the first to turn to aircraft. This is because they have different technology trees, and the gap between the two will be reflected in a few years. At present, the main customers of aircraft in East Africa are other government departments besides the military. Currently, the Meteorological Bureau or the Ministry of Agriculture are very interested in the aircraft, but they have only purchased two to test the waters. The bulk depends on the military, so now aviation The industry is entirely under the control of the defense industry sector.
The second highlight of the national defense industry is the development of automobiles and armored vehicles. East Africa's automobile manufacturing industry has developed to a relatively large scale, ranking first in the world and leading other countries by a cliff.
As for the progress of armored vehicle research and development is also accelerating, it is worth mentioning that the current development of armored forces in East Africa is still relatively conservative. Although the products are relatively mature, they are somewhat expensive, so they are only equipped on a small scale in the army. This also makes the East African cavalry still It is the mainstream of mobile troops.
However, with the army infantry equipped with vehicles on a large scale, the disadvantage of the cavalry has become more and more obvious. There are currently only three armored forces in East Africa, and the cavalry units will definitely be completely replaced in the future.
In addition to these black technologies mastered by the East African Army, East Africa is also getting better in the production of rifles, artillery and other military industries. This is mainly because the widespread use of alloys has greatly improved the upper limit of East African military industry quality. Originally, East Africa was in the basic military industry field of the Army and The gap between Europe and the United States is not big. With breakthroughs in East Africa's military-industrial scientific research field and abundant talent advantages, the East African Army can now be said to be the most advanced in the world.
The only negative factor limiting the development of the East African Army is "peace". Without the promotion of war, the military changes in East Africa will naturally not be too radical. This is also the main reason why the East African cavalry units can be retained.
Compared with the army, the development of the navy seems to be less leisurely. The navies of all countries around the world are developing rapidly, and shipbuilding technology is also changing with each passing day. This means that although East Africa has not participated in the naval arms race, the naval technology competition has never been interrupted.
Moreover, the East African shipbuilding industry has developed relatively late, which also leaves the East African shipbuilding industry with a lot of lessons to make up for. The same is true for the military shipbuilding industry.
East Africa's military and shipbuilding industry has developed relatively independently, but it has only been in recent years that it has truly bridged the gap with the major powers. It has also enjoyed the dividends of East Africa's technological explosion.
The navy is already at the world's top level in manufacturing its two main military vessels, submarines and battleships. However, the research and development of East African battleships is now affected by the Russo-Japanese War and is temporarily in a stagnant stage. It requires the navies of Japan and Russia to provide more data. This infers the future development direction of naval technology.
However, this time will not be too long. According to the naval department’s estimates, the decisive battle between the Japanese and Russian navies should be around May to June this year, which is the approximate time when the Russian navy enters the East Asian waters.
The development direction of battleships has been tested by the navies of Japan and Russia. There is no clear reference object for submarine construction. Benefiting from the first-mover advantage, East African domestic submarines are currently the most advanced in the world. Among other countries in the world, France and Germany was most interested in the submarine role.
Germany mainly wanted to find a new way for the top brass of the navy to assist battleships in fighting the British navy. It was easy to achieve results because of Germany's strong strength in science and technology, while France felt a little inadequate in the naval competition.
Battleships are expensive to build, and France’s opponents, Britain and Germany, have advantages over France. As for other countries, they don’t pay much attention to submarine research and development, or they are unable to do so.
After all, there are technical and financial thresholds for military R&D, and basically only the world’s powerful countries can afford it.
(End of this chapter)