"The railroad is the core of our military corridor in East Africa, and around the entire railway system, we can send troops as much as possible to the places we want to reach, just like in the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia used the railway to send a steady stream of rear troops to the front, so that the French could not cope with it!" The same judgment was made by the General Staff of East Africa.

The object of study of the East African Army is Prussia, although it is a bit "crooked" now, but the core content is still the same.

After all, the national conditions of East Africa are very different from those of Prussia, and even the whole of Germany, and the vast territory of East Africa is destined to be as dense as Germany's.

"In fact, after the completion of the construction of the Hessian railway, the total railway mileage of our East Africa has only exceeded more than 15,000 kilometers, which is still the result of counting many branch lines and mining railways, as well as the Hessian railway that is under construction, which means that our railway is on the same level as Russia so far." Chief of the General Staff said Shret.

"No, in 1880 the Russian railways exceeded 30,000 kilometers, and now it may be more, it should be twice as many as ours." Merk said.

"But don't forget, Tsarist Russia is also twice the size of our country, so the two countries are at the same level in terms of railway density, unless it is the excessive construction of railways like the United States."

After the outbreak of the economic crisis in 1873, the construction of railroads in the United States did encounter setbacks in a short period of time, and for a time the railroad companies went bankrupt one after another, and the stock price plummeted.

Within a few years, however, railroad construction in the United States was more aggressive than it had been before the crisis, and by 1880, the total length of railroads in the United States exceeded 90,000 kilometers.

This is also a manifestation of the country's response to the economic crisis, such as Germany and Austria-Hungary are to implement the nationalization of railways, and then speed up the national investment in railways, stimulate domestic demand, promote upstream and downstream development, and ensure employment, other countries are not so extreme, but there are similar practices.

Therefore, in the middle and late stages of the economic crisis, on the contrary, the progress of railway construction accelerated, and East Africa was no exception, and large-scale railway construction began at the same time as the economic crisis broke out.

However, even the main artery of the Central Railway is less than 5,000 kilometers, and the Hesse Railway, which is still under construction, is more than 6,000 kilometers.

The total mileage of the Northern Railway, the second largest artery, is more than 3,000 kilometers, and the two together are less than 10,000 kilometers.

Therefore, the railway construction in East Africa is far less exaggerated than that of the United States and Germany, and the current railway mileage in East Africa can only be compared with that of a "small" island country like the United Kingdom, which has a railway mileage of just over 18,000 kilometers.

Of course, the most exaggerated is Germany, reaching more than 30,000 kilometers, is the world's second largest railway network, but it should be noted that Germany is much smaller than the United States, so Germany's railway density is second only to the British mainland, and it is worth noting that now the British mainland is counting the whole territory of Ireland, so its railway density is actually not much different.

Britain's railways are largely saturated, Germany has the potential to double, and the United States may build an exaggerated network of railways as it did in previous generations and then scrap most of them.

Only East Africa and Tsarist Russia are in the same situation, but the financial situation of East Africa is much stronger than that of the Tsarist government, which is why the railway mileage in East Africa is quickly catching up with Tsarist Russia.

"If we want to make the most of the advantages of the railways, we need the close cooperation of the railway departments and concentrate all the capacity to deal with them, as Germany did in a state of war." Merk said.

"It's not so extreme, the railway must be docked with the military, but it can't affect domestic production and life activities, especially when the intensity of the war may not be as big as we think." Thinker retorted.

So far, as long as the war has not been fought, East Africa cannot be sure where the scale of the war will go.

Because the enemy is mainly divided into three forces, one is the Transvaal, although the Transvaal has the smallest territory and the weakest strength, what can be condensed is the essence.

The Transvaals were more martial than the British and Portuguese, and the Transvaals hated East Africa the most, after all, East Africa was a war of annihilation against the Transvaal Republic, so much so that now the Transvaals can only be deposited on the lands of the "brother" Orange Free State.

It is true that the Transvaals have now taken control of the Orange Free State, but in order to restore the country, the Oranges are still their main target for wooing.

Therefore, the Transvaal people made a promise to the Orange people, that is, after the restoration of the country, the Transvaal people would take the initiative to return the dominance of the Orange Free State to the Orange people.

This may just be an "excuse", after all, it is not easy to spit out what has already been swallowed in the stomach, and the Transvaals also need the former Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State to merge.

Because compared with the British, East African, Portuguese, and Boer territories are too small and the population is too small, if they are divided into several countries, they cannot concentrate their forces to compete with several major forces, then the Boers will only repeat the mistake of the Transvaal Republic being destroyed by East Africa.

With the destruction of the Transvaal Republic and the Republic of Grigualand in East Africa, there are actually two Boer states that exist today.

One is the Orange Free State, and the other is the Eastern Grigualand Republic, which has no presence, but it still exists.

The extinct Republic of Grigualand in East Africa, the former British Bechuana, should be called the Republic of Griguarand West, and on the west side of the British colony of Natal there was actually a very small Republic of Grigualand East, which was also one of the countries founded by the Boers.

However, the concept of the Boers is now only in the minds of the Transvaals, first of all, the Oranges are no longer as harmonious with the Transvaals as they were in the past, and the two are actually divided.

Secondly, the Republic of Eastern Grigualand does not want to participate in such games and disputes between "great powers", after all, no force can be provoked by the Republic of Eastern Grigualand, including the current Transvaals.

Of course, this kind of side is not something that the Republic of Eastern Grigaland can avoid if it wants to, as early as 1879 it became a "vassal state" of Cape Town, like the Orange Free State.

The Republic of Eastern Grigualand was spared thanks to the British colony of Natal, which isolated them from East Africa, so they did not have a border with East Africa.

In fact, East Africa is not very interested in the land of the Republic of Eastern Grigualand, which is located in the southeast of Lesotho, in the mountainous area of the Drakens Mountains.

East Africa has long completed the military layout of the Drakens, Lesotho region, the north is in the hands of East Africa, the south is the Natal colony, and it is impossible to launch an attack on East Africa from a high position.

As for the poor kingdom of Lesotho, it has long been divided between East Africa, the Orange Free State and the Natal colony.

Speaking of the Boers, followed by the Portuguese, the Portuguese are not as united as they might think, at least in Angola and Mozambique, which are separated by East Africa.

This is mainly a dispute between the two sides over resources, both sides have their own interests, hoping to get the protection of the kingdom itself from the poison of East Africa, so in this regard, both colonies are the same as the local can be more favored by their own side, and it is clear that the Angolan colony is currently more favored by the mainland.

Finally, there are the British, the British are much better off than the first two, at least the words of the British mainland still have to be listened to, which is also the benefit of British hegemony.

If the British hegemony was gone, then India, Australia, Canada and the like would have become independent long ago, so now the British hegemony is still extremely stable, and the cooperation between the mainland and the colonies is greater than the contradiction.

(End of chapter)