Chapter 1133 Final preparations
Serbia had little chance of winning against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was not only the idea of Archduke Ferdinand (Maximiliano I), but also the opinion of most countries in Europe.
But Ernst retorted: "Father-in-law, what you said is indeed correct. If it were Serbia alone, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could indeed gain an advantage by relying on its national strength, but this is not the same as before the first Balkan War, when most countries had an attitude towards the Ottoman Empire. Do you have the same opinion?”
Archduke Ferdinand said: "How can the Ottoman Empire be compared with the Austro-Hungarian Empire!"
Ernst explained unhurriedly: "Although the Ottoman Empire is not as good as the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a whole, it is still a behemoth for the Balkan Alliance, but the Balkan Alliance achieved the final victory."
“One of the key reasons is the support of other European countries behind the Balkan Alliance, which enables the Balkan Alliance to arm its own army, otherwise they would not even have start-up funds.”
“Similarly, the relationship between Serbia and Russia is quite good now. If there is a war between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is it possible for Russia to stand aside and watch?”
Of course it is impossible. As early as when the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia, Russia was very dissatisfied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, Russia did not get anything at that time, which made Russia depressed for a long time.
The importance of the Balkan Peninsula to Russia is no less important than the importance of the Balkan Peninsula to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
There are a large number of Yugoslavs living in several countries on the Balkan Peninsula, especially Serbia, which considers itself completely Slavic. If it can take advantage of this, Russia can establish a large Slavic country covering the Balkan Peninsula and break through the gap between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. blockade.
Furthermore, the location of the Balkans originally belonged to the original Eastern Roman Empire, and Russia originally regarded itself as the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire. If it can acquire the Balkan Peninsula, Russia's self-proclaimed "Third Rome" will basically be realized.
From this point of view, Russia is quite worthy of the envy of East Africa. After all, Russia can continue to pursue further claims, while East Africa has already reached its peak.
East Africa now officially claims to be the "Rhine Empire", and this Rhine Empire is already the most powerful country in the history of the African continent.
Before East Africa, there was almost no civilization worth mentioning on the entire African continent except ancient Egypt. As for Egypt now, it has long become a secondary civilization of Arab civilization.
Moreover, even ancient Egypt was only in a corner of North Africa and cannot represent the whole of Africa at all. East Africa is different. It occupies the best land on the African continent and its area is close to half of the continent. Other levels of data even compare Africa to Brought to a height where it shouldn't exist.
Back to the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia, Ernst’s inference really made his father-in-law’s heart sink.
“Russia is indeed a big trouble. I just hope that Russia will not turn against Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the future.”
It is almost impossible not to fall out. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is already strong enough. If the Austro-Hungarian Empire conquers Serbia, Russia will be completely at a disadvantage in this competition in the Balkans.
This was Russia's idea. Ernst certainly didn't think so. As long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not solve the national issue, even if it took Serbia, it would be carrying a huge burden. Putting himself in his shoes, Ernst himself would definitely not want to Carrying this kind of baggage.
After chatting with his family, Ernst was not idle. At present, the possibility of war breaking out in Europe was extremely high, and East Africa naturally had to make final preparations for the possible outbreak of a full-scale war in Europe.
Once the war breaks out, a large amount of materials accumulated in East Africa will be continuously transported to Europe, such as arms, medicine, food, cotton, rubber and other strategic materials. “Since three years ago, we have stockpiled a large amount of war reserve materials in various ports. As long as a large-scale war breaks out in Europe, we can ensure delivery to Europe in the shortest time.” Sweet introduced to Ernst.
Under the guidance of Ernst, the East African government had long concluded that war would inevitably break out in Europe. Therefore, starting from the Third Five-Year Plan period, the government took the lead and East African state-owned enterprises and other units increased production and stockpiled a large amount of military and civilian supplies. .
The hoarding of materials will inevitably lead to the scarcity of products in the East African market. This is also one of the important reasons for East Africa to liberalize its market. This method can be used to offset the commodity gap in the East African domestic market. At the same time, after the outbreak of World War I, East Africa faced Europe An important supplement to the production of export materials.
“At present, in the pharmaceutical field alone, we have stocked up a large number of sanitary napkins, hemostatic cloths, anti-inflammatory drugs, vaccines and other products for battlefield environments, and have produced a batch of gas masks for possible chemical warfare.”
Gas masks were a product that quickly became popular during the First World War. Various chemicals were used between the Allies and the Allies to make poison gas, which had an important impact on the war. Therefore, under Ernst's guidance, many pig heads were produced in East Africa. Gas mask.
Although the industrial foundation of European countries is good, it is difficult to meet the demand for producing a large number of gas masks in a short period of time to deal with the sudden emergence of chemical weapons. In this way, East Africa can make a lot of money. In addition to the finished products that have been manufactured, East Africa now It has the largest gas mask production line in the world. As long as the two major camps are willing to pay, these production lines can be continuously produced and transported to Europe.
In fact, in terms of medicines, there is still a lot that Sweet has not covered. For example, controlled drugs have huge reserves in East Africa.
The so-called controlled drugs are some illegal drugs circulating in the European market today. Of course, these drugs are legal in Europe and the United States, but they are controlled products in East Africa.
In previous lives, the so-called German supermen, Slavic supermen, and Anglo-Saxon soldiers were all addicted to drugs, which stimulated the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. The number of participants in the two camps was as high as tens of millions. How could such a huge market be possible in East Africa? give up.
The current production of these controlled drugs in East Africa can be said to be debt-financed production. After all, due to legal reasons, East Africa has a narrow market for such drugs, so if you want to expand the production line, you must endure an early unprofitable situation.
In this case, the East African government can only advance funds to entrust companies to expand production lines and large-scale production. Therefore, a large number of pharmaceutical companies in East Africa now use debt for production. To eliminate this debt, it will naturally require the blood of European and American soldiers.
This is also an important reason why East Africa is eager for the outbreak of war. Many companies in East Africa are carrying out production activities under the pressure of debt. The current foreign debt owed by East Africa has reached a huge amount of Rhine 15 billion, which is almost more than 500 million pounds.
East Africa has become the world's second largest debtor country after the United States. The difference between East Africa and the United States is that these debts have been accumulated rapidly in just a few years.
In addition to private debt, the East African government has used its own railways, roads, factories and other state-owned assets as collateral to borrow heavily from European countries. If these debts are not repaid, the people of East Africa will lose all their accumulation over the past few years.
This is also the main reason why Ernst was so excited after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. After all, although Ernst was not familiar with Archduke Ferdinand (Austro-Hungarian Empire), he was still a relative.
The assassination of Ferdinand meant that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would inevitably respond, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. Russia would certainly not remain indifferent. If a war broke out between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would inevitably trigger a chain reaction throughout Europe. Germany and France would inevitably Will take the next step.
After all, the military competition in Europe has been going on for so long. It was originally prepared for a war. If a war was not launched, it would be very uncomfortable.
For example, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the first to instigate war in its previous life. If it did not launch a war, the Habsburg royal family would still have to bear the pressure of its own economic crisis. At least the economic crisis in the United States has been transmitted to Europe. This was also one of the inducements of the previous Balkan wars. A large number of companies in the Near East went bankrupt, forcing the Balkan regime to launch a war to shift the conflict. Just as the pig industry, one of Serbia's pillar industries, went bankrupt due to this economic crisis.
(End of this chapter)