Chapter 483 New Nation
The Hechingen Consortium's intervention in the Bosnia region attracted little attention. Military occupation did not mean that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would bring the area under its rule. Historically, the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to incorporate Bosnia into its territory. That was already in the early 20th century.
The main reason for this is that the interests are not in place and Bosnia is lacking in resources. Although coal resources are relatively abundant, the local transportation is very congested and development is difficult.
Bosnia is almost always the poorest region in the Balkans at any time, so it really has no economic value. For example, due to the impact of the agricultural crisis, there are almost zero businessmen willing to engage in agricultural development in Bosnia.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire attached great importance to Bosnia, but it had nothing to do with the economy here. The main reason was that it was the front station of the Ottoman Empire's northward movement to threaten Austria and Europe.
Salarvo was a northern military stronghold established by the Ottoman Empire and slowly developed into the most important city in Bosnia.
If the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to provide economic support to Bosnia, it would be impossible. After all, who would pay for it was a big problem. Hungary would definitely get nothing. Even if the Hechingen Consortium entered Bosnia, it would not be for poverty alleviation, but for political purposes.
As for obtaining economic benefits from the local area, Ernst has never thought about such a thing. The conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are really bad. If we can operate without losing money, then we have achieved our goal.
Ferdinand: "Then the main purpose of your investment in Bosnia is to change the local population, but this is not an easy task. After all, it is impossible for the Austro-Hungarian government to accomplish it, and it is even less possible for an agricultural company alone to accomplish it. Bar!"
Ernst: "Our investment in Bosnia is not really for local development. The focus is on changing the local people's sense of identity, belief and national identity. It is indeed a headache for all countries, but it is not worth it in the face of economic interests. For one thing, why the Ottoman Empire was able to transform the local Slavs was ultimately due to economic reasons. If you don’t follow the Ottoman Empire’s lead, you will be doomed to become poor, which is much scarier than any other belief.”
Ferdinand: "Then how do you plan to do this?"
Ernst: "Thirty percent of Bosnia's arable land is now in our hands. Bosnia is a completely agricultural area, and agriculture accounts for close to 100% of the economy. Therefore, we have control of Bosnia's economic lifeline, which means that now we can easily determine the fate of the Slavs in Bosnia."
“First of all, the Hechingen Consortium wants to violently reduce the local Arab population. This is based on making the local Arabs unprofitable.”
Ferdinand: “You mean to force Arabs to convert through the distribution of land use rights?”
Ernst shook his head and said: "It's not that, it's a reduction in the physical sense!"
“You are crazy!” Archduke Ferdinand said in disbelief: “Aren’t you afraid of the local people’s rebellion?”
"Even if Bosnia rebels, it will not affect us in East Africa. This is just an attempt, and the physical reduction I am talking about is not massacre, but forcing the locals to leave. Anyway, Bosnia has a very good geographical location, and it is convenient to work anywhere. If you rely on If agriculture cannot support a family, most locals will have no choice but to try their luck outside."
Ferdinand: "What if the local people insist on resisting? If you prevent Franz from coming to power, I believe he will come to you directly for questioning."
Ernst: "So we have to unite one faction and fight two factions, and turn the local Croats into our own people. Both Serbian and Arab believers are our targets for expulsion. Serbs can go to Serbia or East Africa, and Arab believers can If you go to any Arab area, you just can’t stay there.”
“However, as far as the Croats are concerned, this will not be beneficial to Austria-Hungary’s local rule. I am afraid it will also increase the weight of the Croats in the future empire. One Hungary is enough for Austria to have a headache. Is there also a big Croatia?”
"You misunderstood, father-in-law." Ernst said: "What I mean by wooing is the people who have given up their Croat identity. They themselves believe in Catholicism, so we bind them economically to the Hechingen Consortium. There is a The prerequisite is that you must join the German nation.”
Ferdinand was still a little worried and said: "This kind of thing is not that easy. It is difficult to eliminate the national brand."
“So we must take the initiative to promote the cultural transformation of the local people. The beliefs and living habits of the local Croats are actually the smallest compared to the Germans, especially the Catholic Germans.”
“In addition, the local Croats have always been at the bottom of the rule, and there are basically no educated people except religious people. This provides us with the conditions to tamper with the history of the local Croats.”
This made Ferdinand interested: "How do you plan to tamper with the history of the locals?"
"We can completely claim that the locals are Germans who entered Bosnia from the South German region in the Middle Ages. They had to give up their ancestral identity under the coercion of the Ottoman Empire. This history was cut off because of the cover-up by the Ottoman Empire. Now Bosnia returns Germany naturally wants to recognize its ancestors and return to its ancestors."
