African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 704 - 8 South Africa Situation

"Railroads are the core of our military corridor in East Africa. With the entire railroad system, we can transport troops to desired locations as needed, just like in the Prussian War. Prussia continuously transported troops from the rear to the front lines via railways, overwhelming the French!" assessed the East African General Staff.

The East African army's model is Prussia. Although their path seems somewhat "deviant" now, the core essence remains the same.

After all, East Africa's national conditions are very different from Prussia's, or even the whole of Germany's. East Africa's vast territory means that its current railway system can't be as dense as Germany's.

"In fact, upon completion of the Hessen Railway, our total railway mileage in East Africa has just surpassed fifteen thousand kilometers. This includes many branch lines and mining railways, as well as the under-construction Hessen Railway. This means that our railroad system is currently at par with Russia's," said Chief of General Staff Sivert.

"It's not attainable; Russian railways surpassed thirty thousand kilometers by 1880, and probably have even more now, twice our amount," Merk stated.

"But don't forget, Tsarist Russia's land area is also twice that of our country, so in terms of railway density, both countries are on par, unless it's the excessive railway construction like in the United States."

After the economic crisis broke out in 1873, railroad construction in the United States indeed faced setbacks in a short period, with railway companies going bankrupt and stock prices plummeting.

However, within a few years, the U.S. railway construction was even more vigorous than before the crisis. By 1880, the total railway mileage in the United States exceeded ninety thousand kilometers.

This reflects how various countries responded to the economic crisis; for instance, Germany and Austria-Hungary implemented railway nationalization, accelerated state investment in railways, boosted domestic demand, promoted the development of upstream and downstream industries, and ensured employment issues. Other countries didn't go to such extremes, but similar approaches were taken.

Thus, in the mid-to-late stages of the economic crisis, railroad construction actually accelerated, and East Africa was no exception, embarking on large-scale railway construction as soon as the economic crisis erupted.

Even so, a major artery like the Central Railway is less than five thousand kilometers; including the Münster Railway under construction, it's just over six thousand kilometers.

The second major artery, the Northern Railway, totals over three thousand kilometers, both combined do not even reach a total of ten thousand kilometers.

Therefore, East Africa's railway construction is far less extravagant than that of the United States and Germany; currently, East Africa's railway mileage can only be compared to a "small" island nation like Britain, whose railway mileage is just over eighteen thousand kilometers.

Of course, the most extravagant is still Germany, reaching over thirty thousand kilometers, the world's second-largest railway network. However, note that Germany is much smaller than the United States, so Germany's railway density is second only to mainland Britain. It's worth noting that the British mainland should now include the entire territory of Ireland, so their railway density isn't much different.

British railways have basically saturated; Germany still has the potential to double its network, while the United States may build an extravagant railway network again in the future, only to abandon most of it later.

Only East Africa and Tsarist Russia share a similar situation, but East Africa's financial condition is much stronger than the Russian government, which is why East African railway mileage is rapidly catching up with Russia's.

"To capitalize on the railway's advantages, we need the railway department's close cooperation, like in Germany during wartime, concentrating all transportation capacity to respond," Merk stated.

"Not so extreme is called for, the railway must indeed interface with the military, but it can't disrupt domestic production and living activities, especially if the war intensity might not be as high as we imagine," Sivert countered.

So far, as long as the war hasn't broken out, East Africa can't determine where the war's scale will head.

The enemy is mainly divided into three forces. Firstly, the Transvaalers, though they have the smallest territory and are the weakest, it's the essence concentrated.

The Transvaalers are even more martial than the British and Portuguese and hold the deepest resentment towards East Africa, since the fight against East Africa during the Transvaal Republic was a war of annihilation, forcing the Transvaalers to rely on the "brother" Orange Free State's land now.

True, the Transvaalers now hold the dominant position in the Orange Free State, but to restore their nation, the Orange people remain their primary allies.

The Transvaalers promised the Orange people that once their nation was restored, they would willingly return the Orange Free State's dominance to the Orange people.

This might just be a "pretext", as anything swallowed is hard to regurgitate, also the Transvaalers need the former Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State to merge.

Compared to the British, East Africa, Portuguese, the Boer's territory is too small, the population too sparse, if divided further into several countries, concentrating strength to counter major powers would be even more challenging, repeating the Transvaal Republic's fate of being obliterated by East Africa.

Following the obliteration of the Transvaal Republic and Griqualand Republic by East Africa, currently, two Boer states still exist.

One is the Orange Free State, and the other is the East Griqualand Republic, which has little presence but still exists.

The Griqualand Republic vanquished by East Africa, known in previous lifetimes as British Bechuanaland, should be called the West Griqualand Republic, while to the west of the British Natal colony there's a very small East Griqualand Republic, one of the Boer-established nations.

However, now the Boer ideal may only linger in the minds of the Transvaalers. Firstly, Orange can't be as harmonious with the Transvaalers as it once was; the two are essentially split.

Secondly, the East Griqualand Republic doesn't wish to engage in the "great power" rivalry and disputes, knowing no force, including the current Transvaalers, is approachable for the East Griqualand Republic.

However, this alliance isn't something the East Griqualand Republic can evade just by wanting to; as early as 1879, it and the Orange Free State became "subsidiaries" of Cape Town.

And the East Griqualand Republic being spared owes gratitude to the British Natal colony for isolating them from East Africa, preventing a frontier contact with East Africa.

East Africa, in reality, has little interest in the East Griqualand Republic's land, located in southeastern Lesotho, the Drakensberg Mountains area.

East Africa has long completed military deployment in the Drakensberg Mountains and Lesotho region, with the north under East African control, and the south as the Natal colony. Launching an uphill attack on East Africa is thus impossible.

As for the unfortunate Kingdom of Lesotho, it has long been divided among East Africa, the Orange Free State, and the Natal colony.

Speaking of the Boers, next are the Portuguese, who aren't as cohesive as imagined. At least there's a competitive relationship between Angola and Mozambique, separated by East Africa.

The main issue is resource disputes, and each has its interests, hoping to gain protection from the motherland, evading East Africa's harm. Both colonies want the homeland to favor them; currently, it appears Angola receives more favoritism.

Lastly are the British, whose situation is much better than the former two. At least the British mainland must be heeded, such is the benefit of British hegemony.

If British hegemony were lost, countries like India, Australia, and Canada would have long been independent. Thus, British hegemony remains very solid, with mainland and colonial cooperation outweighing conflicts.