Some things really cannot be said clearly. After the Boer War, Southern Africa became a burden to the British Empire. The British Empire needed the gold mines in Johannesburg, but it did not need the indigenous people and Boers in Southern Africa. That’s why London allowed Southern Africa autonomy.
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Nowadays, southern Africa has gradually shown more and more promising industrial strength. London may regret it, but the pride of the British Empire is still there, so London will not go back on its word.
In this case, the oil in Port Elizabeth became the last straw on the camel's back.
Before the discovery of oil in Port Elizabeth, no one thought that the Middle East Peninsula, a desolate and remote place with only endless desert and seemingly no sustainable development, actually contained massive amounts of oil. The Egyptian Governor also easily sold Port Elizabeth to the umbrella.
Company, I will definitely regret it now.
But it's too late to regret. Rock is just a Pixiu, he can only go in but not out. If Britain wants oil, it can buy it with money. If you don't have money, don't say anything.
Now all Rock's energy is preparing for the First World War. Oil production in Port Elizabeth is getting higher and higher. The integration of southern Africa is Ade's work. The Dutch in the East Indies are not a concern. All Rock's
All the energy is focused on the construction of Nyasaland.
The stronger the Nyasaland Military Industrial Group is, the better. Even if the current military industrial capabilities have far exceeded the needs of southern Africa, Rock will still build more factories.
The production capacity of the Rhodesian Agricultural Company is also expanding. Xiao Si believes in Roque's judgment that the future market demand must be many times that of the present.
Henry is also insisting. Favalt Steel Works can now produce almost all steel products, including weapons steel. Edwards Shipyard and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard cooperate to produce cruisers. All steel is produced by Favalt Steel Works.
However, Rock was still not satisfied with this and asked the Fawalt Steel Works to develop steel with higher strength, more wear resistance, and more corrosion resistance.
Henry still doesn't know that Rock is preparing for future aircraft carriers by not letting Edward Shipyard develop dreadnoughts. Otherwise, with the production capacity of Edward Shipyard, there would be no problem in producing dreadnoughts.
From a purely technical perspective, Edward Shipyard is indeed not good enough. At least the 305mm main gun on the dreadnought ship cannot be acquired by Nyasaland.
However, with the help of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, these problems are not a problem. It is just a 305 main gun. Edwards Shipbuilding only spent less than 5,000 pounds to obtain all the technical information of the 305 main gun.
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Of course, the process of obtaining technical information is indescribable, and Brad's office deserves the most credit.
Cars and motorcycles have also made great progress. Cars and motorcycles produced in Nyasaland are selling very well in Europe. Last year, Nyasaland produced a total of 15,000 cars and more than 50,000 motorcycles.
, more than the entire European car and motorcycle production combined.
While European automobile companies are still buying cars and sending them to drivers, shops selling Nyasaland cars and motorcycles have begun to implement the four-S model, which integrates vehicle sales, spare parts, after-sales service, and information feedback.
After Port Elizabeth began to transport oil to the UK, gas stations operated by Adam Company began to appear in the UK. The power of capital was fully demonstrated at this time. Royal Shell only opened gas stations in large cities with more than 100,000 people. Many cities
There are only one or two, and some people who buy cars have to cross half of the city to fill up with gas.
Adan Company has been in full swing since its inception. In London, eight gas stations operated by Adan Company were under construction at the same time.
Royal Shell also ridiculed Adan for not knowing how to run a business. There are so many gas stations that will definitely lose money. There are not that many cars in London that need refueling.
As everyone knows, Adan Company doesn't care about this cost at all, nor does it care about the salaries of seven or eight employees at a gas station. What Adan Company wants is the future market and to occupy a favorable position in advance.
In order to better operate the European market, Nyasaland Automobile Group and the Holt Motorcycle Factory headquartered in Johannesburg have set up branches in Walvis Bay. Compared with Port Edward, Walvis Bay on the Atlantic coast is closer to Europe.
The produced vehicles can be shipped directly to Europe without having to go through the Suez Canal.
As a result, transportation between Walvis Bay and southern Africa has become a big problem. Although various materials from southern Africa can be transported to Walvis Bay by sea, Rock still hopes to build a railway from Rhodes City to Walvis Bay. p>
"The straight-line distance between Rhodes City and Walvis Bay is 1,200 kilometers, which is about the same distance as the distance from Walvis Bay to Cape Town. To transport the steel produced by Fawalt to Walvis Bay, we must first transport it by rail from Fawalt to Cape Town.
, and then it is shipped from Cape Town to Walvis Bay, which takes more than half a month. If we build a railway from Rhodes City to Walvis Bay, then the time can be shortened to three days." In order to build the railway.
, Roque rarely returned to Pretoria to personally explain to Ade.
