Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 453: Storms Brewing in South Africa

By the winter of 1869, the war-torn world had suddenly become peaceful. The major colonial empires, having launched wars of aggression to divert domestic economic crises, saw these conflicts conclude during this season.

The disparity in strength between the warring parties was vast. In the face of advanced weaponry, sheer bravery counted for little.

Had it not been for the mutual interference among the powers, the wars would have ended even sooner. The post-war African continent’s landscape became more distinct.

France took control of Egypt, dealt with Algeria, and, together with the British, divided Tunisia. Austria achieved its objectives, occupying regions such as Botswana, Kenya, and Tanzania.

Undoubtedly, the British found themselves at a disadvantage in this round of competition. Despite defeating Ethiopia and eliminating Emperor Tewodros II, they still could not change their inferior position in the scramble for Africa.

Defeating a native emperor did not mean that the British had occupied Ethiopia, not even nominally. Ethiopia, without a central government, fractured into pieces. The British found themselves troubled by various warlords.

Internationalist zealots, with unwavering bravery, secretly supported Ethiopia in its fight against the British. This two-year war inflicted a heavy toll on Britain.

In total, the British deployed 136,000 troops, with personnel losses exceeding 5,000. Nearly 3,000 of these soldiers permanently remained on the African continent, and the war expenditure was astronomical.

The recorded casualties only accounted for white soldiers as the losses of the native auxiliary troops were deemed insignificant and not included in the statistics.

No matter how you look at it, they won in the end, and the British Empire’s honor remained intact.

The absolute disparity in strength is not easy to overcome. Even with the support of France and Austria, Ethiopia could only cause some trouble for the British.

Without the anti-British Emperor Tewodros II, the remaining warlords were not expected to be much of a threat. With British tactics, it wouldn’t be long before they would likely fall into internal conflict.

This wasn’t entirely bad. At least in the short term, the British couldn’t plunder a significant amount of wealth from Ethiopia.

Strategically, the British did increase their influence in the Gulf of Aden, but the cost was so high that the anti-war faction in the British government gained more support.

Given the current landscape of the African continent, Austria had established a dominant position, holding over 13 million square kilometers of territory—nearly half of Africa.

If it were just about occupying land, that would be manageable, as opportunities to seize more would arise. The problem was that this land was home to eight million white immigrants.

A common feature of colonies was that everyone bore arms and anyone capable of carrying a gun could become a soldier.

If conflict broke out, it would be uncertain who would end up seizing whose territory. Unless Britain and France could deploy a million troops to Africa, they had little chance of winning.

Clearly, this was not feasible. The French couldn’t risk deploying their main forces to Africa, otherwise, their homeland would be in danger.

As for the British, let alone a million, even raising their army by 300,000 to 500,000 troops would cause a conflict between the army and the navy.

The Royal Navy would not allow the army to take resources, as this would be a disaster worse than facing France and Austria combined. Austria did not continue expanding in Africa mainly because it had already overextended itself and needed to digest its wartime gains.

The vast territories contained many hidden threats to Austrian rule, and clearing out these threats was the top priority.

Without stabilizing the colonies, how could they generate wealth? Colonies that couldn’t produce wealth were simply burdens.

In this round of colonial division, the French also performed well, closely following Austria. If France could achieve the goals it set, its colonial territories would exceed 10 million square kilometers.

Clearly, European strategic concerns had diverted much of France’s attention, leaving them somewhat powerless in African colonial expansion. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have had to share Tunisia with the British. Currently, their actual control area is less than half of what they planned. Inland areas aside, Austria also had many regions yet to be effectively controlled.

For example, Morocco was a confluence of British, French, and Spanish spheres of influence. Figuring out how to drive the British and Spanish out was a significant challenge.

No matter how you look at it, the French sphere of influence is still quite significant, at least nominally. Even Sudan has been turned into a protectorate by Napoleon III.

Of course, this is just a unilateral declaration by the French government and has not been recognized by the international community. The British also claim to have signed a treaty with Sudan, declaring themselves the suzerain.

These documents are essentially the result of colonial coercion and may even be forged. One shouldn’t consider the moral integrity of the great powers. Colonization has always relied on force, and whether there are treaties or not is irrelevant.

These superficial gestures are just for show, to make their actions seem more legitimate, but they have little legal effect.

Clearly, Sudan has become a focal point of contention between Britain and France.

The French want to link Sudan with Egypt, and ideally also occupy Ethiopia and Somalia to dominate East Africa. The British, in turn, aimed to control Sudan and have their eyes on Egypt, particularly coveting the Suez Canal.

In short, Sudan is extremely important to both Britain and France. If it falls into French hands, the British could be squeezed out of East Africa and confined to South Africa.

If the British gained control, occupying both the southeastern corners, they could not only reverse their strategic disadvantages on the African continent but also potentially capture the Suez Canal, regaining dominance in the Mediterranean.

This is an overt scheme; as long as Austria doesn’t interfere, a conflict between Britain and France over Sudan is inevitable.

