African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 648 Report on National Defense and Military Changes in 1883

Following Ernst's request, the Ministry of Defense and the Army General Staff formulated plans for land-related military movements in East Africa in 1883.

Yarman and Sweet gave a detailed report on this military change:

"Your Highness, for this troop mobilization, we have made the following deployments based on your request. Among them, the city of Gezira in the Nile River Province, which borders Egypt and Sudan, has strengthened its troops. If the British invade East Africa from the north, then Gezira City will be The only way," Sweet said.

The city of Gezira is located along the Nile River, very close to Khartoum, an important city in Sudan. To the east of Gezira is the Ethiopian Plateau, which is the Abyssinian Empire, to the west is the Nuba Mountains, and further to the west is Kordo Van Plateau.

In this way, the plain terrain of Gezira City is particularly prominent. It is naturally an important military route, and there are natural dangers to the Ethiopian Plateau to the east or the Nuba Mountains to the west.

The Kordofan Plateau area is covered with extensive deserts, and the British army should not have the patience to attack East Africa from the desert. Moreover, the Nile River Province area bordering East Africa and the Kordofan Plateau has almost no population.

Most of them are concentrated near the city of Gezira in the east and the city of Juba in the southeast. This means that even if they venture across the Kordofan Plateau into the Nile Province of East Africa, the enemy will still face a barren savanna area, and the Nile River The province is crisscrossed with rivers and swamps and wetlands.

From the arid desert area to the hot and humid western part of the Nile River Province, the difficulty was no less than that of the "Long March", and the conditions were even worse. Ernst himself could not imagine that such an army existed in the 19th century.

"Theoretically, it is feasible to borrow a passage from the Abyssinian Empire, but there are many factions within the Abyssinian Empire. We can get the news quickly if there is any trouble, and we are working closely with the Abyssinian Empire. There is always a military presence on the border, so a surprise attack from here to East Africa is unlikely."

And there is one thing that Siweite hasn't said yet, that is, the Abyssinian Empire may not dare to lend the road to the British.

I am afraid that the Abyssinian Empire is even more afraid of the false Taoist attack on Yu. The Abyssinian Empire was destroyed by the British once, so that the Abyssinian Empire changed dynasties, so the Abyssinian Empire The British are far more vigilant than those in East Africa.

“This is our military deployment in the area bordering Sudan. It is generally very solid. And if an accident occurs, we will respond in time and build a second line of defense in Juba City.”

Juba City is also considered an important military town in East Africa. The most important thing is that East Africa trains tropical multi-terrain combat troops here.

Of course, the most important infrastructure construction in the Nile River Province only reaches Juba Province, and most of it relies on water transportation to the north.

The White Nile River Basin covers almost the entire Nile River Province, so the transportation in the Nile River Province relies heavily on water transportation. The connection between Juba, the provincial capital, and Gezira, the largest economic city, relies on the White Nile River.

This makes Juba City the only water and land transportation hub in the Nile River Province. From Gezira City to the hinterland of East Africa, one must pass through Juba City, and then from Juba City to the Great Lakes region in the core area of ​​East Africa.

Entering the Great Lakes Region means that from here you can access other core areas in East Africa, because the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) shipping in the Great Lakes Region is connected to the Northern Railway and the Central Railway in East Africa.

"To the northeast, what we need to pay attention to is the Northern Province. The Northern Province is mainly desert, so it is not suitable for marching. Only the city of Dire Dawa is close to the British colony of Somaliland. However, the city of Dire Dawa itself is a major military town, and it is not suitable for marching. Inland transportation is inconvenient, so we don’t have to worry too much.”

 It is difficult for East Africa to transport supplies to Dire Dawa itself, let alone from Dire Dawa into East Africa. This is also an important reason why East Africa supports Dire Dawa to develop its own economy.

 The existence of Dire Dawa City is more for strategic deterrence, and its secondary purpose is to serve as a border military defense. "The entire north is focused on the cities of Gezira and Dire Dawa. The remaining areas do not need many changes. The military on the eastern coast is not prone to major changes."

