Chapter 1314 War in the Horn of Africa
Relevant agreements have been reached with the United Kingdom, which means that the work of the East African government will become busy in the coming period.
First of all, in terms of grand strategy, because East Africa and the United Kingdom have renegotiated the Indian Ocean issue, this means that East Africa must rebuild the military, political and strategic layout of the Indian Ocean and build a new system.
As Ernst often mentioned, no matter how powerful a country is, its resources and capabilities are limited. Obtaining more colonies, regions, and military locations means spending more resources and manpower.
Because of East Africa's overseas expansion in recent years, the total military strength in East Africa has now reached more than 800,000. This is very strong evidence.
After all, when it comes to the security of the mainland of East Africa, East Africa only needs four to five million people, or even less troops, to maintain the security of the mainland. The main reason is that there are no forces around the mainland of East Africa that can threaten the mainland of East Africa.
The root cause of the large-scale military expansion in East Africa lies in colonial expansion.
East Africa maintains relatively high troop deployments in East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Islands), Kra Isthmus, Togoland (West Africa), and the Gulf of Tonkin (Persian Gulf).
In 1918, the number of overseas troops stationed in East Africa reached 430,000. In many areas, the number of troops stationed remained at tens of thousands or even more than 100,000, including the Kra Isthmus, Kalimantan Islands (including Lanfang Overseas Province, etc. ), the number of troops stationed in the three places of Togoland is as high as nearly 200,000.
In addition, there are a large number of overseas islands that obviously require personnel to be stationed, such as Alaska, New Guinea, the Northern Kingdom of Hawaii, the Southern Ryukyu Islands, Nauru, Palau, etc.
The number of troops stationed overseas in East Africa even exceeds the number of troops stationed in East Africa. The main reason for this result is East Africa's overseas colonial policy.
East Africa's overseas colonial policy is a typical "high-cost colonization", and even this method cannot be called "colonization".
Because of the "wheel-leveling" policy implemented by East Africa overseas, what is wheel-leveling? It is an extreme policy popular in ancient East Asia to destroy the enemy's country and genocide.
East Africa can be said to have the most extreme and cruel methods among the great powers. The Americans and Belgians before this century, and Japan today can be compared with East Africa.
Even the bottom lines of the European armies currently busy in World War I are much higher than those of the overseas armies in East Africa.
The British Indian colony has a population of more than 300 million and an area of more than 3 million. However, the number of British troops stationed in India does not exceed 100,000.
Looking at East Africa, the Kra Isthmus alone is a small area with an area of only 50,000 square kilometers and a population of only a few hundred thousand. There are more than 100,000 troops stationed there.
The reason why East Africa adopted such extreme policies in overseas colonization was also very simple. It was Ernst's response to the wave of world anti-colonialism that broke out in the 20th century.
Other races are ultimately untrustworthy in Ernst's eyes. Even the "pseudo-army" is not within the scope of Ernst's consideration, and Ernst also knows that the world's trend is irreversible.
This means that the colonial system will eventually collapse in the 20th century, so East Africa must make relevant preparations.
However, in this way, the East African government will inevitably face the high cost of overseas colonization. In addition to high military expenditures, East Africa will also have to bear strong logistical pressure, as well as post-war reconstruction of overseas colonies, the introduction of immigrants, resource development, etc. All require a lot of energy, manpower, financial and material resources.
It can be said that the overseas colonies in East Africa are currently not profitable. Instead, the East African government has to pour a lot of money into them. The benefit of this is also obvious, that is, East Africa's control over these areas will be very stable in the future.
This is also the reason why “high-cost colonization” in East Africa is not considered colonization.
In East Africa, this brutal method of wiping out "aboriginal people" will inevitably trigger fierce military conflicts and destroy the original production order.
According to the colonial method of East Africa, colonizing India, let alone collecting taxes, I am afraid that military expenditures will rise to the sky every year, and it may not be possible to succeed. After all, India has a population of nearly 300 million, and even 300 million pigs want to be physically eliminated. It's also very difficult. Under the latest changes in circumstances, East Africa has to make large-scale strategic and military adjustments in the Indian Ocean.
The new territories ceded by Britain and France to East Africa will reshape East Africa's military presence in the Indian Ocean. Not to mention, Socotra Islands, Chagos Islands, and Rodrigues Island are three issues related to East Africa. The important area of eastern homeland security involves the rearrangement of the East African Indian Ocean Fleet.
Especially for the navy and air force, the construction of fleet docking ports and airports is imperative. Among the above three places, East Africa will carry out large-scale military facility construction in Socotra Islands and Rodrigues Island, and Chago will The remaining British military facilities on the Sri Lanka Islands also need to be renovated and rebuilt.
This is a large and systematic project involving East African naval and air forces operating in the Indian Ocean region.
Secondly, since East Africa wants to capture the Horn of Africa, it will obviously need to carry out large-scale military operations, which is another military expenditure.
Although the Horn of Africa has a small population, it has a vast area of nearly 150,000 square kilometers. A large number of troops will definitely be needed to completely turn it into a part of East Africa.
In addition, the East African government's verbal "commitment" to intervene in Russia's internal affairs is obviously a large expense. Even if it is just a show, some manpower and financial support will be needed.
Therefore, it is foreseeable that in the next period of time, East Africa will not be idle at all, and this is what the United Kingdom and France hope to see. After all, if East Africa is unable to idle, it will not have the energy to intervene in European wars.
Although the costs paid by the two countries are not small, compared with the changes in East Africa due to World War I, it is still very cost-effective.
As a result, during the entire World War I, East Africa had almost no leisure time. In addition to economic work, military actions were also more frequent.
Europe is engaged in large-scale wars, while East Africa is frequently engaged in small-scale wars overseas. It can be said that because of the existence of East Africa, the entire Indian Ocean has become a region of world wars and conflicts second only to Europe.
And its level of bloodshed is no less **** than that of the European battlefields. Although Europe has many countries participating in the war and has a large number of deaths, genocidal wars of conquest in East Africa are more likely to cause psychological discomfort.
June 4, 1918.
The East African government officially defined "Hassan" as a target for undermining navigation security in the Gulf of Aden and undermining East African border security.
At the same time, the border defense troops of the Northwest Theater of East Africa started from Dire Dawa City, Eller Town, Darol Town, Buhored Village and other East African controlled traffic arteries at the junction of East Africa and "British Somaliland", and officially opened war in the Horn of Africa.
The East African Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet also entered the Gulf of Aden from the waters between the Socotra Islands and the Horn of Africa, handing over the British-controlled area east of the Port of Berbera.
The United Kingdom also began to withdraw its troops stationed in British Somaliland to the area west of Berbera and all the way to French-controlled Djibouti, successfully completing the reduction of its troops in the Horn of Africa.
In response to the Horn of Africa, the East African government expects to maintain the number of troops dispatched at more than 50,000 to avoid the recurrence of the lessons learned in the Beibu Gulf (Persian Gulf) territory.
At the beginning, East Africa's actions in the Beibu Gulf territory were unsatisfactory. The Horn of Africa is larger than the Beibu Gulf territory, and the terrain is also more complex. The Arab religious forces represented by Hassan are active in the local mountainous areas.
This means that the difficulty of conquering the Horn of Africa is no less difficult than the original expedition to the Gulf of Tonkin Territory, or even more difficult. East Africa is already prepared for a long-term war.
This time is roughly within two years to basically eliminate the armed resistance in the Horn of Africa. It took nearly a year to stabilize the Beibu Gulf territory in East Africa, so this time is in line with the expectations of the General Staff.
(End of chapter)