While the African continent is temporarily stable, the Mexican Civil War has also entered a period of lull. After taking on the task of suppressing the rebellion, the French army quickly defeated the rebels.

Rabble is rabble. Without interference from the Mexican government forces, the French army showed its true strength, which the rebels could not match.

Through their actions, the French demonstrated to the world that their previous loss in the Mexican Civil War was merely an exception—they still possessed one of the world’s strongest armies.

Naturally, the rebels were not completely eradicated. Mexico was not a small place, and as long as the rebels could find somewhere to hide, the French were powerless.

Maximilian I’s rule did not stabilize despite the rebels being severely weakened. Instead, it became increasingly precarious due to continuous social reforms.

Were it not for fear of reactions from France and Austria, the powerful factions in Mexico might have already launched a coup, replacing the emperor with the young crown prince as a figurehead.

On the surface, stability seemed to return, but underneath, tensions were simmering. It only needed a spark to ignite the situation.

…

One wave had barely subsided when another surged.

In 1860, several Black chiefdoms to the east of the Transvaal Republic discovered vast amounts of gold. Then, in 1867, the first diamond was found at Hopetown on the banks of the Orange River.

For the British, who controlled South Africa, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State—two Boer republics—were no longer impoverished backwaters but had become juicy prizes.

That was not the most crucial factor. The bigger reason was that the Austrians had also extended their tentacles over there.

The Boers, being a mix of Dutch, German, and some French descent, naturally did not reject their kin, the Austrians.

Small nations need powerful allies, and it wasn’t long before they became good friends. The Zulus served as a bridge for this friendship, and in the recent African conflicts, the Boers and Austrians joined forces to eliminate this threat.

For the British, the Boers leaning towards Austria signaled an imminent crisis. Given Austria’s dominant position on the African continent, assimilating the ethnically and culturally similar Boers seemed straightforward.

Had it not been for the fact that the new Holy Roman Empire couldn’t accommodate a republic, the two might have already merged. Even so, there were many within the Boer population who supported joining the Holy Roman colonial system.

This was intolerable for the security-conscious British, who hadn’t forgotten how they were driven out of the European continent and were unwilling to see the same scenario unfold in South Africa.

Even though the opening of the Suez Canal had somewhat reduced Cape Town’s strategic importance, it remained a critical military objective.

This situation left Governor Delf deeply troubled. Since he took charge of the South African region, not only had there been no territorial expansion, but the existing sphere of influence had continually been compressed.

Facing the aggressive Austrians, merely maintaining their current territory was a testament to the protective power of the British Empire’s reputation.

As for expansion? The expedition teams sent out vanished without a trace, and the occasional survivor who returned attributed their losses to indigenous tribes.

What native tribe could possess such strength and capability to halt their advance? This situation had persisted for many years. A few years ago, they organized a well-armed force of three thousand men to break this deadlock.

However, this highly anticipated force had barely set out before it encountered fierce resistance from numerous native forces.

The British troops fought valiantly, routing the natives repeatedly. Yet, in their overzealous pursuit, they ventured too far and had their supply lines cut off.

While not entirely wiped out, the force came perilously close to that fate. Over the following year, more than 1.5 million natives migrated into British colonial territory.

Indeed, there is strength in numbers, but people also need food. The first act of these displaced native tribes was to seize territory.

Outside the British-controlled cities, chaos reigned in the countryside. At one point, British tax officials did not dare to leave the cities, and many settlers fled South Africa with their families.

The deteriorating situation forced the previous governor to retire early, taking the blame for the unrest. Governor Delf managed to resolve the overpopulation problem by bringing in slave traders.

The primary reason behind these events was the cooperation of the Boer Republics with Austrian actions, directly allowing these natives to be released into British territories. Without this collaboration, Austria could not have achieved such success.

Governor Delf had repeatedly urged the government to intervene in Austria’s expansion but to no avail. It wasn’t that the British government was unwilling; the problem was that they lacked the capability to do so.

In recent years, the British Navy’s dominant position had been challenged by France and Austria. France’s ironclad fleet had grown to nearly three-quarters the size of Britain’s, and the number of Austria’s battleships was now as high as 65% of the British fleet.

The two-power standard had long since been abandoned. Reality had shown the British that without money, maintaining appearances was futile.

In terms of total tonnage, the British barely met the two-power standard, primarily because no other nation competed with them in the number of sailing warships.

Reviewing the collected intelligence, Governor Delf felt compelled to act, fearing for the future of the British Empire’s rule in South Africa.

If someone knew the information above, they would not think Delf was making a big deal out of a small matter. It was clearly immigration data from the two Boer Republics over the past decade or so.

Among them, the most significant was the German immigrants, as many as 80,000, exceeding 80% of the total immigrant population.

How many people lived in the Boer Republics? At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they became predominantly German nations. It’s no wonder the two Boer Republics tilted towards Austria, as the electorate forced their governments to be pro-Austrian.

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