The East is the current economic core area of ​​East Africa and has always been the region with the strongest military strength in East Africa. Therefore, the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense do not recommend any major changes. In other words, if the Eastern region is in hand, East Africa will have a chance to make a comeback.

Of course, in addition to the army, the strength of the navy cannot be ignored for eastern defense. The strength of the East African navy is currently at the forefront of the world and is considered the dominant presence in the western Indian Ocean. In this way, the main defense method along the East African coast has changed from relying on offshore defense systems. It has become an offshore defense system relying on the navy and the Indian Ocean.

In other words, East Africa has expanded its national defense system horizontally to the sea, which has greatly improved the security of East Africa’s eastern coast and defended its security strategy from enemies beyond the ocean.

“Our current priority is to strengthen the military defense system in the southern region, especially the core industrial province in the center - Matabele Province.

Therefore, it is planned to dispatch a main division from the north and northwest each to go south and enter Matabele Province. On the one hand, we should beware of possible attacks on Matabele Province by the Portuguese forces in the Mozambican region in the eastern part of Matabele Province. On the other hand, we can use the central railway to , maneuver into the territory of Hechingen Province (Republic of Transvaal) at any time to support the southern hypothetical theater. "

The south, especially Matabele Province, is the most important area in East Africa. Of course, Ernst himself likes Hechingen Province. The resources of Hechingen Province are one level higher than that of Matabele Province. It is the most important area in East Africa. A raw material pool for future industrial development.

 It’s just that because of Ernst’s restrictive development of Hechingen Province, the potential of Hechingen Province was hidden, which led to the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff’s lack of understanding of Hechingen Province.

That’s fine. Even our own people don’t know the potential of Hechingen Province, and other forces have no way of knowing it. If the Boers and the British just knew that Hechingen Province has the largest gold mine in the world, I’m afraid the British would have already Take action.

“The central and southern provinces, including Matabele Province, were developed relatively late, so the immigration composition is mainly composed of new immigrants since 1873. Civilian military training and response capabilities to war are not as good as those in the east, so we plan to carry out training in the near future. Reserve Military Training in the Southern Provinces.”

 The central and southern provinces are different from the eastern provinces of East Africa. Eastern East Africa was completely developed from colonies, while the central and southern provinces are very different.

Before the establishment of the central and southern provinces, East Africa had already used conventional military force to wipe out the indigenous and hostile forces in the central and southern provinces.

 As for the eastern provinces of East Africa, they even mobilized nearly hundreds of thousands of militia forces to attack the indigenous forces within the territory, so the east has always had a complete mobilization mechanism.

This also means that when the people in the eastern provinces face the threat of war, they can respond quickly to the war. Many of them have experienced fighting with indigenous tribes and kingdoms.

The people in the central and southern provinces that were later merged into East Africa obviously cannot do this, because when they arrived in East Africa, most of the existing threats had been eliminated by East Africa. Therefore, the reserves and militia armed forces in central and southern East Africa were reorganized and Upgrading seems more urgent.

  After all, the main threats to East Africa are the Cape Town Colony and the Portuguese Colony in the south. In addition, the central and southern regions have now developed into an important industrial base, a core area of ​​mineral resources, and a concentrated population area in East Africa, so all this is necessary.

“Finally, we plan to establish two new motorized cavalry divisions, focusing on the defense of Hechingen and New Baden provinces (Bechuanaland and parts of Botswana). One of the cavalry divisions is deployed in New Baden Province along the Orange River. Be prepared to respond to possible risks at any time.”

New Baden Province has a long border with the Cape Colony. The east is very close to Kimberley, an important city in the British Cape Colony (Orange Free State), and the south is not far from the city of Cape Town. Therefore, the promotion of New Baden The military strength of the Baden Province is a common opinion after analysis by the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense.

 (End of this chapter)