"Building railways requires the cooperation of Southwest Africa. Do you think Southwest Africa will agree?" Ade teased. Last year, Southern Africa just forced Southwest Africa to give up a large area of territory, and now it wants to build railways. Don't even think about it. Instead,
Ade would not agree either.
"Building railways is also good for Southwest Africa. Southwest Africa has no reason to disagree." Roque also knew that there were difficulties, otherwise Roque would not come to Ade.
"Innocent!" Ade hit the nail on the head.
"Southwest Africa is not allowed to pay, including the railways in Southwestern Africa, which are also funded by the Atlantic Railway Company. Of course, after the railway is completed, the Atlantic Railway Company requires fifty years of operating rights to recover the costs." Rock took the bait,
When acting, you need to do a complete set.
This fifty-year operating right is just a cover.
If nothing unexpected happens, once a world war breaks out, Southern Africa will send troops to Southwest Africa. By then, not to mention the railway, the entire Southwest Africa will be annexed by Southern Africa.
But in order to dispel the concerns of the Germans, the benefits must be obtained. Otherwise, why would the Atlantic Railway Company work so hard to repair the railway map?
The Atlantic Railway Company was also a smoke bomb prepared by Rock for the Germans.
The Atlantic Railway Company was registered in New York, USA, and its general manager was an engineer named Herbert Clark Hoover. Germans may be unfamiliar with this name, but it doesn’t matter, it won’t be long before this name will follow
The world war spread throughout the world.
Now Herbert Clark Hoover has returned to the United States to work at Columbia University and Stanford University, teaching engineering.
Relying on the profits he earned as a "human trafficker" in the Qing Dynasty, Hoover often visited high society and was accumulating reputation.
After the outbreak of the World War, Hoover served as chairman of the American Relief Committee in London, assisting penniless Americans stranded in Europe to return home. Within one year, the committee helped 120,000 impoverished Americans return to the United States.
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After that, Hoover carried out relief to Belgium and France. The work of the American Relief Committee made Hoover a social figure and brought great honor to Hoover. After that, Hoover was called "the great humanitarian". Hoover is now in Windhoek, lobbying the colonial government of Southwest Africa like Rock, hoping that Southwest Africa will agree to the construction of this railway by the Atlantic Railway Company.
"If you can get Southwest Africa to agree, of course I'll have no problem here." As long as the federal government doesn't pay for it, Ade can do whatever he wants.
"That's fine. The Germans will not cooperate with us, but they will not reject the American request." Rock was not worried about whether Hoover could convince the Governor of Southwest Africa. Putting aside his personal character, Hoover was still very capable, otherwise he would not
May become President of the United States.
The period before the World War was the honeymoon period between the United States and Germany. The United States has now begun to show its strong power to influence Europe, playing both sides of the Atlantic between the Entente and the Central Powers. Unlike southern Africa, which has a natural position, the United States has never
Tendency, whether it is Germany or the UK, Americans are willing to cooperate as long as they pay.
As for the United States' entry into the war at the end of the World War, it actually had little to do with the unrestricted submarine warfare carried out by Germany. At that time, the whole world knew that the Allies were defeated, and Germany had depleted its treasury and could no longer spend money to buy supplies from the United States.
Therefore, it is no longer profitable for the United States to do business. When it comes time to change its business model, even if Germany does not adopt unrestricted submarine warfare, the United States will still have to find a reason to join the war personally, otherwise it will not be able to keep up with the division of spoils after the war.
Even so, after World War I, Britain still maintained its hegemony as an empire on which the sun never sets by relying on its colonies all over the world. It was not until after World War II that the colonial system established by Britain and France was completely destroyed by the United States and the Soviet Union, and the empire on which the sun never sets
Total decline.
Therefore, Rock's idea of clinging to the British thigh is very correct. At least until the end of World War II, southern Africa must resolutely stay in the Commonwealth. This will be more conducive to the development of southern Africa.
"Be careful of Americans!" Ade reminded Rock. As a standard British person, Ade's feelings towards the United States are a bit complicated. It's like the eldest son who ran away from home and finally found a world outside. He is relieved but also disappointed.
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"I know that the United States puts interests first, and so do we in Southern Africa." Roque doesn't hate Americans, but he doesn't like them either. However, when it comes to making money, Southern Africa and the United States share a lot in common, and the United States always wants to subvert it.
The colonial system dominated by Britain and France was actually the same in southern Africa.
After getting rid of Ade, Roque is not in a hurry to return to Nyasaland. He rarely comes to Pretoria once and always has to report to the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Justice. Otherwise, Roque, the deputy minister, is really incompetent. What Roque didn't expect was that the official ministers of the two ministries were not in Pretoria. Henry went to Cape Town and Hopkins was on vacation in Europe.
This minister is much more relaxed than Deputy Minister Roque.