After taking over Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, the territory of Southern Africa has reached 5.5 million square kilometers, ranking second only to the Russian Empire, the Qing Empire, the United States and Brazil in terms of world territorial area. At this time, Canada and Australia were not yet truly independent.
, is also part of the United Kingdom, an overseas territory that has gained autonomous status.
If you look at it this way, Southern Africa is also part of the United Kingdom and has no real independence. Therefore, George V seems to have no reason to ask Southern Africa to hand over Southwest Africa and Tanganyika.
What Rock knows now is that before the outbreak of the World War, the British government had a design for the distribution of colonies in Africa. Although the area was large, Southwest Africa, which had many deserts in its territory, would become part of Southern Africa. The key was Tanganyika.
Tanganyika at that time also included Rwanda and Burundi, covering an area of one million square kilometers.
Unlike Southwest Africa, which has a lot of deserts, Tanganyika has more than 44 million hectares of arable land, and the rest of the land is also very suitable for pasture. 44 million hectares translates to 660 million acres, plus the world's largest
The second largest Lake Victoria, Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, Ngorongoro Crater, East African Rift Valley Lake Manyana and other natural landscapes, no one wants to give up easily.
When Southern Africa attacked Tanganyika, the Northern Rhodesian Division attacked directly north and captured all the areas along Lake Victoria. According to the tradition of Southern Africa, if Tanganyika is handed over to Southern Africa, then
Lake Victoria will definitely be included in Southern Africa as a whole.
"How are the Germans in Southwest Africa and Tanganyika dealt with?" George V finally spoke. Although he had changed his surname, he was still very concerned about his cousin.
"Centralize management and unify and send them back to Germany after the war." Rock said calmly, no matter how close relatives were, they couldn't change the situation where the brothers were at war with each other.
George V nodded and stopped talking, without giving Roque a definite answer.
This is also understandable. Although George V is nominally the king of the United Kingdom, in fact the king's power has been divided. Parliament and the government are the real forces that control the United Kingdom.
During the World War, it was the newly established War Council that controlled everything.
Half of the members of the War Council were present. Winston said nothing, while Lloyd George looked on coldly. Kitchener could not hold himself back: "Now that Tanganyika has been conquered, then the First Cavalry Division and Northern Rhodesia
Can the division be mobilized to reinforce the French battlefield?”
Kitchener was the starting point for the war. Southern Africa wanted to get the support of the British government and legitimately annexed Southwest Africa and Tanganyika after the war. Now it is time to make greater contributions.
To put it bluntly, the core conflict of interests that triggered the World War was over the colonies. If Germany won the final victory, the Commonwealth would collapse and colonies around the world would be carved up by the Allies. The autonomous dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Southern Africa would not be able to survive alone.
If Britain, France and Russia fall, then the strength of these autonomous territories will indeed not be able to withstand the nearly 10 million troops mobilized by the Allies from the east and west.
"No, although the German troops in Southwest Africa and Tanganyika have surrendered, there are still resistance forces in the territory, and guerrillas are everywhere. Enough troops are needed to maintain law and order-" Rock did not let go. This reason was seen in Kitchener.
It's actually quite far-fetched.
The first thing to make sure is that Kitchener doesn't care at all which side Tanganyika belongs to after the end of the world war. Anyway, whether it is handed over to southern Africa or to Egypt, it will still be in the Commonwealth, and the meat will still be in the pot after it rots.
Kitchener was concerned about defeating Germany, so even if Tanganyika and South-West Africa were in chaos, Kitchener would not care.
The difference lies here. Kitchener can not care, but Rock cannot care. Rock wants to form an established fact and completely annex Southwest Africa and Tanganyika before the end of the world war. In this way, when the spoils are divided after the war, whether it is
No one can take Southwest Africa and Tanganyika out of the belly of Southern Africa.
"Southwest Africa and Tanganyika don't need so many troops at all." Kitchener understands the strength of southern Africa. In France, the Southern African Expeditionary Force did perform well, but it can be better, even with the best performing cavalry.
The Second Division is actually only a second-line unit in southern Africa. The real ace units are the 1st Cavalry Division and the Northern Rhodesian Division.
"Southern Africa, with a total population of only 5.5 million, has mobilized 670,000 troops to fight the Allies." Rock laid an ambush, using data from 1911, and not counting Africans.
Kitchener and Winston both frowned when they heard the figure of 5.5 million.
There is nothing you can do about frowning. This statistical method was determined by the British government. It was used during the British rule. To overthrow it now would be equivalent to admitting that the previous British government had done something wrong.
And considering the current situation of Southern Africa, which is vast and sparsely populated and has backward management methods, almost all data, whenever population-related data appears, are always filled with a large number of "estimates", "maybe", "probably", "maybe", etc.
