Venice.

Venice under the Austro-Hungarian Empire looked far more depressed than it had before the Italian-Austrian War, which had suffered the most severe loss of population, severe damage to its infrastructure, and a severe loss of vitality that has not been relieved to this day.

Of course, in exchange for a more stable rule in the Venetian region, during the Italian-Austrian War, hundreds of thousands of Italians went to East Africa to become one of the important population sources in East Africa, and at the same time, hundreds of thousands of Italians left other countries and regions because of the war, leaving a large vacuum population area to be filled by Austrians.

At the same time, the nobility and power of the Venice region were also liquidated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which made it possible for Austria to implement various population policies in Venice, which made it much more difficult for Venice to break away from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the future.

However, compared to the Lombardy next door, the Venetians are still happy, under the oppression of the Hungarian government, the Lombard economy is in shambles, and a large number of factories and equipment have been destroyed or relocated.

The biggest shortcoming of the Hungarian government is not to rebuild Lombardy, after all, the biggest financial obstacle in the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire is Hungary, and it is impossible for Hungary to pay for the construction of Lombardy, but the taxes of Lombardy are heavier than those of Venice.

In the 80s, with the Austrian government's investment in Venice, a direct railway to Vienna was built, and it became an important treaty port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Of course, Venice was still suppressed by Trieste for the time being, and could only become the second largest port city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is the result of historical inertia.

"At present, Venice has shaken off its economic decline, and many factories in the city have resumed work or have been rebuilt, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is still good for the construction here." Hermann, the East African Foreign Minister, said to von der Leyen, who was traveling with her.

"Now Venice is only restoring its original role in the Austrian Empire, but Austria is naturally a land power, even if Venice is obtained, it will not change the result of the entire country's access to the sea trapped in the Adriatic Sea, of course, this is the best result for Austria-Hungary, after all, Venice is more important to suppress the entire Apennine Peninsula and prevent the emergence of a unified Italian state." Von der Leyen analyzed.

Nairobi and other cities had a large number of Venetians living in several cities, and these people were mainly craftsmen and agricultural producers, which can be said to have cut off the foundation of Venice back then."

As the old East African ministers who cooperated with Ernst to dig the foot of the Italian wall, they still know more about the lack of morality that East Africa did in the Italian-Austrian war.

It can be said that the first city of the textile industry in Nairobi rose on the corpse of Venice, and at the same time, the East African shipbuilding industry is also inseparable from the help of the Venetians, and there are also a large number of Venetians living in the East African shipyards.

"Speaking of which, Venice's contribution to the economic development of East Africa is indeed not small, before the war Venice was placed in Italy or Austria-Hungary were relatively economically developed regions, traditional handicrafts, industry are among the best in the region, and now even Tyrol is inferior."

Tyrol is the southern territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the Alps, originally lagging behind Venice, with the destruction of the economic base of Venice, a large loss of population, machinery and equipment were sold cheaply, but it was surpassed by Tyrol, not to mention compared with Trieste next door.

Of course, Venice is just around the corner to surpass Tyrol again, after all, it is superior to Tyrol in terms of traffic and terrain, but some Trieste is in front, and it is very difficult to regain the status of the largest port in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a fool, and after suffering a big loss in Venice, it was destined to continue to build the already rising Trieste in the future.

Trieste's economy had to depend on Austria, and it was entirely built by Austria, and unless there was a war, there was no risk of secession or independence, which could guarantee the strategic security of Austria-Hungary's access to the sea.

And crucially, Trieste's proximity to the Austrian hinterland such as Vienna makes it easier to control and no more expensive than Venice.

"As a comparison, Venice is not as developed as our city of Nairobi, I remember that in 1880 the population of Nairobi had exceeded more than 200,000, while the population of Venice urban area has not increased but declined, and now it may only be more than 100,000."

Von der Leyen is not very clear about the exact number of Venice populations, but it is certain that the population of Venice was close to 200,000 before the Italian-Austrian War, and in the forties and fifties of the 19th century, the population of Venice exceeded 120,000.

From the 19th century, European cities are in the process of expansion, especially in recent years, as long as it is a normal country, the development is good, such as Belgium is the completion of industrialization during this period, of course, there is also Portugal, a country in rapid decline, military spending has seriously dragged down economic development, and Portugal's economic situation is not good.

"I'm afraid that many people in Venice are still Austrians, so the original Venetians are probably only about tens of thousands." Herman added.

It is worth mentioning that the focus of East Africa's population plundering of Venice was not the city of Venice, but the rural areas of the region.

One was that Venice was under lockdown for a long time, and the immigration work was difficult to carry out, and the other was that Ernst deliberately strengthened Austria.

The natural growth rate of the population in economically developed areas is generally not very good, especially in areas such as Venice, which has been very rich since the Middle Ages, and the people are relatively well educated.

In East Africa, the large number of rural populations in East Africa has caused the natural population growth rate of Venice to fall into a trough, and a large amount of land has been occupied by the Austrians, so that the entire population of Venice will slowly shift to the Germans in the future, and with the policy of population assimilation, it is really possible to achieve the goal of the Germans in Venice.

Of course, the population of Venice was not small in East Africa, but it was mainly concentrated in the two categories of workers and handicraft workers, typified by the textile industry and shipbuilding industry mentioned above, which were all skilled talents in this era.

Of course, there are also a large number of Venetians who choose to smuggle themselves into South America and other regions through black boats, as is the case with Paraguay.

With the arrival of the members of the East African negotiating team, the city of Venice made headlines in European newspapers on this day, and many people began to pay attention to the African country that defeated Portugal and the British Empire.

Sub-Saharan Africa has long been regarded as a poor, backward, and barbaric land in the eyes of Europe, but it is on this land that a powerful state was born by European colonizers, which is indeed an interesting topic.

Of course, the Kingdom of Portugal and the British Empire, which are the background boards, naturally do not think so, and the status of the Kingdom of East Africa is based on the bones of the soldiers of the two countries, especially Portugal, which can be said to have lost face.

Described by European newspapers: "Portugal – a European 'power' defeated by a colonial country!" "Portugal's illustrious history and recent years have been revealed, including Brazil's independence and the South African War, which shows that the country is no longer in the mud to hold up the wall.

Some ill-intentioned editors quipped: "A country like Portugal should kick out of the ranks of the civilized world." ”

In the eyes of Europeans, the civilized world is naturally Europe, and this is also the consensus of the world in the 19th century, of course, people from countries outside Europe must put their own countries in the same ranks of "civilized people" as Europe, such as the Indians who flaunted their military power with the British in the British colonies, Japan who was eager to "break away from Asia and join Europe", or East Africa, which preached the German state.

(End of chapter)