“As long as the local people are willing to be deceived, we will be successful,” Ernst said shamelessly.
"Then how could they believe it? Just rely on your propaganda? The locals are not fools. They still know how their family came from!" Ernst: "As long as you have many ideas, you are not afraid that the locals will not obey."
“What’s your crooked idea?”
Ernst: "Everything depends on evidence, and we can completely fabricate evidence. For example, there must not be many people from South Germany flowing into Bosnia, but we can fabricate it ourselves."
This kind of thing is easy to handle. After all, the Prince of Hechingen can provide evidence. Many Hechingen people left their hometowns to live in Bosnia due to war or famine. It is not difficult to forge some ancient books, and the culture of the local people Level is not about believing what others say. Even if they don’t believe it, they will choose to believe it in order to avoid being affected. As long as you tell lies too many times, someone will believe it. After a few generations, it will become history. After all, the Bible is It can be regarded as a historical basis, so Ernst’s approach is not excessive.
Ernst continued: "The second is to discredit the Ottomans and even the entire Arab region. After we control local public opinion, we can make the local people actively cleanse their relationship with the Ottoman Empire by belittling the Ottomans."
This move is actually regional black. The power of regional black is so great. As long as it is done properly, it can become a very good cultural weapon.
Furthermore, the mutual slander between the Western world and the Arab region has been going on for a long time, and Ernst just did it as a matter of course.
“Then reshape the national identity of the local new generation through education.”
Archduke Ferdinand: "I don't quite understand this. Do you want to implement compulsory education in Bosnia?"
Ernst: "No, it's about promoting corporate education. If you can live a good life as an employee of the Bosnian Agricultural Development Company, then the employees of the Bosnian Agricultural Development Company must send their children to corporate schools to receive a thorough German education. educate."
The Bosnian Agricultural Development Company now controls 30% of Bosnia's arable land, so 30% of the Bosnian people must rely on the Bosnian Agricultural Company for survival. Therefore, it is a necessary condition for these people to convert and receive German education.
Moreover, the proportion of cultivated land owned by the Bosnian Agricultural Development Company will continue to increase. In the Ernst Plan, local grain dumping will be carried out for a long time to force local farmers to go bankrupt, and finally more land will be collected to the Bosnian Agricultural Development Company. in hand.
“Your plan is indeed good, but the problem is that Catholic Croatia only accounts for 20 to 30% of the local population.” Ferdinand said.
Ernst: "My plan certainly includes Serbian and Arab Christians. As long as they are willing to voluntarily give up their Orthodox and Arab beliefs and their foreign identity other than German, they can stay in Bosnia. The same is true for Catholic Croats. Croats It’s just the easiest to reform, but they must also give up their Croat identity in order to integrate into our German family, otherwise their lives will be no different from the pagans under the Ottoman rule.”
“The problem is that local forces are fiercely resisting and what should we do if they don’t cooperate?”
“Then there is help from the Austro-Hungarian army? We have already established a good relationship with the local garrison, as long as they favor us in our actions against the local resistance forces.”
“The army alone may not be enough.”
“So I have one last resort, which is to inject water into Bosnia and change the local population structure through immigration, just like East Africa.”
“Are you planning to emigrate Germans to Bosnia?”
“Not limited to Germans, but also people from the Far East. After all, we in East Africa don’t even have enough Germans.”
“Immigrating Far Easterners to Bosnia? Are you sure you don’t want to cause public outrage?”
"We also need thugs. These things require a sufficient population. It is not convenient for the Austro-Hungarian army to do this. We can do it, that is, to let those Bosnians who are unwilling to give up their identity as aliens and pagans be treated like the natives of East Africa. There is nothing we can do!"
Of course, Ernst also had another idea, which was to turn Bosnia into a region within the Austro-Hungarian Empire that was naturally biased towards East Africa, so giving them some Eastern intermarriage would help East Africa exert its influence locally in the future. After all, the population of East Africa If mixed race is the mainstream structure in the future, the purely German regions may not necessarily regard East Africa as their own, which will add color to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and help East African Germans exert their influence in the future.
Ernst’s ideas are not limited to this. In the Republic of Lanfang, Ernst plans to implement the opposite measures to Bosnia, by introducing white people to turn it into a mixed-race country with mainly German culture.
It just so happens that the population of Bosnia can be filled in East Africa and the Republic of Lanfang, so that mixed Germans can form three fulcrums of Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the future, a new nation that spans three continents and has global influence may even develop. .
(End of this chapter)