Uncertain nouns, different departments have different statistical methods, and the figures obtained vary greatly, so Rock said that 5.5 million is not an exaggeration, because after 1911, there has never been a federal government-led census in southern Africa, so now
No one knows exactly how many people there are in southern Africa.
The data reported by Bullard's office to Roque were finalized by Bullard's office based on statistics from various state immigration bureaus and were not reported to London.
In 1911, the Chinese population in Southern Africa exceeded the white population for the first time, so the federal government never conducted a census again.
Without statistics, it would naturally not exist.
The 670,000 Roque mentioned include the National Guard in Southern Africa, the occupation forces in Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, the Southern African Expeditionary Force in France, and the Southern African and Najd Sultanates who are launching attacks on the Ottoman Empire.
coalition forces.
"By December last year, Southern Africa was providing Europe with 400,000 artillery shells, 500 million rounds of ammunition, and 110,000 tons of various military and civilian supplies every month. More than 400,000 soldiers were fighting in France. By Christmas, Southern Africa
The army suffered more than 150,000 casualties, of which 120,000 were killed in battle. We have done the best we can." Roque said lightly, and his calm appearance could not conceal his grief and anger. The officers in the African Division were all white or Chinese.
Most of the officers graduated from the Nyasaland Army Academy. From the first day of its establishment, Roque was the dean of the Nyasaland Army Academy.
"No one denies the contribution that southern Africa has made to the coalition forces." Winston seems objective, but in fact his position is very clear. Rock has always been on good terms with Winston just so that Winston can play a decisive role at this time.
effect.
Roque's goal is Southwest Africa and Tanganyika. Although the Victoria Cross is rare, a medal, a title, or an honorary title cannot win Roque's loyalty. Loyalty should never be cheap.
"Southern Africa has made a contribution, but the government also paid for it -" Lloyd George finally spoke, but it would be better not to speak. If he didn't speak, no one would know that he was a fool.
"Your Excellency, Minister of Finance, are you reminding me that the future trade between Southern Africa and Europe will follow the market?" Roque is not polite. When Southern Africa cheated the Russian Empire, there was no negotiation. When supplying goods to the United Kingdom, they were quite kind, although the price was too high.
It's rising, but not to an unacceptable level.
In the context of a world war, rising prices are inevitable. Trade between Southern Africa and Europe is conducted through trading companies. Everyone knows the nature of businessmen. If trading companies are to treat everyone equally, London really has no position to accuse the Southern African federal government of inaction.
After all, the current trading system was established with the United Kingdom and France as the main players. Although the United States has the largest GDP in the world, it still has no say in trade policy.
The United States has always emphasized openness to free trade, in order to open up the relatively closed British and French colonial markets. Therefore, Germany did not hesitate to launch a world war to challenge the colonial system established by Britain and France. Guess whether there are American factors in this.
"My housekeeper told me that the prices of goods on the market have generally increased at least twice as much as before the war. When I arrived late, I couldn't even buy potatoes. Countless families were in desperate need of food. The rescue stations received thousands of people every day. Belfast
The situation is even worse, and important supplies have been controlled -" Winston only stated the facts and did not seem to accuse anyone, but everyone knew what Winston meant.
"At least you still have a butler -" Lloyd George was also unkind to Winston. He was a truly civilian official.
After a sumptuous but unpleasant dinner, Rock returned to the Rhodesia Hotel in London. Angel had received a thick stack of business cards and invitations.
"The Prime Minister wants you to see him at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Mayor Chamberlain hopes to have lunch with you. Minister Smuts hopes to meet you. Here are two invitation letters from the Federation of Southern African Chambers of Commerce. They invite you.
Attend the dinner party tomorrow night—" Angel reported Rock's schedule. It was a rare trip to London, and Rock's schedule was very full.
The Prime Minister's summons was expected, and he probably asked Roque about his views on the world war and hoped that Southern Africa would make greater contributions.
Compared with Winston, Neville's progress is slower, but Neville is not the leader of the Chamberlain family. He also has an older brother who is the Minister of Colonial Affairs, and the Chamberlain family is still a high-ranking official.
As for Yang Smuts, his current position is the Director of the Material Distribution Division of the Ministry of War. The Southern African Expeditionary Force can establish a logistics center in Dover. Yang Smuts plays a huge role. In terms of both emotion and reason, Rock is both
Express thankfulness.
In the context of a world war, where there is dispute there is unity. When they were in southern Africa, Rock and Yang Smuts could be regarded as mortal enemies. Now that the world war has broken out, Rock and Yang Smuts are still comrades-in-arms.